Charles Russell Scrapbook Images

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One day while sitting in my room at the hotel, I decided to record the likeness of a very famous man. So with the aid of some books for weights, a cord to the shutter and the very bright California sun streaming through the window I made this portrait.
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Thanks for your patience. We have now finished traveling and have gotten around to aircraft. Early on the morning of the opening day we drive to Mines field, park and enter the large exhibition building where aircraft are shown. The entrance is ornamented by a life size figure of Lindberg.
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After looking over the planes on exhibit we pass on to the flying field where huge grandstands have been erected. We sit in the Press Box near the broadcasting and watch the stands fill. Today there are more 100000 people to see the races and the stunt flying. All branches of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Flying units are present beside the commercial types.
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A number of entertaining features have been provided to amuse the crowd. Whoa Big Boy, don’t let the propeller blades rock you off your long legs. The loud speakers blare forth announcements, the band plays, and planes zoom overhead with air shattering blasts.
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But hark. Our fellow traveller, Asst. Secretary of Commerce E.P. Warner has been introduced over the public address system and is welcoming the great crowd which has come to see the nation’s aviation on parade.
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Capt. Jimmy Doolittle has just completed his dash across the continent from New York to Los Angeles in his Lockheed coming in first. He grins his acknowledgement to the plaudits of the vast throng. He’s glad to be back on the ground again.
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The Navy was outstanding in the perfection of their formation flying. These little ships were Boeing pursuits with Pratt and Whitney Wasps to drag them. And how they did drag them. They are so maneuverable it made my hand itch to grab a control stick once more.
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Among the favorites with the huge crowd was the First Pursuit Squadron from Selfridge Field. An eighteen ship formation was represented.
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Silhoueted against the bright morning sky these boys are roaring in to attack the imaginery enemy. Their P 1 Curtiss planes have a wicked snarl as they hurtle toward us.

Again they wheel away and the snarl drops to a dim roar and then to a distant hum as they disappear over the edge of the field.
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But back they come again in single file diving sharply toward the crowd in the stands. There are shrieks from the fairer sex as they dive by in an earth shattering crescendo of sound. Then back again but this time to drop lightly to earth in three ship formation amid the blurping of throttled motors.
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The Navy had reason to be proud of her “Three Buccaneers” who were as fine a stunt team as ever had been seen. They looped, rolled spun through countless evolutions in perfect formation. There they go now into a loop without breaking intervals. Wonderful work.
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And yet again the Navy scores with their nine ship formation. They take off with ribbons tying their planes together and after thrilling maneuvers they land without having broken their bonds. That – people, is real flying.
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And now a lone eagle takes the air and stunts with amazing daring over the field. His pet trick is to fly upside down. I hope he has change in his pockets for I know it won’t stay there long.
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Al Wilson is an eccentric maniac who stunts for the movies. Here is his favorite machine – a replica of the early Wright machine but with a modern engine. How he can fly this hay baler. He loops, spins and rolls it to the gasps of the crowd while sitting on the lower wing with this feet on the rudder bar overhanging space. Not for me.
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Continental finally broke into the picture in the form of a Moreland truck powered by Red Seal. It snakes the planes off the field and at present id aiding the Army.
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I shall always thrill at the sight of a tiny dot hurtling earthward from a plane thousands of feet above – to see the streamer above it suddenly bloom into a pure white flower of silk – and behold the dot resolve itself into the form of a man floating to earth by means of his aerial life preserver. These men vie with each other in trying to hit a large target on the field and they do so with uncanny accuracy.
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The army rivals to the Navy’s Three Buccaneers were the Three Musketeers from Selfridge Field. Lts. Williams, Woodring and Cornelius were the members of this team and prior to their first exhibition I met all of them. Lt. Williams was killed the second day but Lindberg, who was attending the races, took his place during the rest of the week. He is just leading the formation at takeoff.
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One of the most unusual looking airplanes at the National Air Races was developed by Professor Merrill of the University of California. It had and exceptionally short fuselage with horizontal stabilizer but no elevators. A control was devised to change the angle of the main wing to permit climbing and diving.

It was a decidedly queer looking affair in the air and had a high rate of climb and was fairly stable in the air. It had rather poor characteristics for landing because of its short length and leaped around as lively as a porpoise. The announcers on the field refered to it as the Doodle Bug.
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WE decided to take a walk along the line of planes drawn up about the field. There were all sizes and shapes. We first examined a Kreutzer Monoplane and didn’t care much for it.
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From there we passed on to watching a Loening Amphibian getting a drink of gas. This is an interesting development in design making a two purpose plane to land on water or land. The Navy had several of these “Ducks” powered by 300 HP Pratt & Whitney Wasps. They are slow but sure.
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Our next stop was to see a Curtiss Robin. This monoplane which has no resemblance to the bird it was named for, enjoyed considerable popularity because of its low cost. It was one of the first attempts to make a production airplane.
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We stopped alongside of a Navy Martin and talked with members of its crew. This design has three cockpits and is used for reconnaissance work. It is heavy and slow but has good weight lifting characteristics. It is powered by a Wright Cyclone.
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One of the most interesting personalities at the Races was Mr. Heath of Heath Aircraft who I persuaded to pose beside his Heath Bullet. It was well named being streamlined to a bullet shape and painted a gleaming silver. It was the tiniest craft there and powered by a small two cylinder engine.
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A few minutes later Heath squeezed himself into the tiny cockpit with the aid of a mechanic and a shoe horn and took to the air. As he banked across the field at takeoff his wings were a white gleam against the bright sky. He darted hither and yon like a humming bird.