E-text prepared by Roger Frank and Sue Clark
THE FLYING REPORTER
By
LEWIS E. THEISS
WILCOX & FOLLETT CO.
PUBLISHERS—1945—CHICAGO
Copyrighted, 1930,
WILCOX & FOLLETT CO.
All rights reserved
The Flying Reporter
Made in United States of America
FOREWORD
It will probably come as a surprise to manyreaders to know that when this story was written,more than one hundred American newspapersowned and operated airplanes as a regular part oftheir news-gathering equipment. By the timethis tale is between covers, there will doubtless bemany additional planes cleaving the skies in theswift search for news, in the carrying of relief tomarooned and endangered human beings, in thehunt for those who are lost, in the transportationof news photographs, and not infrequently in thecarrying of important papers and documents.For although the primary end of the newspaperis to collect and distribute news, it also carries ona host of activities for the direct benefit ofmankind.
Some of these news planes are elaboratelyequipped for their work, with desks and typewritersfor reporters, darkrooms and developingequipment for photographers, and specialequipment for the taking of aerial photographs. Someof these planes ordinarily carry as many as fourmen—a pilot, a mechanic, a camera man, and areporter. Thus they are equipped for almostany emergency.
Among the eight airplanes used by the Hearstnewspaper forces to “cover” the arrival of theGraf Zeppelin on the Pacific Coast were somehuge tri-motored ships. One of these wasequipped like a real news room. It carried onereporter, one photographer, one announcer, oneradio operator and technician. The plane flewtwo hundred miles along the coast, and sent descriptivestories direct by radio to the Examineroffice in Los Angeles, where a short-wave stationcopied the despatches and rushed them to theeditors at their desks.
It would be easy enough to “invent” adventuresfor news fliers, but it would be foolish to doso for the reason that few “made-up” storiescould equal in interest the actual experiences offlying reporters. Consequently, practically allthe material in this book is based upon actualoccurrences.
The bit of Warren Long’s parachute thatJimmy Donnelly prized so highly is merely thecounterpart of a piece of the parachute of thatfine young pilot, the late Thomas Nelson. It isfrom the parachute he had when he stepped outof a burning mail plane at Ringtown, Pa., in thefall of 1929. This keepsake was given to me byDr. Leigh Breisch, of Lewisburg, Pa., withwhose father Pilot Nelson spent several hoursafter that thrilling leap. His parachute waspartly burned, and the bit of silk in my possessionis scorched by fire. It is a prized possession, forI knew and greatly admired the dauntless youngman who wore it.
The descriptions of the radio beacons