THRILLING AIR RESCUE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 16

THRILLING AIR RESCUE

GIRL SUSPENDED FOR AN HOUR-

Jumping from the wing of an. aeroplane: 2000 feet in the air,1 near Houston, Texas, Miss Rosalie Gordon got no further than the end of the tangled ropes of her parachute, which refused to, act, states the New York correspond-' ent of the -"Daily Chronicle." Her weight was too light to pull the device from the fastenings of its casing. - For nearly an hour she clung desperately to the ropes, swinging in her leather harness ■.pendulunirlike beneath the speeding plane. Two other machines soared aloft, and sought vainly to rescue hot ' The-pilots were afraid "to approach toa closely for fear of hitting her with the propellers.

Lieut. Clyde Pangborn, pilot of the plane from which she had jumped, was afraid.to descend too far for fear tho parachute would pull ■ loose, "and the drop would not bp suffieica'j lr> enablp it'to spread and break the girl's fall. Miss Gordon herself was too weak to pull herself xm to the -'plane. , Lieut. Pangborn could not leave his post to help his. assistant, who, perched perilously on the running gear, found he was not strong enough to haul her in. Finally the great crowd of spectators whom she had intended to thrill with her parachute jump saw one of the othen 'plan(i3 soar above Pangborn's and a man descend on to it hy means of a rope ladder. He went to the assistance of the girl's would-be rescuer, and together they succeeded in pull', ing her to safety, while a great roar of cheers rose from below.