Flights & Flyers

"W. R." At his ranch at San Simeon, Calif. Publisher William Randolph Hearst went up in a Stinson monoplane for what was said to be his first flight since the early days of barnstorming aviators.

Altitude. A scarlet-and-cream Lockheed-Vega, with handsome Socialite Ruth Nichols at the controls, roared into the sky over Manhattan, settled into a steady climb of nearly an hour's duration. A thermometer on the wing stopped registering at 45DEG below zero. A high west wind blew the ship backwards, nearly five miles out to sea. Miss Nichols, breathing oxygen that nearly froze her tongue, forced the ship higher and higher until fuel was exhausted, descended with an apparent altitude record for women (subject to confirmation) of more than 30,000 ft. Existing record: 27,418 ft., by Elinor Smith.

Eielson's Friends. Last week two flying mates of the late Carl Ben Eielson (who crashed to death a year ago in the service of Alaskan Airways) made news: Pilot Frank Dorbandt circled low over the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes on the Alaska Peninsula, landed on a level spot amid the active craters, took photographs and flew safely away again. Pilot Joe Crosson (who found Eielson's wrecked plane after the two-month search) flew from Fairbanks to diphtheria-stricken Point Barrow, bearing antitoxin.

Compensation. Lady Mary Heath, flying as a demonstrator for American Cirrus Engines, Inc., crashed with her plane through a factory roof during the National Air Races of 1929 in Cleveland. She sued her employers for $275,000, returned to England. Last week a referee in Jersey City, N. J. awarded Lady Heath $3,850 under the Workmen's Compensation Act, as out-of-court settlement.

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