In August of 1926 an airplane being piloted by Ray Fortner crashed at his private airstrip south of Vincennes. It seems Fortner had a long rope ladder hanging from his plane and the goal was that he was to pick up Otto Last Chance Hoover out of the back of a moving car being driven by Eddie Mullens and riding shotgun in the car was Dexter Gardner. On the thirteenth attempt Last Chance Hoover successfully got on the ladder but the ladder got entangled into the rear fender of the Chrysler. When the slack from the rope ladder disapated it acted as a large sling shot throwing Last Chance on to the ground at 60 mph. The airplane which was going faster than the car started to lift the rear end of the car off the ground. Fortner started circling the car in his plane and was finally able to jerk the rope ladder free but lost control and crashed shortly there after. The plane suffered extensive damage. The only one who came out of the incident unscathed was Gardner who described the accident by saying, The thrills were happening a plenty! The rest of the men suffered cuts and bruises. It seems the men were practicing for a Flying Circus to be held later that day at Fortner Field. All the men still participated in the Circus which was held with two aircraft instead of the planned three.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 18:12:40 +0000
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