Monday, Feb. 06, 1928

Gaol

Last week a wandering boy came home and for his welcome went to jail. Bert Acosta, bold, black haired flyer who sat beside Commander Byrd in his flight to France, snuggled his plane too close to his native Naugatuck, and was the first man booked in Connecticut police stations for violating the aviation law which prohibits flying below 2,000 feet over population centres. Acosta plead guilty, apologized, went to jail. Meanwhile sheriffs hurried up from New Jersey to complicate his chancery. Warrants were out for his arrest. The Splitdorf Electric Co. complained that Acosta owed $4,445 for electrical equipment in a plane with which he planned to try for the endurance record. A sheriff's writ attached the plane. Acosta climbed in by night and flew it to Connecticut.