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16 FLYING, AS IT WAS-- The Old Exhibition Days By Ruth Law Although I retired from active aviation in 1922, I am still as keenly interested in flying as I was on August1, 1912, when I made my first solo flight. I was a different kind of flying then. In the Early Bird days, we were paid to take risks, just as test pilots are paid to take risks today. We helped to prove what could be done with airplanes while they were still box-kites. It was a continuous thrill, finding out what would happen if we didi this or that while in the air. For instance, in 1912, when I learned to fly on a model B Wright biplane, it was considered a bit cowardly to belt oneself to the seat of an "aeroplane." As a result we sometimes bounced several inches out of our seat on the front edge of the lower wing when a playful zephyr tossed out 35-horsepower plane about. Some were catapulted clear out and paid with their lives for the knowledge that pilots should be strapped in. By 1915 flying had become just one stunt after another. I bought a 100-horsepower Curtiss pusher biplane with which to do loops and the other stunts the public wanted to see. The plane was the kind that could be taken apart and packed in crates for shipping by train from city to city. We did not attempt to fly cross country as the planes were not considered sturdy enough to stand the strain. The great mid-western fairs did their bit to advance aviation by contributing substantial sums to aviators for flying exhibitions for the education and amusement of the public. The Iowa State Fair was of the prize "dates" of the summer season and there was much competition among the exhibition flyers to get that contract. I was first permitted to fly at the Iowa State Fair in August, 1916. I had to agree to loop and stunt directly in front of the huge grandstand for both day and evening performances or my contract was void. The Iowa farmers knew what they wanted and, take it from me, they got it or there was no pay. For looping with the old V type Curtiss motor, I had fixed a tiny gasoline cup to the bottom of the carburetor so that for the few seconds required to make a loop the motor would run upside down and gas would be fed by gravity. Only one other aviator knew the trick and the secret was closely guarded. When I warmed up my motor to give my first exhibition at the famous Iowa fair--naturally I was hoping to fly well--the motor sputtered and refused to function properly. Someone had been experimenting with the special carburetor and no one but a factory expert would be able to restore its usefulness. With the crowd waiting, I hurriedly attacked a stock carburetor to the motor and dashed into the air. The plane motor functioned perfectly until I turned the third loop. Then, while I was upside down above the tiny centerfield of the half-mile fairground race track, located well within the city limits of Des Moines, the motor stopped dead. I was less than 500 feet in the air and had no choice but to come down at high speed into that centerfield, half filled with the pole and paraphernalia of the fireworks spectacle that was in place for the evening performance. Panic struck me for a moment, then my mind cleared and that "something" that makes us fight for life took possession of me. I had an unobstructed view of the ground, of course, and spotted a narrow pathway through the tangle of poles and wires. What had seemed impossible a moment before suddenly was within reach, if I could get my tricycle wheels on the ground in spite of the speed. I leveled off near the ground and as the wheels touched earth the heavy claw brake on the rear of the undercarriage dug into the ground. With another brake on the front wheel, I brought the plane to a stop right side up, just as the front wheel touched the infield fence that separated me from the race track. A 25 auto race was in progress at the moment of my forced landing. I added an unexpected thrill to the excitement of the race when it seemed that nothing could stop my plane from crashing through the fence and tumbling the whirling race cars into a heap. My escape taught me to have curburetor made that could not be monkeyed with, and never to fly an airplane unless the pilot's seat was out in front and the landing gear equipped with three wheels that would prevent a nose-dive or ground loop, no matter how rough the landing field might happen to be. The tractor biplane was already in use by most aviators but I stuck to the pusher type as long as I continued to fly. I believe the pusher has many advantage over other types of small planes and am much interested in the fact that the Douglas DC-4 has a tricycle landing gear suggestive of the system employed on the little Curtiss place I flew so many years ago. On November 19 and 20, 1916, I got my first experience in cross country flying. For four years, summer and winter, I had been flying for the amusement of other people and had become a bit fed up with it. At the close of the fair season, I decided to make at least one flight for my own pleasure. I was to be non-stop, if possible, from Chicago to New York City. The flight had been attempted by a Curtiss pilot in a new tractor plane with a 200-horsepower motor. He had started from Chicago and been forced to land at Erie, Penna., by a leaking gas line. I tried to persuade Mr. Curtiss to loan me a fast airplane with which to attempt to break the non-stop flight record, by Mr. Curtiss was afraid that I would break my neck instead. I then had extra gasoline tanks made for my little Curtiss exhibition plane and started from Grant Park, Chicago. The plane had a wing spread of 28 feet and a fuel load of 53 gallons of gasoline. A normal speed of 60 miles per hour was improved by a good tail wind. I used pieces of rubber hose for gas lines, wrapped every connection with bicycle tape and (Continued on page 34) [[Image]] Sincerely Ruth Law At top of page, Ruth Law in a Wright Model B making her first solo flight above the sands of the beach at Lynn, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1912. In the picture above she is wearing the uniform permitted by the Army while on the Liberty Loan drives during the World war. The plane is a Model E Curtiss pushed powered by an OX, the same machine she used for the distance record flight from Chicago to Hornell, N. Y., in November, 1916. At right, one of the post-war "circus" posters RUTH LAW'S "The Name The Whole World Knows" FLYING CIRCUS World's Greatest Aerial Achievement The Stunt They Said NO MAN Could Do WE LEAD WHERE OTHERS CANNOT FOLLOW THIS IS NEW [[Image]] Changing from Automobile to Aeroplane "Daredevil" James changing from Speeding Automobile to Aeroplane piloted by LIEUT. VERNE TREAT right on the race track before your Grandstand. They can't see THIS ATTRACTION from the outside, they must pay their way inside your Fair Grounds. Ruth Law - "Daredevil" James-Lieut, Verne Treat THE CLIMAX OF NERVE RACKING SPECTACLES that hold you dumb with amazement when these stunt artists in speeding aeroplane and plunging automobile race neck and neck around the racetrack trying for position so that James can swing himself from car to plane by means of his frail rope ladder. [[Image]] [[Image]] NIGHT FLYING WITH FIREWORKS When we offer you night exhibition flights you will get them. RUTH LAW has flown three years at night and knows how. Other aviators, who are showing fake pictures, only think they can fly at night on Fair Grounds. Make them show you. Notice to Small Fairs: Plane to Plane changing in the Air is old stuff, be we can book it for you if you want it at a very cheap price. We have several men plane changers that are reliable. Only woman in the world to accomplish this hazardous fear. RUTH LAW MAKES GOOD HER PROMISE TO FAIR MANAGERS by doing herself the stunts that she could hire NO OTHER girl to do. From Birmingham Age-Herald, Jan. 12. Obstacles to overcome are but a challenge to Ruth Law and her stunt artists. "Got any rivers they say are uncrossable? Got any mountains you can't tunnel through? We specialize wholly on the impossible. Doing the things that no man can do." This is their creed and motto, for if anybody else can do it, it queers their game. LOOP THE LOOP STANDING ON THE TOP PLANE WIRE = WRITE = CALL RUTH LAW, INC. SUITE 316-318 Chemical Bldg. Long Distance Telephone CENTRAL 6140 117 North Dearborn St. CHICAGO, ILL. MINNESOTA STATE FAIR Books Ruth Law's Flying Circus September 3 to 8th, 1921. [[Image]] Ruth Law Looping the Loop standing on top of Plane
