THE “FLYING PARSON.”

  

          “The Flying Parson” is first of all a preacher. The matter of flying is secondary even though it did win for him the transcontinental air race.[1]   

            When he was 17 he began to preach.

            “And a mighty good mechanic was spoiled,” his North Carolina neighbors said, for the boy had always been “handy with tools.”

            The war brought him his chance as a mechanic, first in a munitions shop and then in the flying service. In January, 1917, he went into a shell factory.

            Then, when the United States went into the war, Maynard went in too. For 18 months he was in France, first in training for aviation and then as instructor at one of the camps. During the latter part of the time he was also preaching—helping (Homer) Rodehe(a)ver[2] with a series of meetings, addressing crowds of doughboys in “Y” huts.[3]  Sometimes he preached to his fellow flyers, and the fact that he was a good aviator made them the more willing to listen to his sermons.

Front Line Hunt
"History of the YMCA in World War I"
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ymca.htm

            Perhaps his simple faith had something to do with his coming home first in the transcontinental race; also certainly it had something to do with the fact that he refused to let the people from his home county [Sampson] commercialize his fame.

            To him the victory was merely an incident, a beginning, not an end. A few days after he came home from the trip he was to speak in a Massachusetts town. On the train a man was attracted by the aviator’s uniform and got to talking of his own son in the service; from that they drifted to other subjects and so they talked for the whole of a four-hour trip.

            That night after Maynard’s address the first man to speak to him was his fellow traveler.

            “Why didn’t you tell me you were the ‘Flying Parson’?” he asked.

            “I didn’t think about it,” was Maynard’s answer.

[(News and Observer) Raleigh, NC) 27 Feb 1916]

---

[1] See "Flying Parson," Sampson County, NC Pilot Made Aviation History: March 17, 2016

[2] Homer Rodeheaver, an evangelist, gospel song writer and publisher, worked with the famous evangelist Billy Sunday for 20 years.

[3] General Pershing ordered the establishment of servicemen’s centers in Europe. The order stated that the Y.M.C.A. would “provide for the amusement and recreation of the troops by means of its usual programme of social, physical, educational, and religious services.”

A Story of How Man Is

Conquering the Air

and of the Toll the

Aeroplane

Is Exacting.

Copyright, 1915, by The International Syndicate.

            FROM time immemorial man has desired to fly. Even in the Psalms we find David saying, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then I would fly away and be at rest!”

            [This newspaper article, published in 1915, begins with Icarius, who according to Roman mythology, attempted to fly with wings attached to his body by wax. The article includes J. B. Dante, a mathematician flew over a lake with artificial wings, but fell an broke his leg when he attempted to fly over Notre Dame in Paris. A Scotchman, Damian, attempted to fly from Scotland to France using wings made of bird feathers, but made one leap and fell, breaking both legs. He claimed he failed because he did not use eagle feathers. Many others named in the article tried and failed.

            Gliders were once thought to be the answer to human flight. These were tried in Germany, England, France and the United States. But the glider was not totally satisfactory, either. It was not until gasoline engines were available that real flight was possible. This article relates the story of aviation, not only from early times, but also from the flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, Dare County, NC to the amazing advances that had taken place by early 1915. Aviation has progressed by over 100 years since this article was publlished, but the earliest stories of aviation are still amazing.]

Wright brothers third test glider at Kill Devil's Hill, Dare County, NC in 1902.
Wilbur Wright is the pilot, Orville Wright at left, and local resident Dan Tate at right.
Found at Wikimedia Commons:
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1902_Wright_Brothers%27_
Glider_Tests_-_GPN-2002-000125.jpg

After Gliders.

            This type (gliders) was soon followed by the aeroplane, and in 1903 the Wright brothers first used a petrol engine and astonished the world by their flights. Their tests were conducted with the greatest secrecy. While these experiments were going on Monsieur Voisen constructed a number of kites, and after testing their qualities as fliers he built an aeroplane along the same lines. (The Voisen brothers were early developers of airplanes in France.) This type afterward became very popular, both Farman (an Anglo-French aviator who set records in the Voisen planes) and Delgrange (a pioneering French aviator and sculptor) piloting them. In 1909 Robert Esnault-Pelterie, who was already known as the inventor of the R.E.P. motor (a seven cylinder radial engine) which appeared in 1904, built a curious looking machine which for a time created a sensation. Then came the famous Curtiss-Herring “June Bug” which did some remarkable flying at the Rheims aviation meet—the first one ever held. This was in 1909, and gave a special impetus to the heavier than air machine.

Wright Flyer in which the Wright brothers made the first powered flights on
December 17, 1903.
Wright Brothers Museum website: http://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Help_with_Homework/Expert_Interview/Expert_Interview.htm

            Aviation schools were started in various parts of the world and aeroplaning soon became known as a sport. (Samuel Pierpont) Langly, (Samuel Franklin) Cody [of wild west show fame], (Louis Charles Joseph) Bleriot, (Arthur Charles Hubert) Latham, (Glenn Hammond) Curtiss and (John Bevins) Moisant at once became famous, the last three named having made flights across the English Channel.

            Three years ago an American woman, Miss Harriet Quimby [first American woman to become a licensed pilot], accomplished the same feat flying in a monoplane. Miss Quimby was killed near Boston a year later by falling one thousand feet.

Unique Damage Suits.

            Soon aeroplanes became so common in France that the farmers of that country began to consider them a nuisance and several entered suit for damages, claiming that their crops had been destroyed by the machines alighting on their land. Then, too, they claimed that colts had been ruined by being frightened by the noise of the motor, that the animals are never able to overcome the fright and cannot be used for driving horses. Chickens and ducks they declared died from fright when the big machines “swooped” down over the barnyards. Some of the French farmers contend that property in soil carries with it property of the air above it and the earth beneath. These cases are still pending in the French Courts.

            During the last two years great progress has been made in aviation, and at present nearly 3,000 persons hold Aviator’s Licenses. France has the greatest number, Great Britain is second, Germany third and the United States fourth. In fancy flying France leads, for the average French aviator seems to be able to do almost anything, including looping-the-loop and flying upside down. This was accomplished first by Adolph Pegond, and later our own Lincoln Beachy did the same thing while flying in California.

Curious Accidents.

            Flying over cities was the next achievement in aeroplaning, and in one or two places this has led to curious accidents such as that which happened to Monsieur Gilbert, a French aviator, who while flying over the suburbs of Paris was compelled to drop on the roof of a factory to avoid falling into a crowded street. This was caused by his miscalculating the distance. Another curious accident which also happened in France was that which occurred during a race at Buc where the machine piloted by (Andre) Bidot, who was carrying a passenger, dropped upon another aeroplane. Both the machines took fire; the pilot of one together with his passenger was burned to death. Several times two machines have collided in the air and last year near Vienna during a mimic battle in the clouds an aeroplane collided with a dirigible balloon. This accident is said to have been caused by the pilot of the aeroplane misjudging the height at which the dirigible was flying.

            During the past year one hundred and fifty-two people have been killed in aviation accidents. This does not include those killed in war. They have been such causes as loss of control of the machine, broken planes, explosions, wind gusts, violent landings, hitting trees, machine turning turtle, collisions, air pockets, motor trouble, etc. One man, Doctor O’Ringe, died of heart failure while in the air flying over the aviation field at Johannisthal, Germany.

            One of the most remarkable air accidents occurred at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1913, when Ensign W. D. Billingsley was killed by falling from a hydroaeroplane which was flying at the height of sixteen hundred feet. He was carrying Lieutenant John Towers as a passenger. When Billingsley fell he jammed the steering gear and rendered the machine useless and the machine fell with Lieutenant Towers clinging to one of the uprights. After falling six or seven hundred feet the machine twisted and in so doing formed a sort of parachute and dropped at a slower speed. Lieutenant Towers was in the hospital for three months as a result of the accident. He is the only man alive today who has fallen sixteen hundred feet.

            It will be remembered that during the aviation meet held in Baltimore a few years ago an aeroplane driven by Arch Hoxey fell five hundred feet landing in a cabbage patch a mile of more from the grounds. When the man who was working in the field reached him he found Hoxsey standing in a dazed fashion beside his wrecked machine complaining that he had “lost his glasses.” Hoxsey was afterwards killed at an aviation meet in California.

Hoxsey took Theodore Roosevelt for his first plane ride in 1910.
From the UPI website: http://www.upi.com/Archives/1910/10/12/TRs-flight-was-risky-flier-says/7117403814718/

Fate Plays Strange Pranks.

            Fate has played strange pranks with aviators. For instance, John Moisant, who flew across the English Channel, carried a passenger over Paris and did a lot of remarkable stunts, was killed in New Orleans when his machine dropped less than fifty feet. The same thing occurred to (Jorge) Chavez, the man who made such a great flight over the Alps and in the end died when the aeroplane fell fifteen feet. [Chavez completed the flight over the Alps, but crashed during the landing.] Colonel F. S. Cody, England’s greatest military aviator, who is said to have been one of the greatest mechanicians as well, went to his death by the collapse of a plane which he had pronounced perfect just before the flight. Fancy flying, too, has caused a number of deaths, among them Eugene Ely, who was the first man to fly from the deck of a battleship. This he accomplished successfully, but later while giving an exhibition at a county fair he attempted a “spiral glide” of the Beachey type and was killed.

Jorge Chavez, the first to fly across the Alps, beside his Farman plane.
 Found at The Early Brids of Aviation: http://www.earlyaviators.com/echavez.htm

            The newest flier is of the self-righting type—a machine which won the Bonnet prize in France. It was driven by Morceau who flew for thirty minutes without touching his planes. During his flight the wind was blowing almost a gale and the aeroplane was tossed about but it always returned to an even keel. Lieutenant Dunne also gave an exhibition with a self-righting machine of his own invention. Recently a self-righting machine has been built in the United States but as yet its flying qualities have had no fair test.

The Aeroplane In The European War.

            When the European war began the aviators of each of the warring nations at once volunteered, fancy flying was laid aside, and a regular mobilization of aviators took place in each country. Exhibition machines were turned into military fliers over night and long before the armies were ready for the field the aviators were scouting about watching the preparations of the enemy, and before the war was a fortnight old we began to read of spectacular encounters in the air between the aeroplanes of the different nations.
Very soon these fliers became the real eyes of the armies and navies, and their scout work has surprised even the most enthusiastic believer in the use of the aeroplane in war.

            Bomb dropping and being brought down and killed has become so common that almost every day we read of military aviators being brought down by the enemy. In air battles it is no uncommon thing for both aviators to meet death.

            As the carrying power of aeroplanes is limited, all sorts of death dealing vehicles have been invented; among them what is known as the steel arrow—a tiny missile about six inches in length, rounded at one end and brought to a needle point. The other end is deeply grooved for about four inches, which gives the top the shape of a four leafed clover. The finished arrow weights about six ounces. Shortly after the war began a test was made and one of these arrows dropped from the height of fifteen hundred feet killed a horse, the arrow going entirely through the body of the animal. One thousand of these arrows are placed in a box fitted with bottoms which open with a spring release. The box is placed between the struts of the aeroplane and the aviator can drop as many as he pleases by the mere pushing of a button.

News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 14 Apr 1915

A NASH COUNTY BOY

WRITES FROM ABROAD

————

Private Dana S. Braswell Briefly Recites

Some of His Experiences While With

the American Expeditionary

Forces "Over There"

———

The following letter received by Mr. and Mrs. C.B. Brswell, of Nashville, [Nash County, NC], from their son, Private Dana E. Braswell, who is still overseas, will be interesting reading for his many friends in Nash:

Inasmuch as it is Sunday, and my duties aren't quite so numerous, I will attempt to give you some idea of the many places I have been, since leaving the only country that was originally intended for humans to inhabit and enjoy. Of course I am just as anxious to get home as any little American ever was, but I realize that complaining won't even get me in the embarkation area, and certainly not across the branch. But I am about to write a real letter.

I left Camp Mills, August 5th 1918, and went aboard the Aquitania which was bound for Liverpool, England. This boat was loaded to its utmost capacity, carrying some 8,000 men. Miss Liberty certainly did look good as we passed out, and I wondered if ever I would see her again. We are all of one accord in saying that if we ever get back, she will have to execute an about-face to see us again.

The trip across was without moment, save of course the anxiety of the submarines, but ——?—— we began to feel independent because of the appearance of six destroyers, which convoyed us thru the submarine zone. I landed at Liverpool on the 12th. We marched thru' the suburbs of the city en route to Camp Knotty Ash, partaking of our customary "Corn Willie,"* when we halted. Left this camp on the 14th for Southampton, going thru' a "rest camp," (rest in name only) and the 15th we crossed the English Channel.

http://warrelics.eu/forum/attic-old-barn-finds/corned-beef-1916-a-16528/

Arrived at LeHarve, France early next morning, but did not land until nearly noon due to a heavy fog. From LeHarve I went thru' another "rest camp," spending part of the day there. On the 17th we took a "frog train" consisting of some 15 box cars, which were very artistically labeled (40 hommes; 8 cheval) so for three days we crept across the country, exchanging places with each other at the window to see the quaint scenery. We finally arrived at Tonnerre, hiking a distance of 18 kilos to Dye, where we trained until September 17th.

It was now time for us to go to the trenches. We went thru' the following towns: Ervy, Bruyeres, Docelles, Mortagne, Raon L'Etape and across the Vosges mountains. We covered a distance of about 80 kilos. We went in the trenches in the Lorraine sector at night on September 27th. Life was none to enjoyable until October 11th, when we were relieved. We then hiked to Reincourt, a short distance in rear of the lines where we trained further until November 1st. We again took the train to Charmes and hiked nearly all night, crossing the Meuse River.

On November 5th we relieved the 35th Division. From the 5th until the 9th I was on outpost guard to intercept enemy patrols. In the early morning of the 9th I went "over-the-top," near Manheulles. Made considerable advance that day, but had to dig in that night due to heavy artillery fire by the Boche. On the 10th we made another advance and fortune so favored us that we captured all the enemy dug-outs [that made] a nice home to celebrate the signing of the armistice.

On the morning of the 11th, we continued our advance, meeting with little resistance, when we were told that all firing would cease at 11:00 o'clock. We remained there for several days to make sure that it was not a repetitioun [of] Boche trickery, and then hiked back to a camp near Verdun. On the morning of the 18th we began a hike which took us thru' the following towns: Bonnette-Vauz, Beauses ?, Vidette, Tremont, Chausney, Wassy, Sommevoire, Fresney, Baye, LaFreta, Grovelles. We hiked for 15 days including rest, and covered 150 kilos. I am now at Belan-sur-Ource awaiting transportation to Home-sweet-Home.

Very fondly yours,
Pvt Dana E. Braswell

* "Corn Willie" was the slang name used for corned beef during World War I.

Source: Nashville Graphic, 5/15/1920

About The Aquitania

Aquitania, one of the greatest of all liners, was built for Cunard by John Brown & Co., and was launched in 1913. After her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 30 May 1914, she made only 2 more Atlantic crossings before World War I began. During the war she served as an armed merchant cruiser, a hospital ship and a troop transport. She returned to commercial service in June 1919, but later that year was taken out of service for refitting and conversion from coal to oil.

In 1931, she became the first liner to accomplish a two week turnaround between trips across the Atlantic, departing Southampton on 7 and 21 July.

When World War II began, she was again called into service as a troop transport, one of a small number of ships to serve in both World Wars.

In 1948-49, Aquitania was placed on a Southampton-Halifax austerity route; her last transatlantic crossing was from Halifax (departing 24 November 1949) to Southampton (arriving 1 December 1949).

After making 443 transatlantic roundtrips, steaming over 3 million miles and carrying almost 1.2 million passengers over a 35 year career, Aquitania was scrapped in 1950.

Source: www.greatships.net/aquitania.html