Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Curtiss JN "Jenny" Performs Stunts, Takes Folks for Rides, Jan. 15, 1920


From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 15, 1920. The Curtiss JN4 Jenny was manufactured in Hammondsport in upstate New York. It was first flown in 1915 and was our country’s most famous aircraft in World war 1. It was originally developed as a trainer and almost all U.S. pilots learned to fly a Jenny. This photo is from https://www.flight-manuals-online.com/product/curtiss-jn4-jenny/.

Stunt Day. . . Fillmore and Clark in their Green Airplane to Do Aerial Stunts Friday Afternoon

On Friday of last week a Curtis JN-4 airplane, piloted by Messrs. Fillmore and Clark, landed at Rockingham in the Leak field on Watson Heights, and since that time quite a number of people have enjoyed air rides at $15 per ride. Several had the added thrill of looping the loop, at $5 extra. Sunday was the “big day.” No less than 24 passengers going up. The list of those who have ridden to date appears below. The machine will likely remain here for two weeks longer.

The aviators are desirous of giving an exhibition flight Jan. 16th at 2:30, at which time such stunts as the falling leaf, Immelman turns, loop-the-loop, nose dive, spiral glide, tail spin, etc., will be given by them. To cap the climax, Aviator Clark will walk out on the wings of the machine as it speeds through the air under Pilot Fillmore’s direction. Several thousand circulars will be distributed from the air to the crowds below, and the first person finding a certain misspelt word on the circular and reporting it to the Bank of Rockingham will receive $5. The larger part of the expense of this exhibition was defrayed by the merchants who took spaces upon this circular gotten out by the aviators. So be on the lookout Friday afternoon and see such aerial stunts as you’ve doubtless never seen before

On Sunday another airplane landed here, this one coming from Durham and being driven by Capt. J.V. Dallin. This machine is a yellow one, of the Curtis JN-4 type, and has huge Bromo Seltzer signs upon it. Dallin’s mechanic is Jim Davis, who used to work at Hannah-Pickett Mill. This machine is also in the business of commercial flying, his price being $15 per ride. The Dallin, or yellow, machine will use Dockery’s Level, four miles south of town, as a landing place, and he can be found there Saturday and Sunday by those desiring to ride.

The following are those who have ridden so far with the green, or Fillmore, machine, at Leak’s Level:
Hervey B. Coppedge, W.W. Gaithens (he carried his son to Hamlet in machine), Robert Odom and James Radcliffe, Mrs. L.A. Currie, A.S. Dawkins (loop), Glenn Garrett, Reid Garrett, W.D. Mudd, Robert Shepherd, J.D. Stubbs, Miss Bessie Taylor, Miss Edith Hines, S.E. Tudor, Wade Gibson, J.H. Newberry, H.V. Webb, B.H. Smith, E.W. Hopper, Doland Henderson, James Gordon, J.E. Heisden, Mrs. C.E.D. Egerton (loop), Miss Lola Hines, S.D. Grietz (two rides), C.E.D. Egerton, Corbett R. Hinson, E.B. Bristow (loop), John L. Hamer, and Thomas McRae, John W. Scales (loop), Jack Ellerbe, Miss Emma Gray Ledbetter.

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