Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol

by Henry Harley Arnold

Smith taxied across the airdrome and the plane was soon in the air. They climbed until they reached the two thousand foot mark and then Smith headed into the wind and flew toward the airdrome. Bill watched the ground pass under the plane, but hesitated in plunging out over the side of the cockpit. He at once realized that it took more nerve to actually make the jump than it did to agree to make it while standing down on the ground.

Smith throttled the engine and gave Bill the signal to jump. Bill stood up in the cockpit and steeled himself for the ordeal. He wanted to make sure of having that ring in his hand when he had counted three, so he grabbed the ring before climbing out of the cockpit. He stepped up on the seat and held onto the side of the fusilage with one hand and the ring with his other. The hundred-mile wind made it hard for him to retain his balance and he swayed back and forth against it.

Bill put one leg over the fusilage and the wind pressure became more intense. It threatened to drag him back along the fusilage. In his efforts to stay in the cockpit, he pulled the parachute ring and the chute went out of its pack.

Fortunately Bill had one leg still in the cockpit and could retain his grip on the plane. More fortunate still, the parachute did not open but went out like a string and streamed straight to the rear just over the tail surface. Bill did not know what to do next, so he stayed right where he was.

Captain Smith was watching when Bill pulled the rip cord. He instinctively grabbed the collar of Bill’s flying suit to help hold him in the plane. They were now in a most perilous situation. If the parachute now opened, it would drag both of them through the tail surfaces and probably both would be killed. If Smith released his hold and the chute opened, Bill would be dragged through the same surfaces and he would be killed or severely injured. The tail surfaces would then be so badly damaged that the plane would be uncontrollable. In that case Smith would be out of luck, for he did not have a parachute on.

Both Smith and Bill had the same thoughts at identically the same time—they were in a mighty bad fix and could see no way out.

CHAPTER XXIII—A NEW OUTBREAK OF FIRES

Captain Smith at once saw that he was risking the lives of both Bill and himself by holding on to Bill’s flying suit. Accordingly he released his grip and confined his activities to the plane and began thinking of a possible way out of the dangerous situation they were in.

There was still a big chance of the parachute’s opening and dragging Bill from the plane. If that happened, Bill might or might not be carried through the tail surfaces. Then, again, the parachute might not open. Remote as that possibility was, they could not afford to take any chances. Every effort must be made to get the streaming chute away from the tail group. Smith immediately started to figure how it could be done.

Bill in the meantime saw that by staying where he was, he not only was risking his own life but was jeopardizing Smith’s as well. Bill realized that something must be done at once whereby he could fall free of the plane without being carried backward by the trailing chute.