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I have to say after being a student of the airmail
pioneers for many years I am even more impressed with the story
after flying the Transcon. The task seems impossible considering
they flew these routes in darkness and in adverse weather. Remember
we flew this route on our terms and still had to work to stay safe.
The trip went well through our Chicago stop until weather stopped us
130 miles east of Iowa City in Rochelle Illinois. We were hosted in
Rochelle by a wonderful airport family and warm town reception for 4
nights and 5 days as the gulf hurricanes fed a stationary warm front
in the Midwest that yielded 5" of rain for 4 days in a row. On the
last day we were able to run under the weather and broke out into
blue and a million as we crossed though Des Moines IA now 4 days
behind sced. We passed though the Wyoming high country with light
winds and modest temps which was a real blessing for all of us. In
Rock Springs I picked up Mary Weber in the Boeing from the DC USPS
to ride with us to SF. She was wonderful and was a delight to have
along. We pushed hard through Nevada and encountered a rotor out
side Winnemucca which caused us to drop from 6500-6000 ft instantly
and if the seat belts had not been tight we could have been ejected
from our open cockpits.
We arrived in SF Thursday Sept 18th 3 days late with clear blue
skies and were hosted by Bud Field at Hayward airport. Bud was
wonderful and picked up all of our SF expenses for the day and 1/2
we were there. We were met by Bill Boeing Jr's Daughter Susan to
receive the NY mail that had traveled with us for 2600 miles. It was
Susan's grandmother who had handed the mail to the 1st Boeing 40
east bound from SF in 1926. After a wonderful ceremony we took off
for a SF bay tour for golden gate and city picks with a stop over at
SFO and a wonderful reception by the SFO airport museum. We then
returned to Bud Filed Aviation for a hosted dinner party and
program.
On Friday we headed for home Ben and Al headed for Reno and Larry
and I headed for Spokane. Larry and I spent the night in Portland Or
Friday night. We woke up Sat am with flyable VFR. 2500 broken and
3500 overcast and headed for the Columbia Gorge and then up to Pasco
for our final fuel stop before arriving in Spokane early afternoon.
We passed Cascade locks in light rain with 2500 overcast and good
visibility but very high moisture content and cool temps. We were
now wearing our Colvenex cold weather flying suits. Then it HAPPENED
Larry's engine was running ruff for a few seconds at a time and then
IT QUIT!! This is the one of the worst places in the Pacific
Northwest for and engine failure. The Gorge at this point 10 miles
west of Hood River is bordered with steep cliffs on both shores with
small two lane highways and no were to go!! He had a 25 kt + tail
wind and when Larry turned to the only small field in sight on the
Washington side of the river the head wind almost stopped him. He
had no choice but to put the airplane down on a small driveway with
large trees. He hit hard with very slow forward speed and the
airplane wrapped itself around the tree trunk with the left wing and
landing gear absorbing all the energy. Larry called me and said the
he was OK a real blessing to hear. I circled the crash sight for 50
min to help emergency personal and was able to reach Larry on his
cell phone to find out that he was fine and standing near the
airplane. The airplane was a mess. With in a few hours he was driven
to Cascade Locks and we flew home to Spokane in the Boeing counting
our blessings and reflecting on our adventures. Thanks to Larry's
quick thinking and low energy biplane my dear friend was spared his
life and will fly again.
After this experience Larry, Ben, Al, George, Mary and my self will
remain close life time friends with Transon memories that we will
carry the rest of our lives!!!!!!!!
A very humble pilot to have lived history up close and personal with
an increased respect for the Air Mail Pioneers. Total flight time
NY-SF 29 hrs.
Addison Pemberton Spokane Wa.
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