W.B. Stuart, general chairman of the local councils of the Junor Order were united to bring Lieutenant Maynard here, presided at the meeting, which was opened with an invocation by Dr. Luther Little, followed by mass singing led by M.H. Crocker, assistant secretary of the Y.M.C.A. “America,” “The Long Long Trail” and other favorite melodies were sung.
E.R. Preston of the Charlotte bar introduced “the flying parson,” relating that he was born at Cairo, Anson county, moved to Sampson county with his parents at 10 years of age, briefly sketching his wife, and outlining the remarkable feat he accomplished in looping-the-loop 318 times in 67 seconds and of other aerial feats he has performed. Prior to the address by Lieutenant Maynard Mr. Stuart told how the Junior Order was founded in 1853, has 50,000 members in North Carolina, has presented 5,500 flags to schools, is taking care of 6,000 orphans, and is a patriotic body insisting on pure Americanism, with only native-born Americans eligible for membership in the body.
Lieutenant Maynard related something of his boyhood days, his college days at Wake Forest, his entering the aviation service, going to France where he tested planes for use at the front, of his return to America, the transcontinental flight, the New York-Toronto flight and other incidents.
He paused to pay tribute to the Liberty motor, made in this country, and said he selected this type of motor for his transcontinental flight.
Many incidents of his historic flight across the continent and back with Sergeant Kline, mechanician, and “Trixie,” the police dog, were related by Lieuntenant Maynard, who proved himself as much at home on the lecture platform as he is in the air in a speeding plane or tinkering with airplane machinery. He is a fluent and ready speaker with a keen sense of humor and appreciation of picturesque incident, a good memory for places and episodes and of pleasing stage presence.
The famous aviator told of his motor going dead on a return of the cross-continental flight near a small place in Nebraska, how he wired for permission to use another motor fromo ne of the contestants’ planes that had become wrecked, how he and his mechanic worked like Trojans to get it placed in time to resume the flight without losing too much time, and of barely sailing over the top of one of the tall peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the face of a snowstorm. Flying into a snowstorm is one of the most perilous of undertakings, Lieutenant Maynarrd said. He also described the beauty and the thrill it gave him and his mechanician to be flying above a tier of clouds and see the big snow flakes falling from the under side of the cloud.
The people of San Francisco, the “flying parson” said, have the best luck at making a fellow feel at home of any he came in contact with in his long flight across the country. He said he and his partner were treated royally there and would gladly have stayed longer. He ahd been asked and had accepted the honor of taking King Albert of Belgium, then visiting in the Golden Gate city, on a flight across the harbor at ‘Frisco, but the monarch eventually found he would not have time to make the flight.
Lieutenant Maynard said he lost 15 pounds in the big flight and was never so glad in his life to see New York as when he spied it from the air on nearing the end of the long journey.
Lieutenant Maynard went to Shelby Saturday morning to address the district Junior Order meeting there Saturday night and will speak twice Sunday in Gastonia. He also will speak in Rock Hill, Gaffney, Wadesboro, Salisbury and other places before returning to New York.
From The Charlotte News, Saturday evening, Feb. 26, 1921
No comments:
Post a Comment