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The Omaha Sunday Bee
EDITORIAL
AMUSEMENTS
(
VOL. fc-NO. 47,
Romance
a To;-.
YMGER
leis FrzenJ
Wife have the
Vast wozd " and
he's off o Me clouds
There's romance in the air.
If you don't believe it, ask any
of the air mail pilots flying be
tween Chicago and Omaha, or be
tween Omaha and Cheyenne. Bet
ter still, ask their wives and sweet
..' hearts..' " '.. .-" ''. '
.They'll tell , yon altitude makes
the heart grow fonder; that the
'man who thinks marriage is the
end of romance should become an
air mail pilot
If the wife of such a man isn't
out anxiously waiting for him to
make his, first yea. even his 20th
landing the only "solution Is a
divorce court, say both the wives
and their flying husbands.
Neither these birdmen, who
battle the elements to .hasten the"
delivery of mail, nor their wives,
contend aviation is the solution of
the divorce problem.
Home, Sweet Home.
The wives they're nearly all
young, simply assert the thought
of their men, battling high above
the clouds for lifeand the good of
the service. Is enough to make
their hearts glow with appreciation
and love.
And the men well, they never
tire of telling how cozy it is to be
home with "wifey" after a long,
hard flight
;"Bright lights, and Jazi music
may appeal to some, but give us
' the light of our fireplace and the
; music of our wives voices," say
these men of the air. : v ,
' Verne Pickup is; one of the
young husbands who typifies this
spirit Verne leaps from his plane,
" checks in, then hurries home to
Mrs. Pickup and their cozy little
; bungalow in Cheyenne. , Nothing
delays him; he doesn't even stop
' to light a cigaret, according to his
friends.
Then there is William C. Hop
; son, who won The Bee's $500
v. prize for flying 23,373 mjles at an
" average speed of 80 miles or bet
ter during the six months preced
ing March 8.
"Yotfd Be Surprised."
' Pilot Hopson acquired the repu
tation of being "fast and a "high
flyer" long before he began fly
ing between Omaha and Chicago.
Most wives would object to
having their husbands called
eirfier fast or a high flyer, no
. doubt, but not Mrs. Hopson.
She rather takes pride in it for
she knows it applies entirely to
his ability as an aviator.
Pilot Hopson holds the high
flight record, 16,000 feet for the
distance from New York to Belle
fonte and broke the time records
from Cleveland to New York by
making the 425-mile trip in 3
hours and 1 minute.
He was surprised when in
formed he had won the first prize
money, but hesitated not a second
when asked how he. would spend
it ; ..
At Home Helpless.
"Buy a bicycle for 'Bobbie' and
make the first payment on a cozy
little bungalow 'somewhere in
Omaha," he replied. '.'I had 'em
both promised to the wife and
. kid, so it was up to me to 'cop
the prize." - -
How many ordinary husbands
would share,' well, say their poker
h
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Crete's twAtr CPichtp
I J Auwies Aome-urtfie's
l J waiiinon Uejroai stoop
) :
Death Immortalizes
Another Air Pilot
Only last Thursday, when this
tale of the bravery and fearless
ness of the air mail wives was
put into type, came the word of
the' sudden death of Pilot Walter
' M. Bunting, whose body was cre
mated in the flames which con
sumed his plane when it crashed
at Rock Springs, Wyo.
And another brave young wife,
back at Carney's Point, N. J.i was
idowed in the pioneering days
'of the transcontinental air mail
service.
Bunting was only 26 and dis
played that indomitable spirit of
the service by returning at once
to his plane after several months
in an Omaha hospital, recovering
from injuries received in a nose
dive at Ak-Sar-Ben field during
a snowstorm the . day before
Christmas. ,
winnings for six months, with
their wife and son, we ask you?
Yet Pilot Hopson, after risking
his life for six months to win a
$500 prize, .was glad to spend it
all for the enjoyment of his little
family. ! V .
Strange, perhaps, but not a mar
ried pilot flying into Omaha can
see where he is undergoing nearly
the hardships of his wife, who
"must sit at home helpless, wait
ing for our return or failure to
return,", as one of them put it
Imagine the feelings - of little
Mrs. Knight, seated in her lonely
home in Cheyenne on. the night
her husband, Jack, made his spec
tacular night flight between
North Platte and Chicago.
' Pride and Fear.
Did closing her eyes shut out
the vivid picture of her daring hus
band high in the air, battling
through snow and sleet and dark
ness toward Omaha? Was she
able to forget the possibility of his
loosing his way and "the terrible
consequences?
He would be forced to land
eventually in the blackness of
night, should he stray from his .
unmarked course. He would have
only one guide in making that
landing gravity. There could be
but one result
How she must have sighed with
relief when a message told her he
had landed safely, oathe well
lighted Omaha field. Then came
another message, telling of his un
expected departure for Chicago.
There had been no one else to
take the ship on through the night.'
Jack had volunteered.
No doubt pride at the thought
of his bravery was mixed with fear
for his precious life. He had never
flown between Omaha and Chi
cago, even in daylight And now
it was night with only the faint
lights of towns and trains to keep
him in his course.
For the Service.
Then, after hours that seemed
years, came a message from Jack
himself. He had landed safely at
a Chicago field early in the nioru-
the Air Pulsates Throu
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This islex darsfL&ZZ
and Ais urixded m&4e.
ing. He was hailed as a hero.
And the reputation, possibly the
future of the air mail service was ,
saved.
Mrs. Knight says the anxiety
and suspense is compensated by :
the knowledge her husband is do
ing his part in the advancement of
civilization. So say the wives of
the other air pioneers.
"I suppose we feel "about the '
same anxieties and worries that the
wives of the early pioneers did,"
said Mrs. Yager, wife of Frank
Yager. "Of course our husbands
don't, fight Indians or anything
like that, but they're blazing the
way to progress just the same,
and with even more risk.
"Storms and engine trouble
might force them down, and they
might crash against the side of
some mountain, or, if they landed
safely they might starve , or
freeze. We have all those things
to think about when they are 'out
on the run.'"
"If They FaiL"
Like the other air mail brides
Mrs. Yager would rather dwell on
her pride in her husband and his
work, than on her own anxieties.,
"At first some of us wish our
6MAHA, SUNDAY HORNING, MAY 8, 1921.
P makes .Airplanes Speed Fasler;
Battles mv; Doubt, Dlizzards,
and Uncertainly Rewards fearkss'
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husbands might quit flying," ad
mitted Mrs. Yager, "but we soon
get over that Then we are as
proud of ' what the air service is
doing and the 'part they are tak
ing in it as we are of our men."
"Indeed yes," corroborated Mrs.
Jack Knight, as she sat at the win
dow of her apartment and watched
the blizzard whirl blasts of fine
snow around the corner. "But
just think. Jack is up in that right
now.
"Worry? Of course one worries
a little, even more than the pio
neer wives Mrs. Yager mentioned
could have worried. Their hus
bands could at least . depend on
themselves to fight their way out.
Ours have to .depend so much on
mechanical devices. If they fail
Headquarters First
"But I never worry much if
Jack isn't flying over the moun
tains or in bad weather. I. used
to, but not any more. There was
the time in February when Jack
made a forced landing in Tele
phone canyon which completely,
wrecked his ship. It was miles .
and miles away from any tele
phone and it was a long time be-,
fore lie could ieport. When lie
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finally got to a phone, through
the snow, he reported to the field
officials first, and then he called
me. That's the- kind of . a flyer
. Jack is, and he knew that's what
I would have wanted him to do.
"I certainly am proud to be the
wife of an air mail pilot It is
wonderful to feel that you are
helping, even a little bit, to do
something that is making history,
just as much as the old time pony
express riders did.
"And do you know," she added,
with a little smile, as if she con
sidered the thought almost conceit,
"I think that other women whose
husbands are doing more ordinary
things are sometimes just a little
bit envious."
' Become Fatalists.
Both Mrs. Yager and Mrs.
Knight stoutly declare they mar
ried their husbands because they
were birdmen, and like most other
airmen's wives they agree there
"is something to a man who can
fly an airplane 500 miles every day
.through every-kind of weather
condition."
"We think they are a lot bigger
when they do that than if they sat
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Darkness
mail :
'inning . ""V?
HI
'iff
at a desk and did something any
body could do," said these two.
Mrs. Yager atfd Mrs. Knight say
being married to air mail pilots
has made them fatalists.
"I think when a man's time
comes, it comes, whether he is ina
the air or walking the streets," de
clared Mrs. Yager. "I worry, of
course, when Frank doesn't get in
on time. Indeed, I am more than
worried, and only my faith in his
ability to handle a ship keeps me
as brave as he would want me to
be.
"Once I had the dinner table
-all set and he didn't come. He had
made a forced landing somewhere
and our dinner was spoiled. Now
I don't set the table until he has
arrived."
Flying Dispels Fear.
Mrs. Hopson and the wife of
Pilot "Tex" Marshall found that
by taking occasional flights with
their husbands their fears were
diminished.
Mrs. Hopson, who came to
Omaha recently from New York
with her husband, says she actual
ly enjoys flying.
'Mrs.. Marshall, .who resides at
Maywood, ; 111., also must have
found a fascination in soaring aloft,
for she has spent 100 hours in the
air with her husband since he took
up flying seven years ago.
She was with him in a cross
country flight from Florida to
Ohio and experienced the sensa
tion of a forced landing, which re
sulted in a minor crash during this
trip.
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have
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been married seven years. "Tex"
has been flying, between Omaha
and Chicago since last September,
Windmill In Jeopardy.
The wives of these pony express
riders of the air take great pride
in telling the achievements , of
their more reticent husbands.
They tell how Frank Yager,
caught in a blinding tsnow squall,
was forced to the ground, unable
to see ahead of his propeller.
He found himself just grazing a
thin lake in time to zoom up again.
He again tried to find the ground
and again had to urn . upward,
barely escaping some telephone
wires.
The third time he narrowly
missed a stout fence, and only on
the fourth attempt did he reach
the ground, barely grazing a farm
er's windmill and coming to a
stop against a farmhouse, invisible
because of snow.
Andiwhen they tell of the farmer
poking his head out of the door
and berating the pilot for nearly
demolishing his windmill they
laugh merrily.
They relate how Jack Knight,
unable to make headway against
a gale blowing at 88 miles an hour
on the ground, turned back . to
Cheyenne, making an almost un
believable speed of 385 miles an
hour back to the field,' afterward
hovering above it for more than
20 minutes motionless, unable to
make the ground because of the
wind and finally gaining it in a
series of sideslips.
They tell of Pilot James P,
TEN CENTS
maha
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Pilot$ack
to give Aim
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and a 3iXe,
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Jopsorfffloti
a JPeize - fir
Wife tand Son)
Murray, one of the bachelors of
the station, who crashed in an
inaccessible canyon, unconscious
for hours, came to life and guard
ed his load of mail in the wrecked
plane for 30 hours in snow
freezing cold. In recognition
and
this devotion the mail service had
the ship rebuilt in white, natural
wood finish and dedicated it for
Murray's exclusive use. It has
become known as the "Silver.
Ship."
They have other tales with Har
ry Smith, J. F. Moore, Clarence
Lange and Howard Brown in the
hero roles, but can be induced to
tell little of their own influence on
the courage of their men, or of the
romances which made them wives
of fliers.
Met at "Y" Dance.
"I first met my husband at a Y,
W. C A. dance in Cheyenne," one
of them confessed. .
"There wasn't much romance,
though, at least of the story book
kind. I'll admit I admired him
first because of what he is doing,
but when I fell in love with him
I'd have stuck to him if he went
to raising potatoes."
The air wives take a keen, tech
nical interest in their husband's
work. Every one of them is "up
on the subjects which the pilots
must know, ready to talk over
difficulties, advise and plan at
every turn. Few modern wives
have as comprehensive a knowl
' edge of their husbands' business
as these wives of aviators.
Teas, parties, bridge .worry
(Tvra te rc Elftit, Columa Four.)
of