Peter Hesselbach and his German comrades who accompanied him to this
country were a companionable lot and popular with the Summer folk
that Summer of 1928. Corn Hill is situated in a primitive setting,
with unbounded spaces of hills, marsh land, and beach, and faces the
great sweep of Cape Cod Bay. It is a lofty hill and on its top is a
bronze tablet attesting that here the reconnoitering Pilgrims found
the Indians’ cache of corn which enabled them to survive the first
hard year in Plymouth. And, looking out over the waters one discerns
the outline of Provincetown Harbor where the Mayflower was anchored
and where the Pilgrim fathers signed their Compact, the genesis of
our American form of free Government. A group of rude cottages are
perched atop Corn Hill. Two of them were occupied by the German glider
experts. A haus frau, brought in from somewhere, served up hearty
German dishes and all in all it was a very pleasant Summer. For
recreation, the visitors whizzed into Provincetown for ice cream cones
and gingerale--“gingeraley” they called it. Often they would sit for
long periods at the end of a Provincetown wharf, studying the soaring,
wheeling, dipping flight of the gulls.
Sometimes their American neighbors would pull on a rope and lift the
glider into the air on the numerous practice flights. Setting off on
his four hours and five minutes-flight, Peter Hesselbach was propelled
over the edge of Corn Hill by a rubber slingshot and a tail-tripper
arrangement that was clamped to a planking and worked by a lever.
Several hundred Summerers and natives from surrounding towns witnessed
that epochal event. A good representation of Boston newspaper cameramen
took pictures of the 55-minute flight. Newsreel men also made a
recording.
It was a beautiful, bright day when Hesselbach got off on his long
flight at 9:55 A. M. He was hoping to be able to beat the world record
for a soaring flight at that time--14 hours, 23 minutes. A series of
bonfires stretching for two miles along the beach would have guided him
on the nocturnal part of his adventure. For sustenance he took with him
a few sandwiches and some coffee.