ARE AVIATORS SUPERSTITIOUS?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20150, 19 May 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

ARE AVIATORS SUPERSTITIOUS?

JUDGING FROM “WINGS,’’ YES. A simple little incident during th. 3 filming of a picture made easy the asking of a question which has always been regarded as a ticklish one by newspaper men who have always wanted, to know; ‘ ‘ Are airmen superstitious? And to what degree?” When pilot Dick Grace dropped a small, heart-shaped bit of rock out of his pocket and admitted, upon questioning, that be would not fly without that as a talisman, it led to a survey of good luck pieces carried by nearly 40 fliers with the “Wings” company, filming the air-battle sequences of Paramount’s great story of the soldiers of the air. Thirty-five of those questioned produced a fetish of one sort or another. They varied in range from jewellery and photographs to Jocks of hair. And those who did not carry them, insisted upon going through a certain ritual, such as tapping the propeller, before stepping into the cockpit. Of the fliers in “Wings,” Richard Arlen, a member of the British Flying Corps during the war, carries a tiny, lop-eared rabbit, and Ted Parsons, a lace from a baby-shoe. Harry Perry, head camera man. will not take to the air without a silver locket. Frank Tommick insists upon tucking a tiny, silk kerchief into his helmet, while Charles Rogers will not ride until he has walked entirely around the 'plane. “Wings,” which was almost a year in the actual filming, has several of the most important of its incidents based upon the superstitions of airmen.