At Cleveland

Lieut. Ernst Udet was, next to Baron von Richthofen, the highest German ace in the War. He brought down 62 Allied planes, earned the nickname "Wasp" for his habit of attacking one plane in a squadron, escaping before the others could reach him. Now called "Flea" for his energetic hopping about Europe, baldish. blue-eyed Herr Udet resumed his waspish characteristics on the first day of the National Air Races at Cleveland last week.

The meet opened on the west side of Cleveland's Municipal Airport, divided in two for the occasion. There were tunes by a prodigious band, elaborate parades of civic and social organizations. Presently the first covey of stunt flyers, a team of Europeans assembled by onetime U. S. Navy flyer Lieut. Alford J. Williams, took the air. Going past the stands, Wasp Udet shot out of formation as the other planes landed, climbed almost perpendicularly, turned on his side, dropped till his left wing seemed to brush the ground, climbed again, rounded the field upside down at a height of 200 ft., cut his motor and made a perfect landing after three loops and a barrel-roll. This was the best stunting of the day. Lieut. Williams ended the display by flying a triangular course upside down around the field, executing two snap rolls and a vertical figure eight.

Less precarious but equally amazing were the feats of a fleet of autogyros, flying in formation for the first time on record. Piloted by Amelia Earhart Putnam, Louis A. Yancey and others, the "windmills" flopped vertically into the air, aided by a 30-m. p. h. wind, and descended the same way. The first day's program completed, the flyers settled down to ten days of racing and stunting which were to be climaxed by the Thompson Trophy Race, prime speed test for U. S. planes.

Next day nine Marine planes were doing "coiled-spring" loops in single file across the sky. Suddenly there was a terrific crash, loudly audible to the crowd 2,000 ft. below. Two planes, piloted by Lieuts. L. H. ("Sandy") Sanderson and W. O. Brice, had collided. As their planes fell, the crowd heard Lieut. Emile Chourre. standing before a microphone on the field, calmly broadcast the event as if it were part of the entertainment. Said he: "Keep your seats everybody and watch for the boys to come out. Two of them will shortly join the Caterpillar Club. Here they come. There's one, and now-- there's the other. Everybody's all right. Chutes opened as scheduled and they will soon be down looking for more planes."

But everybody was not yet all right. Sanderson, his shroud line caught in the wrecked plane, dropped 1,000 ft. before he struggled loose. Brice was momentarily stunned, said later he was only dimly aware of flinging himself from his plane and jerking open his parachute. Both landed safely. The planes injured no one: Sanderson's landed in a vacant lot, Brice's on the cornice of a public school building, beyond which several children were playing.

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