GOVERNOR BICKETT TAKES AIR FLIGHT

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Shoots Through The Air, 17 Miles To Wake Forest In Lieut. Maynard’s Plane

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            WELCOME FOR MAYNARD STAGED AT COLLEGE

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            Governor Thomas W. Bickett climbed aboard Lieutenant Belvin W. Maynard’s De Haviland airplane yesterday afternoon shortly after two o’clock and in less than ten minutes was swooping in dizzy circles above the heads of a welcoming crowd gathered on the golf links at Wake Forest, seventeen miles away, to greet the winner in the trans-continental air race.[1]

            The short field prohibited a landing, and the ceremonies which had been planned in honor of Lieutenant Maynard were postponed until last night when Governor Bickett and President W. L. Poteat, of Wake Forest, plus hundreds of Meredith College and Oxford College girls and the normal Wake Forest contingent heaped on Maynard the delayed honors.

            Society Day at Wake Forest and the exercise for Lieutenant Maynard, who matriculated there this year to complete his course, were combined, with Dr. J. B. Turner, the master of ceremonies. It was after the orations in the Wingate Memorial Hall at night that Lieutenant Maynard talked to the crowd in a reception in the gymnasium.

            It was by the Governor’s insistence that he took his first air flight. Arrangements had been made to carry him over to Wake Forest in the afternoon in readiness for the arrival of Lieutenant Maynard, Sergeant Kline and “Trixie” in their plane a few minutes later. But the Governor insisted on flying, and Lieutenant Maynard was willing. Mrs. Bickett, it appears, was not consulted, but the Governor was careful, after he donned Sergeant Kline’s tight-fitting coat, his helmet and goggles to remind someone to tell his wife how pretty he looked.

North Carolina's Governor enjoyed his airplane ride with Lieutenant Maynard immensely yesterday afternoon until the flyer reached Wake Forest. The Governor confesses that he considered the aviator somewhat reckless in skimming down into the classic groves of the College and then gliding quickly up again. Governor Bickett is on the right in the picture standing beside Lieutenant Maynard just before they started for their "Joy Ride."

Regards To Max.

            “Give my regards to Max Gardner and tell him go make the best Governor he can,”[2] the Governor called out as he crammed himself down in the seat that Sergeant Kline and Trixie usually occupy. “Trixie” was a not a bit impressed with the honor of having a mere governor occupy her accustomed place, and she put up a merry little piece of disorder as the plane took off. Then she found that Sergeant Kline had been left behind also, and took the loss philosophically.

            It was an ideal day for flying. A slight wind was blowing, but the sun was warm and the sky entirely clear. For thirty minutes or more, the Governor was in the air. With Lieutenant Maynard, he circled about Raleigh, then made a straight course for Wake Forest, coming into the golf links first from the east. Around and around the plane soared, the powerful motor roaring.

Landing Field Too Short.

            The landing field selected by Lieutenant Maynard Sunday afternoon, was that part of the golf links composing a sort of level valley between two sloping hills half a mile from Wake Forest. On either side of the embankment the crowds were thick. Eagerly they watched the plane as it swept around coming low over the tree tops and then darting upward. Several times, the pilot plunged downward, as if to land, and then took off skyward again. Finally, there was a yell: “Here he comes.” The big plane shot down over the tree tops, almost kissed the earth, ran parallel with it for twenty-five yards and then as Lieutenant Maynard shook his head vigorously in negative fashion, pointed its nose at startling angle and Maynard was leaving Wake Forest.

            He explained last night to a disappointed crowd that his inability to land was due to the face that the wind was blowing from the north and it was necessary for him to enter the field from that direction. Under such conditions, the field lacked much of being long enough to make a safe landing.

Didn’t Like The Swooping.

            Lieutenant Maynard made a perfect landing at Raleigh on the return trip and the governor climbed out of the car, having completed another during his administration of varied happenings.

            “That flying was great,” the Governor said. “The only thing I didn’t like was that swooping down over the tree tops. That made me nervous.”

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[From The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 4 Nov 1919]

[1] See “ ‘Flying Parson,’ Sampson County, NC Pilot Made Aviation History” posted on March 17, 1916

[2] Max Gardner was Lieutenant Governor in 1919. He lost the nomination for governor in 1920, but was elected in 1928.