‘Little Detroit’ in North Africa turns out jeep every 5.5 minutes
Outdoor assembly plant builds all kinds of vehicles
By Col. Karl Detzer, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Lubitsch is happy because Col. Hobby OK’d WAC movie
Famous director will do movie about girl in Army with plenty of comedy
By Inga Arvad, North American Newspaper Alliance
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I DARE SAY —
Books, plays, movies are three different mediums
By Florence Fisher Parry
It’s a curious thing, but no matter how lavish and devoted a motion picture may be, it somehow misses the brilliance of its theater prototype.
Take, for example, Du Barry Was a Lady, now showing in Pittsburgh. The original production of several years ago could be put in a little obscure corner of the stage on which the motion picture version was made, and I dare say that the entire cost of the original production did not represent a figure sufficient to cover one little scene of the present screen production.
Yet in spite of this sumptuous production, which follows the original in treatment and story with admirable fidelity, in spite of the most superb direction, costuming, casting – in spite of every lavish devotion which was obviously heaped upon this screen masterpiece, it shows up flat and lifeless compared with the exuberant, robust, and matchless original stage show.
You might say that it is not fair to compare the performance of Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr with their redheaded counterparts, Red Skelton and Lucille Ball. But I aver: Even though the screen producers of Du Barry Was a Lady would have been able to put in their original roles those two superlative clowns, Merman and Lahr, the screen du Barry would still have seemed upholstered and hollow compared with its original.
I have never seen successful transcriptions of an original Broadway musical comedy to the screen. As magnificent as they are, under the profligate hands of Hollywood’s greatest spendthrifts, the life goes out of them, and we must perforce come to the conclusion that the one induplicable item of the theater is a musical comedy.
Think how many attempts have been made to transfer Jerome Kern’s masterpiece, Showboat, from stage to screen! Think how many attempts have been made to put the Ziegfeld Follies on celluloid! It can’t be done. It can’t be done. And I am tempted strongly to make the same assertion about any true theater piece.
Theater and screen
How would it be possible for them to transfer a Noël Coward play to the screen? It has been tried and the result is farcical and flat. How would it be possible to transfer a William Saroyan play to the screen? (Remember, The Human Comedy was written for the screen originally, which wholly accounts for its success in that medium.)
The only play within my memory which was originally written for the stage and was subsequently given screen production is Maxwell Anderson’s Winterset and even that was, from a box-office standpoint, a failure. One other can be said to have been a success, but this play suffered such alterations in its transfer that it emerged on the screen a new and original piece; and that was Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour which, on the screen, was made into These Three.
Even the most unsuccessful play contained in its original theatrical production a certain intangible essence which was lost in screen presentation. Even such masterly transferences as Journey’s End, What Price Glory, Camille (with Greta Garbo), Anna Christie, Dinner at Eight, The Royal Family, and a host of other magnificent screen successes which I could mention, simply did not stand up to their original stage presentation. On the other hand, there have been cinema pieces that would have lost just as immeasurably had an attempt been made to transfer them to the stage. I am thinking of pieces like In Which We Serve, Mutiny on the Bounty, Rebecca, Suspicion, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and great sagas like All Quiet on the Western Front, Sergeant York or For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Which brings us to the old discussion: How successfully can a novel ever be adapted to the screen? It seems to me a foolish argument, depending as it does upon the literary merit of the novel in question and the artistic skill of the motion picture director. The output of great novelists cannot be transferred to any other medium with sizeable success because, obviously, their style of writing arbitrates the novel’s greatness.
Never the Twain
How can we put Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, J. P. Marquand, William Saroyan on the screen, and approximate their output, which is, in essence, of literary output impossible of reduction to screen action? Might as well try to put Stephen Vincent Benét’s John Brown’s Body on the screen. Heaven knows, out of the dramatic incident of that great poem, a thrilling screen saga could be fashioned, but it would not be Stephen Vincent Benét’s poem – no, not any part of it.
We may be seeing a great motion picture in For Whom the Bell Tolls, but it cannot be Ernest Hemingway any more than Les Misérables on the screen could be Victor Hugo. Or The Constant Nymph could be Margaret Kennedy’s elusive, indescribably tender novel.
It all goes back to the old, old premise: Books are written by authors; plays are written by dramatists; motion pictures are produced by producers and directed by directors. They are three different mediums. They can borrow from each other. They can steal from each other, but they can never duplicate each other. This being so, why the comparison and fruitless argument?
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U.S. State Department (August 1, 1943)
740.0011 European War 1939/30341: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom
Washington, August 1, 1943 — 1 p.m.
4636.
Your 4862, July 26, 6 p.m.
Please arrange to see Eden at his earliest convenience and state to him that we agree that in the interest of the war effort the United States and British Governments should at once inform the Soviet Government regarding developments in Italy and give the Soviet Government to understand that we would welcome any suggestions with respect to the Italian situation that it may care to offer.
We propose that we address a communication to the Soviet Government of the character set forth below and that the British Government simultaneously hand to the Soviet Government a communication along similar lines.
The Government of the United States is of the opinion that following the disappearance of Mussolini Italian resistance is rapidly crumbling and that within a relatively short period full capitulation is to be expected. The Allied Commander-in-Chief of the area is being authorized to accept unconditional surrender from anyone who in his judgment is in a position to offer it. He is also being authorized to take such military measures as may seem to him to be appropriate in order to preserve order, guarantee the security of the Allied forces in Italy, and to prepare for his next immediate future military operations.
The Government of the United States continues to share the view that it is essential that the United States, British, and Soviet Governments keep each other fully informed regarding military developments in the various areas in which their respective armed forces are operating and also that they maintain constant touch with each other regarding such developments of a political nature as may arise from the immediate military developments.
Any suggestions with regard to the situation in Italy which the Soviet Government may at this or at any future time care to offer would, therefore, be welcomed by the United States Government. Furthermore, the United States Government would be glad to reply to any specific inquiries which the Soviet Government might care to make with regard to the Italian situation.
HULL
Völkischer Beobachter (August 2, 1943)
Seit 5. Juli im Osten 7.110 Kampfwagen vernichtet –
Im Juli über 800.000 BRT. ausgeschaltet
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 1. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Die am 30. Juli aufgelebte Kampftätigkeit an der Ostfront ließ am gestrigen Tage mit Ausnahme der Kämpfe am Orelbogen wieder nach. An der Miusfront gingen unsere Truppen nördlich Kuibyschewo, durch starke Kampfverbände der Luftwaffe unterstützt, zum Gegenangriff über, schlossen eine starke sowjetische Kampfgruppe ein und vernichteten sie. Im Raum von Bjelgorod scheiterten örtliche Angriffe der Sowjets. Eigene Gegenstöße in diesem Abschnitt verliefen erfolgreich. Am Orelbogen setzten die Bolschewisten während des ganzen Tages ihre Angriffe mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften fort. Unter hohen blutigen Verlusten und großem Materialausfall brachen ihre Angriffe im Abwehrfeuer aller Waffen zusammen. Ein örtlicher Einbruch wurde abgeriegelt.
Südlich des Ladogasees war die feindliche Angriffstätigkeit wesentlich geringer als an den Vortagen. Deutsche Jäger warfen vorübergehend eingedrungene feindliche Kräfte im Gegenangriff zurück.
Die Sowjets verloren am gestrigen Tage an der gesamten Ostfront 217 Panzer. Mit diesem Erfolg erhöht sich die Zahl der seit dem 5, Juli 1943 allein von Truppen des Heeres abgeschossenen Kampfwagen auf 7.110.
Auf Sizilien setzte der Feind seine Anstrengungen, die Mittelfront zu durchbrechen, fort. In beweglicher Kampfführung vereitelten unsere Truppen die Absichten des Feindes und fügten ihm hohe Personal- und Materialverluste zu. Auch an der Nord- und Südfront brachen alle Angriffe des Gegners zusammen. Die Luftwaffe zersprengte mit schnellen Kampfflugzeugen motorisierte feindliche Verbände und setzte Flakgeschütze des Gegners außer Gefecht.
Über dem Reichsgebiet fanden bei Tage und in der Nacht keine Kampfhandlungen statt.
Von Seestreitkräften der Kriegsmarine, der Bordflak von Handelsschiffen und der Marineflak wurden in der Zeit vom 21. Bis 31. Juli ein nordamerikanisches Luftschiff und 56 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen. Im Kampf gegen die britisch-nordamerikanischen Seeverbindungen und Landungsflotten im Mittelmeer wurden im Monat Juli 94 Schiffe mit zusammen 550.241 BRT. versenkt und weitere 53 Schiffe mit insgesamt 246.750 BRT. vernichtend getroffen. Darüber hinaus wurden mindestens 220 Schiffe mit etwa 780.000 BRT. durch Bomben- und Torpedotreffer beschädigt. Auch von diesen letzteren Schiffen kann ein Teil als verloren betrachtet werden. An diesem Ergebnis ist die Unterseebootwaffe mit 351.243 BRT. versenkten und 30.000 BRT. durch Torpedotreffer beschädigten Schiffsraums beteiligt.
Die feindlichen Kriegsflotten erlitten ebenfalls schwere Verluste. Einheiten der Kriegsmarine versenkten 3 Zerstörer, 7 Schnellboote, 1 Unterseeboot, 1 Bewacher. 1 Kreuzer und mehr als 15 Schnellboote wurden schwer beschädigt.
Verbände der Luftwaffe versenkten: Einen Zerstörer, drei Schnellboote, ein Geleitboot, zwei Korvetten, eine große Anzahl von Landungsbooten. Sie beschädigten: Ein Schlachtschiff, mehrere Kreuzer, neun Zerstörer, eine Fähre und viele Landungsboote.
Schlachtflugzeuge gegen Schiffsartillerie –
Die Abwehrerfolge in Sizilien
dnb. Berlin, 1. August –
In Sizilien versuchte der Feind am 31. Juli erneut im mittleren Abschnitt der Front einen Durchbruch zu erzwingen. Unsere Truppen vereitelten jedoch in elastischer Kampfführung, zum Teil durch Ausweichbewegungen und Gegenstöße, diese Pläne, die dem Gegner keine Erfolge, sondern nur schwere blutige und materielle Verluste einbrachten.
Entlang der Küstenstraße tasteten sich die nordamerikanischen Verbände auch im Laufe des 31. Juli nur zögernd vor. Die schweren und verlustreichen Kämpfe der vergangenen Woche haben dem Feind in diesem Abschnitt der sizilianischen Front notgedrungen zu seiner alten sehr vorsichtigen Taktik zurückkehren lassen.
Auch an der Südfront verlief der Tag im allgemeinen ohne besondere Ereignisse. Lediglich an einer Stelle flackerte die Kampftätigkeit in den Abendstunden des 31. Juli lebhafter auf. Ein örtlicher Einbruch, der dem Feinde hier in die Stellung einer deutschen Panzergrenadierdivision zunächst gelungen war, konnte sehr schnell aufgefangen und anschließend bereinigt werden.
An der Nordküste Siziliens beschoß ein feindlicher Kreuzer in den Morgenstunden des 31. Juli die deutschen Abwehrstellungen. Durch das sofortige Eingreifen deutscher Kampfflugzeuge wurde der Kreuzer zum Abdrehen gezwungen. Die Beschießung selbst hatte keinen wesentlichen Schaden anrichten können. Die Deckungsmöglichkeiten sind gerade an der sizilianischen Küste mit ihren felsigen Ufern ausnehmend gut. Bestehen doch die Befestigungsanlagen zum Teil aus natürlichen, zum Teil aus betonierten Höhlen und Bunkern, die selbst gegen die schweren Brocken der Schiffsgeschütze ausreichenden Schutz zu bieten vermögen. Somit gelang es dem Gegner nicht, unseren Panzergrenadieren an der Küste ernsthafte Verluste zuzufügen.
Weitere Versuche des Feindes, auch an der Ostküste unsere Truppen mit Schiffsartillerie zu bombardieren, wurden ebenfalls durch schnelle Gegenangriffe deutscher Schlachtflugzeuge nachdrücklich unterbunden. Die Treffer lagen so gut, daß mit der Beschädigung mehrerer feindlicher Kriegschiffeinheiten, darunter einem Zerstörer, gerechnet werden kann.
Über der Straße von Messina war im Gegensatz zu den Vortagen am 31. Juli ein schwächerer Einsatz der feindlichen Luftwaffe zu vermerken. Da die Meerenge ausgezeichnet durch Flak gesichert ist, wird der Feind in den meisten Fällen zu ungezieltem Bombenwurf gezwungen. Die Schäden sind infolgedessen nur gering. Über Sizilien selber fanden während des ganzen Tages lebhafte Luftkämpfe mit feindlichen Jagd- und Bomberverbänden statt.
In der Nacht zum 1. August griffen schwere deutsche Kampfflugzeuge feindliche Schiffsziele im Hafen und auf der Reede von Palermo an. Während der gleichen Zeit waren deutsche Nachtjäger zu Angriffen auf vom Feinde belegte Flugplätze Siziliens, unter anderen auf Comiso, angesetzt.
Heftige Angriffe zurückgewiesen
dnb. Rom, 1. August –
Der italienische Wehrmachtbericht vom Sonntag lautet:
An der sizilianischen Front kam es auch am Samstag zu harten Kämpfen. Im Raum von Regalbuto wurden wiederholte heftige Angriffe des Gegners zurückgewiesen.
Feindliche Flottenverbände haben Ortschaften an der tyrrhenischen und der jonischen Seite Kalabriens beschossen, ohne nennenswerte Schäden anzurichten.
Durch Japans Luftwaffe –
USA.-Stützpunkte ausgeschaltet
tc. Tokio, 1. August –
Durch die während der vergangenen Woche von der japanischen Luftwaffe auf nordamerikanische Luftstützpunkte in Tschungking-China systematisch durchgeführten Bombenangriffe sind diese, wie von militärischer Seite erklärt wird, als Basen für Luftangriffe auf das japanische Mutterland für die nächste Zeit ausgeschaltet worden.
Insgesamt wurden während der vergangenen Woche bei den japanischen Angriffsflügen auf die nordamerikanischen Luftstützpunkte 35 USA.-Jagdflugzeuge abgeschossen.
The Pittsburgh Press (August 2, 1943)
ALLIES OPEN DRIVE FOR KNOCKOUT IN SICILY
San Stefano falls in push along coast
10,000 prisoners, half of them Nazis, taken by Americans
Gains in air, on land and sea were scored by Allied forces in Sicily and Italy, with British and U.S. planes and warships striking at Italian cities and shelling the coasts. In Sicily, Americans captured San Stefano in the drive on Messina while the British 8th Army deepened its bridgehead before Catania. U.S. planes bombed Naples, and British warships struck at two places on the top of the Italian toe and one point on the sole (inset map).
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
Allied armies have launched an offensive to crush Axis resistance in northeastern Sicily, smashing forward on the entire Messina bridgehead front of more than 60 miles despite strong enemy opposition.
An official announcement said that “Allied forces in Sicily have started an offensive,” with the U.S. 7th Army under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., capturing 10,000 more prisoners – half of them Germans – and driving 12 miles into the enemy’s northern flank. The north coastal town of San Stefano and the town of Mistretta, six miles south of San Stefano, fell to the Americans, as did Castel di Lucio, Castel di Tusa and Matta Pettino.
Reports steady progress
Today’s communiqué reported steady progress on all sectors despite strong counterattacks, which were repulsed.
The communiqué said:
Assoro, Nissoria, Nicosia, Mistretta and San Stefano are in our hands.
The network of roads in enemy hands was greatly reduced by the new advances and the remaining roads are being pounded day and night by Allied airplanes.
The latest bag of Axis prisoners increased to about 87,000 the number of Axis troops taken during the entire Sicilian campaign.
Crushes counterattack
The famous British 8th Army, veteran of El Alamein and Mareth in Africa, crushed a strong Axis counterattack on the southern side of the Mt. Etna Line, and Canadian troops pushed forward in heavy fighting to the south of the American columns.
Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of the 8th Army, told his troops that “we will now drive the Germans out of Sicily,” and praised the Americans for seizing “more than half of the island in record time.”
Axis losses high
Axis losses on all fronts were reported heavy. The heaviest fighting was said to have taken place in the Assoro and Nissoria areas of central Sicily. There the Canadians faced the toughest German motorized elements in a difficult mountainous region where the Axis was contesting bitterly for every foot of ground.
The new American drive gave the 7th Army possession of the last important north-south road held by the Axis leading to the central part of the island. The road runs south from San Stefano through Mistretta and the Caronia Mountains to Nicosia.
The American advance of 12 miles brought the 7th Army within 70 miles of Messina along the north coastal road.
Yank bombers rip Romania’s key oil fields
Americans leave flaming ruin at Ploești; 20 planes lost
By Leon Kay, United Press staff writer
Giving Hitler an ‘A’ card, U.S. bombers yesterday blasted one of Germany’s main sources of gasoline by blasting the Ploești oil fields of Romania in a 2,400-mile flight.
Cairo, Egypt –
Twenty out of nearly 200 U.S. Liberators that turned Romania’s vast Ploești oil fields into a flaming ruin yesterday were shot down over the target area and an additional unspecified number have failed to return from the record 2,400-mile flight, a communiqué announced today.
Advices from the Balkans said that great fires were still raging today in the oil fields, 24 hours after the raid, and the attack was hailed here as a success, with the results far outweighing the cost.
Hits were reported from heights of 100-500 feet on distillation plants, fractionation towers, boiler houses and storage tanks, which provide oil for one-third to one-half of the German war machine.
See sheets of flames
A Royal Air Force communiqué on the raid said:
Heavy explosions and sheets of flames were observed among oil refinery installations while many fires were started.
At least 51 intercepting German fighters, including Fw 190s and Me 109s and 110s, were shot down by the unescorted Liberators, according to the communiqué, and other reports indicated that the bag might reach 53.
The Liberators also ran into heavy anti-aircraft fire.
Two refineries wrecked
At least two of the 13 oil refineries in the Ploești area were wrecked and the entire district, 35 miles north of Bucharest, was left wreathed in flames and smoke. Col. Leon Johnson, who commanded one group of Liberators, said the scene was the “closest thing to Dante’s Inferno I ever saw.”
Dipping to chimney-stack level, wave after wave of the four-engined bombers swept over the 19-square-mile oil fields shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday, dropping 300 tons of high explosive and firebombs and strafing everything in sight.
Brig. Gen. Uzal G. Ent, chief of the 9th Air Force Bomber Command and leader of the raid, said in an NBC broadcast from Cairo that the raid “contributed materially to hastening the end of the Axis.” Normally, he said, the fields produce 18,000 tons of fuel oil, “but it will be a long time before they turn out that much again.”
The refineries provide 90% of the German Air Force’s gasoline supplies.
The Astro Română refinery, believed to be the largest in Europe, was reported damaged heavily and still burning. The pumping station on the Giurgiu pipeline which conveys oil to the Danube received numerous hits followed by many heavy explosions.
The Creditul refinery, newest in the fields and producer of aviation gas, was reported the site of raging fires. Vital parts of the Steaua Română refinery were hit squarely. The Româno-Americană refinery’s distillation plant was reported “most heavily damaged.”
Cracking tower hit
A refinery at Câmpina, 20 miles from Ploești itself, was destroyed, and direct hits were scored on the cracking tower of another nearer Ploești, effectively halting production there. Smoke and fire hampered full observation of damage to other objectives.
The raid was the fourth by the Allies on the Ploești fields, the Russians having bombed them twice in 1941 and the U.S. 9th Air Force having followed through with a raid from Palestinian bases a little more than a year ago.
Trains 2,000 fliers
This time, the Allied High Command decided to attempt to destroy the Ploești refineries and other installations with one massive blow and Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, U.S. Middle East commander, took over the task of training 2,000 American crewmen.
The big Liberators roared out from their Middle Eastern bases early yesterday and swept across the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and Bulgaria into Romania, barely skimming the treetops at times. Churchgoing crowds waved to them.
Over Ploești, the airmen rained bombs on their targets and within a matter of minutes the oil fields were a mass of flames. The fliers used special low-level bombsights. Many of the bombs dropped had delayed action fuses.
Soot covers plane
Maj. Norman Appold of Detroit, who piloted one of the last planes over the target, said a tremendous explosion in the middle of the oil fields covered his Liberator with smoke and soot.
1st Lt. Frank D. Slough of Woodland Hill, California, who once raided Kiel from a base in Britain, said the raid was “far rougher” than those he had seen on Germany. Anti-aircraft fire riddled several fires.
Col. John R. “Killer” Kane, another veteran raider, said the whole refineries area appeared on fire. His group shot down at least 33 enemy fighters.
Sgt. Jack Swafford, waist gunner on a plane known as Little Joe, said he saw one oil tank “open up like a coffee pot,” sending flames high in the air.
Send oil ‘by air’
Enough bombs were dropped to “send all the oil in Romania to Berlin by air,” commented 2nd Lt. Arthur A. Johnson of Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Another pilot told of seeing three to four fires burning in one refinery and flames shooting 500 feet in the air from storage tanks.
Capt. Harold A. Wicklund, who took part in the raid on Rome, said he “enjoyed this one much more.”
He said:
I saw lots of smoke. We did some damage. It all happened so fast I don’t know for sure what we hit.
Corn sticks to plane
Sgt. Harry Schultz of Kansas City, Missouri, said the fires in the Ploești fields were the largest he had seen in any raid.
Flying Officer Raymond J. Lacombe of Providence, Rhode Island, said his plane swept so low that it returned to its base with corn on the bottom.
The bomb bay doors failed to open on a Liberator piloted by Lt. John Blackis of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and Sgt. Joseph Landry of Manchester, New Hampshire, the engineer, climbed down from the top turret and cranked them open by hand. Replacing him in the turret, Sgt. David L. Rosenthal of Newark, New Jersey, the radio operator, brought down a Me 109 with the first 50 rounds he had ever fired from a machine gun.
Lt. Blackis, 22, is the son of Thomas Blackis, 1250 Taylor Ave., New Kensington. A former Carnegie Institute of Technology student, he began flying five years ago while still in high school.
Brereton greets fliers
Gen. Brereton was on hand at the signal tower waiting for the Liberators to return to their bases. The first to come in was the Doodlebug, piloted by 1st Lt. John E. McAtee of San Francisco.
Gen. Ent was in the sixth plane to land and Gen. Brereton shook hands with him as he emerged.
Leader of raid on Romania nearly lost his life here
Heroism aboard burning balloon won medal for Gen. Ent
Brig. Gen. Uzal G. Ent, leader of the American raid on Romania’s oil fields yesterday, is a former Pittsburgher and in 1928 almost lost his life in a balloon race from Bettis Field.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Cheney Award for his conduct after lightning struck his balloon shortly after the start of the race.
The bolt killed the balloon’s pilot, Lt. Paul Evert. Gen. Ent, then a lieutenant and Lt. Evert’s aide, attempted to revive the pilot and then brought the burning balloon to the ground, despite the fact that his right arm and left leg were paralyzed temporarily by the electric shock.
He said he wasn’t sure Lt. Evert was dead and didn’t want to leave him in the burning balloon.
During another balloon race, he and a companion were caught by a storm and tossed about all night, once catching in a tree and finally being dumped out of their basket when it smashed into a mountain in New York State.
Gen. Ent’s wife is the former Eleanor Marwitz of Pittsburgh. She and their nine-year-old son are now visiting her mother, Mrs. Minnie B. Marwitz, at 419 N Craig St. They were in Florida all winter and, after their visit here, plan to take up residence either in Florida or New York.
Their romance began in Dayton, Ohio, in 1929, the year following the balloon race at Bettis Field. Miss Marwitz, of stage and radio fame, had just completed a season in the Ziegfeld production of Rosalie, in which she was a singing star, and went to Dayton to visit relatives. There she met Lt. Ent.
Held nine decorations
From 1939 to 1942, when the Ents were living in South America, Mrs. Ent kept up singing career by appearing in Red Cross benefit concerts.
Gen. Ent now has a total of nine decorations, including three from Peru and one from Bolivia.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1900, Gen. Ent served as a private and corporal in 1918 and 1919, then entered West Point in June of the latter year. He graduated and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Air Service in June 1924. The following year, he graduated from the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal, and the year after that from the Balloon and Airship School at Scott Field, Illinois.
Specialized on balloons
For years, he specialized in balloon and airship work. He was the pilot of the airship TC-5, which landed on the steamship American Trader while it was under full steam off Ambrose Light in 1928. Next year, he landed the same airship on the Munitions Building in Washington.
It was during this period that he participated in the balloon races. Reports from North Africa indicate that the wing of Gen. Ent’s plane grazed a tree during the Romania raid, which must have seemed like old times to him.
In 1941 and 1942, he served as a senior neutral military observer at the settlement of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian boundary dispute, and early this year was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his work there. He was a colonel at the time. Since then, he has been made a brigadier general.
Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, commanding general of all U.S. Army forces in the Middle East, is also a native Pittsburgher. A son of William Denny Brereton and Mrs. Helen Hyde Brereton, he was born here in 1890.
Glider crash fatal to ten in St. Louis
Mayor and leaders in aircraft industry are among victims
St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
Army investigators sought to determine today what caused the wings of a new cargo glider to collapse, sending the craft earthward in a dive that killed 10 persons, including Mayor William Dee Becker of St. Louis and others prominent in the aircraft industry.
The new-type glider, making its second flight, crashed before 10,000 horrified spectators at Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport yesterday firing a public demonstration, the craft was similar to the one which was recently toward across the Atlantic to England in the first such flight.
Lt. Col. G. R. Johnston, Army Air Forces Press Relations Officer, said the Army would ground all similar gliders manufactured by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation on the possibility that structural flaws caused the crash. The number of such gliders in Army service and the number produced by the firm were not disclosed.
Air pioneer killed
Col. Johnson said a preliminary investigation disclosed no evidence of sabotage but added that the probe would continue.
The 10 victims included Mayor Becker, Thomas Dysart (president of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce) and Maj. William B. Robertson (president of the Robertson Aircraft Corporation, which built the glider).
Maj. Robertson, a pioneer in aviation, was cofounder of Lambert Field and helped finance Charles A. Lindbergh’s historic flight to France. He helped organize transcontinental airlines, assisted in surveying and laying out the China National Airways and made an aerial survey of the air transport facilities of Turkey.
Women faint
The glider was flying directly over the field at an altitude of about 2,000 feet when spectators saw the right wing collapse. The wing dropped off seconds after the glider was released from the towline for the flight under its own momentum. Shortly afterward, the left wing buckled under pressure and folded back against the fuselage as the glider plummeted toward the ground.
Women fainted as the craft struck the earth. Splinters and fragments were hurled several hundred feet.
The flight was staged by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation and the I Troop Carrier Command of the Army Air Forces. Maj, Walter T. Fletcher, who piloted the Douglas C-47 cargo plane which towed the glider, said the craft was released from the towline without incident.
Made successful flight
Cpl. J. A. Briggs, crew chief who released the line, said the motorless craft faltered a few seconds later.
The glider was built to accommodate 15 fully-equipped soldiers or five soldiers and one jeep, but company officials said it could handle five times its weight capacity. Shortly before the crash, the craft made a successful test flight.
At a press conference before the flight, Mayor Becker was asked whether he thought glider flights were dangerous. Mayor Becker, who had never flown in a glider, replied:
You can die only once and we must die sometime.
Others killed
Others killed in the crash were:
- Lt. Col Paul H. Hazelton, Army Air Force;
- Max Doyne of the St. Louis Public Utilities Department;
- Charles Cunningham, assistant city comptroller;
- St. Louis County Judge Henry Mueller;
- Harold A. Krueger, vice president and general manager of the Robertson Corporation;
- Capt. Milton C. Klugh of the 71st Troop Carrier Squadron, Stout Field, Indianapolis (pilot of the glider);
- Pvt. J. M. Davis, attached to the 71st Troop Carrier Squadron.