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Show V WHO'S LJ NEWS (K-vii THIS Vr WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON NEW YORK. While it is only 36 years since the first feeble crow-hop of the Wright brothers, aviation already has the equivalent o f t h e cauli-Air cauli-Air Vets Soar flower veterans After 30; Some ot prizefighting . i i n,. veterans, in-Gave in-Gave Leg to Fly cidentaly who keep right on going after 30. Ben O. Howard, who skippers the Douglas Doug-las DC-4, the largest land plane in the world, across the country, left his right leg behind him, on his way on and up; as did Alexander P. de Seversky, a marvelous stunt flier with a wooden leg. And Wiley Post was served adequately by one eye In his breathtaking hazards. They carry on far beyond the one score and ten which weighted Max Baer helplessly against Lou Nova. Ben Howard was flying his self-made plane in the Bendix Transcontinental Trophy race in September, 193S, when he crashed in New Mexico. He and his wife, Mrs. Olive Howard., also a flier, were critically injured. in-jured. He was unconscious 36 days and his leg was amputated. "Research pilot," which is now Mr. Howard's rating with the United Unit-ed Air lines, appears to be a bit upgrade up-grade from the test pilot job, and implies engineering and technical skill as well as coolness and courage. cour-age. All this Mr. Howard gained in designing, building and racing planes for many years as the "ride-'em "ride-'em cowboy" of many racing meets. In 1930, he was flying the night mail, between Omaha and St. Louis. Losing daytime sleep at times, he built a slick little 100-horsepower 100-horsepower racer which made him the .star of the National Air races at Chicago in 1930. His small-engined planes kept on snatching prizes from ships with twice as much power. After his accident, he was out for 15 months, and then back with United Air lines in experimental experi-mental work. He is dark, slender, reserved, mastering the air leviathan with the sensitive and intuitive fingers of a concert pianist. 'TpENNESSEE made a super-grand splash when it brought Sergeant Alvin York to the World of Tomorrow, Tomor-row, with a special train and a guard of honor Super Soldier and what-not. Finds Home Ills Just as a bal- Hardest to Hit ance hr0t forward from the world of yesterday, it was the sergeant who, armed only with a service revolver and a rifle, killed 25 Germans and captured 132, including in-cluding two officers, and herded them into his home dugout. The big, red-headed hero of the hog and hominy commonwealth common-wealth has been having quite a deal of hard luck in the afterglow after-glow of his fame. Debt, cinch, bugs, boll weevils and five-cent cotton are no such shining marks as mere Germans. He is busy gunning for the mortgage mort-gage on his 395-acre farm, near Pall Mall, Term., trying to build a silo and hoping for the best. 1 He is a modest hero and deserves a cheer from all hands. This being a pleasant and unique deviation from that rather bitter monologue of Lou Angler, old-time German dialect dia-lect comedian. The generals and the orators were throwing out their chests, celebrating their victory in war, "Vere iss der soldier?" was the plaintive refrain of the piece. And then the answer: "He iss over in de woods, cutting down a tree to make himself a wooden leg." PEN. EVANGELINE BOOTH; " here from London on official business, says she's coming "home" to live next October. A t r .1 Cooper union General Booth, audience hissed Bonnet Still On, her when she Coming 'Home' came here from Canada in 1904, but cheered before she finished. She remained 30 years, running the army from her quaint old house in Hartsdale, N. Y. She will be 74 next Christmas, relinquishing command of the international army. The daughter daugh-ter of Gen. William Booth, founder of the army, she was reared in London. At 17, the tall, vigorous, red-hcaded girl swung into the army ranks, singing their warrior hymns in the slums of London. Iloodluni.s had a standing offer of $50 for anyone who would knock off her coal-scuttle bonnet. Nobody ever did, the,, or silK,Ui though she was once severely injured... She was put in command com-mand of the Canadian army in .18. (Consolidated Fcalui-cs-VVNU Service.)" |