Diamond of Death

"The four planes formed a diamond over the landing field at Palomar. Major Dargue, piloting the New York at the head of the squadron, signaled to break up close formation for landing. Captain Woolsey, in the Detroit in number three position, and the New York, number two, turned out simultaneously, Woolsey to the left, Dargue to the right. The New York* continued as did the St. Louis, slightly higher and to the rear. The Detroit turned upward and away from the New York several hundred feet; then turned back to the right and went into a slight dive.

"At that instant Woolsey was above the New York and probably did not see it. The Detroit started a gentle gliding turn slightly toward the New York's left wing; the ships telescoped and began to spin. . . ."

Thus simply, at the moment of least alarm, tragedy overtook U. S. Army flyers sent to loop a sister continent. Major Herbert A. Dargue and his relief pilot, Lieut. Innis C. Whitehead leaped free and their parachutes saved them. Captain Clinton F. Woolsey fell free too late. Lieut. John W. Benton burned, his cremation starting in midair. South America's good will, which the Army flight had been planned to stimulate, turned to pity, horror.

Shortly before the accident, Buenos Aires, led by its mayor, had thronged the harbor to watch the covey of broad-winged Loening amphibians come swooping in from Mer del Plata, the Argentine's summer capital. Crowds had followed, by motor and field-glass, as the ships rose again and repaired to Palomar for the night.

Tricky weather and minor difficulties had dogged the tails of the big ships, which were five at the start. At Tampico, the second stop after the take-off on Dec. 21 from San Antonio, Tex., the St. Louis broke an oil pump and burned out its motor. Another motor was fetched and installed, the other planes waiting. Leaving Guatemala City, the New York made a forced landing and lost its ground gear.* Taxiing out of Balboa harbor, off for Colombia, the San Antonio was snagged on a coral reef and the St. Louis had engine trouble. The cripples were mended, but the San Antonio again fell behind with engine trouble before Guayaquil, Ecuador, was reached. The others flew on, the San Antonio following as soon as a new Liberty motor reached her by tug from Panama City. The San Antonio was at Lima, Peru, when the advance planes crashed.

Officials at Washington, grieved and shocked, announced that the half-completed flight would continue as scheduled. The remaining itinerary, skirting eastern South America, crossing the Caribbean and winding up at Washington, would bring the total of cities visited to 72, the mileage to 18,500.

Engineers advanced a theory to account for the accident. The amphibian planes were of a new design, having their Liberty motors inverted to afford the pilot greater forward vision and headroom. The unavoidable "blind spot" of the planes thus remained below the pilot, at close range. The Detroit, which appeared to have precipitated the tragedy, evidently lost the New York in this "blind spot" and descended upon her.

"Messenger of Italianity"

Tossing leagues of the South Atlantic moved steadily beneath him . . . 500 miles . . . 1000 miles . . . more water and more water . . . an equatorial downpour . . . then an island. Commander Francesco de Pinedo consulted his fuel gauges. Yes, there might be enough left. The maps said only 270 miles from this island, Fernando Noronha, to Port Natal on the easternmost shoulder of South America. There must be enough fuel left, for the glory of Fascismo. Commander de Pinedo circled the island, so that he might know it well, then flew ahead. He had been flying since an African moon flooded Porto Praya in the Cape Verde Islands the midnight before. Off the coast of Brazil the South Atlantic looked angry. The seas became swaying mountains. Fascismo is brave but not foolhardy. If one should have to land now, all glory would be drowned. Commander De Pinedo swung back to Fernando Noronha to spend the night. A rough landing necessitated minor repairs but next day Port Natal turned out to fete him, then Pernambuco further down the coast, then Rio de Janiero. Back over the ocean, in Italy, an excitable press and populace rejoiced that a Fascist, "a messenger of Italianity," had duplicated the feat first performed in 1926 by the Spaniard, Ramon Franco.

Commander de Pinedo's itinerary directed him north from Rio de Janiero to Jamaica, Cuba, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, New York. His was a "four-continent" flight, planned to give "new proof of virile national power." He flew with two comrades. His seaplane, the Santa Maria, was built at Milan, with two 550-h.p. Isotta-Fraschini motors.

*Evidently a press error. The two planes that "continued" thus have been the St. Louis and the San Francisco, the latter piloted by Captain Ira C. Eaker, eye-witness author of the above account.

*The amphibian planes, designed and constructed by Engineer Grover Loening, had boatlike hulls with wheels, for ground landings, which pulled up into niches, during water work.