Spectators at Municipal Airport got a glimpse Sunday of Future wars--or thrilled at the sight of American scientific advancement on the wing. Depends upon your viewpoint.

Promptly at four o'clock a tiny speck of silver flashed brilliantly in the blue sky, grew larger and was gone. A single "pfsst" marked the passing of the U.S. Air force F-80 jet plane.

Then, as the assembled crowd watched, fascinated and delighted, the pilot put on a show far superior to what they had expected to see. Time and again he brought his speeding plane down on the deck, scarcely 50 feet above the runway, flashed by the crowd at 550 to 600 m.p.h. swooped gracefully upward for 2,000 feet, rolled over and returned. Each time he would go nearly out of sight.

Colonel Hugh Bowie, assistant operations officer at Wright Field, did a beautiful timing job when he scheduled Major Vernon Hall to fly the streaking jet to Warsaw. He was as anxious as the local air show committee to make good on last Sunday's disappointment.

The crowd had begun to gather at Municipal Airport early in the afternoon. From three o'clock on, they saw BT-13's huff and puff and roar laboriously through their aerobatics. They visited and got comfortable on blankets, in the shade of automobiles. In family groups, the crowd settled down patiently to watch the afternoon activities.

Many folks took rides in the BT's. Several bought aerobatic rides. Friends took friends for skyward rides. Among others, Glenn Smith and Judd Pittenger rode with Frank Hartsock. I had the pleasure of taking a pretty girl-friend of mine from Chicago a ride. Little Rosemary Boyle, formerly from Warsaw was seated at the south end of the runway watching the airplanes land and take-off. Her eyes were wide with the wondering look of the very young.

That little girl's cheerfulness absolutely gets me, for she can't run and play like other children. Her legs are in braces. She moves determinedly about on short crutches--the result of infantile paralysis.

She came smilingly to the plane and we lifted her carefully into the seat. Rosemary saw the giant runways from the air, our beautiful lakes and stared with amazement as we circled the Warsaw courthouse which she readily recognized. Back at the field her smile of appreciation was the finest payment I've had in many a day.

Of course, everyone was waiting on the jet--half not expecting it to really appear--when, bang--it was here. People in Warsaw and folks at Leesburg got first-hand glimpses as the graceful ship made wide, speeding turns over both towns.

Don Lessig timed him for the measured half mile at between 550 and 600 m.p.h. as he crossed from border to border of the field. His rapid climbs to 2,000 feet, rolling and twisting, were not by accident. The pilot must slow that jet down before he turns or he would "black-out." That is, the blood would be forced downward from his brain and he would faint, momentarily.

After the jet left, a Stearman landed and created the appearance of a timid Sunday driver in heavy traffic--by comparison.

Next, after the jet, came Cliff Reitzel in the aerobatic Stearman biplane. Cliff put on a real show for the folks. It will be a long time before they see some pilot put a plane into an inverted tailspin as Cliff did. That is a wicked maneuver. I know, because I rode with him.

He snapped and slow rolled, dived, climbed, stalled and flew upside down. He did half-rolls and full rolls. Rolled half-way one way, then rolled half-way back again.

I noticed this about Cliff's flying: at no time in those violent maneuvers did he put any extra stress on the airplane. And that, young man, is piloting!

Joe Carlin used Jake Menzie's noisy BT-13 for his part of the aerobatic show and was up during every lull to keep things rolling. The pilot gets a work-out in aerobatic maneuvers as he uses solid force against the heavy controls. Someday I would like to see Joe and Cliff pitted against each other in aerobatic flight --two experts working on each other. I don't think we could ever determine a winner, but think of the show we'd see!

Those folks with faith finally got to see that old-fashioned balloon ascension, too. It was seven o'clock and after before the wind died down sufficiently to inflate the big bag. By this time the crowd had gathered in a tight little knot around the balloon. They watched while Don Wood, that intrepid airman from Newcastle, made his painstaking dareful arrangements for his flight.

When the big bag was cut loose, I was aloft, just over the balloon. He quickly passed my position and I started climbing for altitude. My plane was at 1,000 feet when Don cut loose from the balloon at 1,200. He fell past me to about 800 and the chute popped open. He drifted smartly into a field just adjoining the airport, while his balloon rolled over and came down about one-half mile from the airport.

Don was using a new Triangle chute and was interested in how it worked. His observations are interesting and prove him to be a cool and collected customer.

He told me later: "When I rolled out of the trapeze, I knew I didn't have much altitude and wanted to watch the action of the parachute. I pulled the ripcord almost immediately. I was falling head down and looking back over my shoulder at what I hoped would be a parachute. First the little pilot chute, with its four air-grabbing pockets came out. It caught the air and began to slow me down. Then the main canopy slid out of the pack and blossomed white above me. It looked good."

From the ground, it looked good too, Don! Is everybody happy, now?

To give you a tight feeling in the pit over your stomach when you consider the possibilities, high overhead, completely out of sight during the jet show, a giant B-50 bomber was cruising. This bomber could carry enough explosives to wipe Warsaw off the face of the earth. We didn't see and didn't hear it. It was between 40,000 and 50,000 feet above us. From the ground the ship is silent and invisible at that altitude. This ship has an effective range of thousands of miles. Is it any wonder the Air Forces need money in order to keep up with possible enemy advances? If we've got them, they've got them.

Warsaw Daily Times August 2, 1948