65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Serial_130

Text

This text came with the file. It may have mistakes. When the text and the image disagree, the image is right.

'
Pilot Recalls-,f--
:-~-r O
_ U_ _ A~----'--: -~.,;._'1..:..:..
THl
_NIA.Jf
_,Tit.
B&U>_I~":'
14'_~,.:...'.
" T'.iE ORBGO: :u.; 11
Por tland, Or et;oc .
Seeing Discs
•
3 Jul y H,,. 7
Diclc Rankin Tells
. Of Odd Aircraft
More reports ol "flyln& flap,
jacka" turned 11p Wedllesday,
one -from no le.a than Dick
Rankin, brother of the late Tex
Rankin, and blmlelf an expe­
rienced pilot of more than. 7000
boun' tlyln& time.
Rankin, who i.w recovering
from an old back injury r~
celved in an automobile acci­
dfflt, came to PorUand over
the week end to apend the 11um ­
mer. He saw the "allver ca u­
cers" over Bakerlfield, Cal.,
J une 23, while lying on the
lawn run batblns, he told Th~
Oregonian.
"I hesitated to 1, y much
about them," R.lnkl.n ·aald, "un•
t1l I noticed all the hulJabaloo
in th e papers. I punled over
their 1tran1e ahape tor a while
arid JinaUy concluded~bat they
were the navy's new- Xl'SU-1
flying flapjackl!, wblch Ille thin
and round, with twin propellers
and ,tubby tail."
Oaly Oaa XFIU-1 Built
1
(The navy and the manufac,
turer have announced official•
1 Jy that only one such machine
wu built and that It never left
Connecticut.
"ThHe planes were flying
hl&h, maybe 9000 feet, and fair•
Jy fut, about 300 or 400 mile•
an hour. I first counted ten of
them In formation , iolng north.
About 2:15 P . M. UM!y returned
on the rever,ie course, headed
110uth. But there were only sev•
en In the formation.
•
"They were not weavin.c or
bobbln,c tn formaUon I couTdn't
make out the number or loca•
tlon of their propellera and
couJtln't dbtlngulth any w in.«•
or tall. They appeafed almowt
round. They looked like pie-
lures of the na~•• ftylna flap.
1
jack," Rankin 1ald.
R.ankJn, who plans to ,rpenrt
the aummer her, at 8i44 N. E.
Simpson street, h1 now able to
re.um" a little flying for fun,
but not commercially. he 11ald.
He now operate1 a 1trln1 of
autG rourta. ,rpendln,c h l1 win•
lffl at P•lm Springs.
I • ,
I',