Pageant

The National Charity Air Pageant held last week at Roosevelt Field, L. I. was far from being "the greatest air race in history," as its pressagents shouted, but it packed into two days more spectacular flying than the East had seen in many a year; and it produced an amateur champion airman and airwoman of the U. S.

The contest for the amateur championships was not spectacular. It was held far from the grandstands and but for eloquent Announcer Jack Storey, the crowd could have had little notion of what was taking place. To the 39 contestants who had been practicing for weeks, however, and to sportsmen pilots throughout the land, it was enormously important. For years they had wanted some kind of national contest to give their sport a definite status, and to remove the stigma of "sissy pilot" which, some of them felt, was a popular synonym for "sportsman pilot."

One by one the finalists, four men and four women, went through their paces: three deadstick landings to a spot, two loops, a spin, two Immelman turns, two snap rolls--not prodigious feats, but calling for skill. Neatest performance was made by a woman, Mrs. Cecil W. ("Teddy") Kenyon of Waban, Mass. Pretty, blonde wife of a former transport pilot, Mrs. Kenyon received $5,000 and the title of champion airwoman. Not so good as Mrs. Kenyon at spot landings, but unsurpassed at aerobatics was an engaging young man named Felix William ("Bill") Zelcer, proprietor of Manhattan's famed White Horse Tavern. In his fast biplane with a picture of Felix the Cat painted on the side, Pilot Zelcer scored 590 points out of a possible 600 at stunting, won the men's title and $5,000.

Other features of the Pageant:

P:Alexander P. ("Sasha") de Seversky, Russian flyer who lost a leg in the War when his own plane's bombs exploded, flew a ship of his own design for a world record of 180.3 m.p.h. for amphibions. (No previous record existed.)

P:One-eyed "Jimmy" Wedell tried to break his own world record of 305 m.p.h. He whipped past the grandstands at 302, headed back for another dash when something snapped. He landed immediately, discovered to his horror that a piece of the engine cowling had fouled the propeller, might well have caused a disaster.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.