After I was graduated from Brooks and Kelly, the army transferred me to
Selfridge Field in Detroit. There was nothing much doing around
Selfridge, and I was getting a little bored. I heard they were giving an
air show at Akron, right near my home town. I thought it would be fun to
go out there to see my old friends and give a stunt exhibition. I got
the necessary permission from the higher-ups and started out in a Tommy
Morse. The Morse planes were pretty near obsolete by that time, and the
service was trying to replace them as fast as possible with newer
models. There were only a few of them left.
When I got to Akron there was a lot of excitement going on over the air
show. I told myself I was going to give them the works--show them what a
local boy could do. The first part of my program went off fine. I
looped, barrel-rolled, dove, etc. I had figured out a trick landing as
the grand finale that would pull the customers right out of their seats.
The landing didn't turn out so well. I misjudged my distance and ended
up on one wing. It was pretty humiliating. There was nothing to do but
wire Selfridge Field to ship me another wing. They wired back to the
effect that there were no more wings available at the moment and that I
should crate the ship home. That stumped me. I had no idea how to
dismantle a plane. I studied the old Morse from every angle, but I
couldn't find the solution. I had to get the plane in a crate, and I had
to do it quickly. I used a saw. I sawed off the good wing, the damaged
wing, and the tail surfaces. I crammed them into a crate and sent them
on their way. The plane of course had to be junked.