TEST PILOT

TEST PILOTimages/illus-em1.jpgTEST PILOTJIMMY COLLINSimages/illus-em2.jpgTHE SUN DIAL PRESSGarden City — New YorkPRINTED AT THECountry Life Press, GARDEN CITY, N. Y., U. S. A.COPYRIGHT, 1935BY DELORES LACY COLLINSCOPYRIGHT, 1935BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANYALL RIGHTS RESERVEDHAPPY LANDINGSTOCAPTAIN JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSON (The News)GEORGE HORACE LORIMER (Saturday Evening Post)J. DAVID STERN (New York Post)for permissions to reprint such parts of this bookas appeared serially in their newspapersand periodicals.—THE PUBLISHERS.FOREWORDJimmy Collins used periodically to try to change his name to Jim Collins, but he never could make it stick. There was something about him that made everybody call him Jimmy. He did sign his wonderful article in theSaturday Evening Postabout dive testing “Jim Collins,” but his friends kidded him so much about wanting to be a “he-man” that he went back to Jimmy in his articles for the New YorkDaily News.The article from theSaturday Evening Post, “Return to Earth,” which is printed in this book, is the most extraordinary flying story I have ever read, and as a newspaper and former magazine editor I have read hundreds of them, fromThe Red Knight of Germanydown.Jimmy wrote his own stuff—every word of it. Not one line has been added to or taken from any of the stories that appeared in theDaily News. If a story had any unkindness in it, or reflected on any other pilot’s ability, Jimmy omitted or changed the name of the person under reproach.Jimmy graduated from the army training schools of Brooks and Kelly fields, in the same class as Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. Collins and Lindbergh were two of the four selected for the pursuit group, which means they were considered to have the greatest ability in their class. Jimmy afterwards became the youngest instructor at Kelly Field.I was privileged to receive some instruction from Jimmy. He was a fine teacher, making you know precisely what he wanted and why. He told me promptly that I lacked coördination. He said, “Every student lacks coördination, but you lack more of it than any student I ever saw.” In driving a car, you can go forward or backward, left or right. An airplane cannot go backward. It can go forward, right, left, up, down. The coördination that Collins kept talking about meant that when, for instance, you were going up and to the right, you should do it in one perfect arc between the two desired points, not in a wavering line that sometimes bulged and sometimes flattened itself out.Pretty near any dub can be taught to fly some if he has patience enough and can afford to pay for two or three times as much instruction as the ordinary man gets. But nobody not born for it can learn to fly like Collins. His rhythm and reflexes were like a good orchestra. He was just a natural aviator. He had the wings of an angel all right, and he was more at home, more comfortable, more at peace with himself and the world in the air than he was on the ground, where he sometimes thought himself to be a misfit.Jimmy talked as well as he wrote, drank less than most aviators, and that’s not so much, and smoked a considerable number of cigarettes.Until the last couple of years, when the depression and his trade had deepened the lines in his face, he might almost have been called “pretty,” though it would have been better not to say that to him. He had light wavy hair, blue eyes, fine white teeth, smiled a good deal, and as far as his appearance went he could have been a romantic hero in Hollywood.He was the most fearless man I ever knew. No, I take that back. I have known other aviators whom I considered to be without fear. Collins was as brave as any of them. Even at best, in spite of what its adherents say, flying is not a particularly safe business, and Collins chose the most dangerous branch of it, that is, dive testing. “Return to Earth,” in this book, explains that. He said he did it for the money, which was partly true, but I don’t think entirely so. I think he liked to pull the whiskers of death and see if he could get away with it. Anyhow, he had made a resolution that the dive that killed him should be his last one. Whether he would have kept that resolution, I doubt. I think he liked the thrill of having everybody on the field say, “Jimmy is dive testing a bomber this afternoon.”The story, as told by McCory, the photographer, who had a desk near to him, is that he said to Collins, “Jimmy, you are making some money now out of your newspaper articles. Why don’t you stop this test racket?” And Collins answered, “I will. I was under contract to do twelve dives on this navy ship, and I have done eleven. The next one is going to be my last.” Then he paused, smiled his bright smile, and said, “At that, it might be.”—JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSONCONTENTSTO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNRETURN TO EARTHCOLLISION, ALMOSTHE HAD WHAT IT TOOKDRY MOTORIMAGINATIONI SPIN INBUSINESS BEFORE FAMEEVERYTHING WRONGA SHOWY STUNTDEATH ON THE GRIDIRONNOVICE NEAR DEATHHUNGRY’S SHIP BURNEDBACK-SEAT PALSWATCH YOUR STEP!FLYER ENJOYS WORRYWEATHER AND WHITHERI SEEWON ARGUMENT LOSTMONK HUNTERCOULDN’T TAKE ITGOOD LUCKWILL ROGERS IN THE AIRHE NEVER KNEWBONNY’S DREAMCOB-PIPE HAZARDSWHOOPEE!BUILDING THROUGHMUCH!CROSS-COUNTRY SNAPSHOTSREMINISCENCEMEXICAN WHOOPEE!IT’S A TOUGH RACKETALMOSTRUN! RUN! RUN!HIGH FIGHTGESTURE AT REUNIONSAS I SAW ITWAS MY FACE RED!CO-PILOTORCHIDS TO ME!RECOVERY ACT“A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME....”“YES, SIR!”MOONLIGHT AND SILVERFIVE MILES UPAËRIAL COMBATWINGS OVER AKRONTEARS AND ACROBATICSACROSS THE CONTINENTTHE FLYER HIKES HOMEKILLED BY KINDNESSTHE FIRST CRACK-UPA POOR PROPHETTOO MUCH KNOWLEDGEHIDDEN FAULTS“DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY”CONFESSIONGONE ARE THE DAYS“LOOK WHO TAUGHT HER”A FAULTY RESCUEHELPING THE ARMYAPOLOGYI AM DEAD

TEST PILOT

JIMMY COLLINS

THE SUN DIAL PRESSGarden City — New York

THE SUN DIAL PRESS

Garden City — New York

PRINTED AT THECountry Life Press, GARDEN CITY, N. Y., U. S. A.COPYRIGHT, 1935BY DELORES LACY COLLINSCOPYRIGHT, 1935BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANYALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PRINTED AT THECountry Life Press, GARDEN CITY, N. Y., U. S. A.

BY DELORES LACY COLLINS

BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

HAPPY LANDINGSTOCAPTAIN JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSON (The News)GEORGE HORACE LORIMER (Saturday Evening Post)J. DAVID STERN (New York Post)for permissions to reprint such parts of this bookas appeared serially in their newspapersand periodicals.—THE PUBLISHERS.

HAPPY LANDINGS

CAPTAIN JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSON (The News)

GEORGE HORACE LORIMER (Saturday Evening Post)

J. DAVID STERN (New York Post)

for permissions to reprint such parts of this book

as appeared serially in their newspapers

and periodicals.

—THE PUBLISHERS.

FOREWORD

Jimmy Collins used periodically to try to change his name to Jim Collins, but he never could make it stick. There was something about him that made everybody call him Jimmy. He did sign his wonderful article in theSaturday Evening Postabout dive testing “Jim Collins,” but his friends kidded him so much about wanting to be a “he-man” that he went back to Jimmy in his articles for the New YorkDaily News.The article from theSaturday Evening Post, “Return to Earth,” which is printed in this book, is the most extraordinary flying story I have ever read, and as a newspaper and former magazine editor I have read hundreds of them, fromThe Red Knight of Germanydown.Jimmy wrote his own stuff—every word of it. Not one line has been added to or taken from any of the stories that appeared in theDaily News. If a story had any unkindness in it, or reflected on any other pilot’s ability, Jimmy omitted or changed the name of the person under reproach.Jimmy graduated from the army training schools of Brooks and Kelly fields, in the same class as Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. Collins and Lindbergh were two of the four selected for the pursuit group, which means they were considered to have the greatest ability in their class. Jimmy afterwards became the youngest instructor at Kelly Field.I was privileged to receive some instruction from Jimmy. He was a fine teacher, making you know precisely what he wanted and why. He told me promptly that I lacked coördination. He said, “Every student lacks coördination, but you lack more of it than any student I ever saw.” In driving a car, you can go forward or backward, left or right. An airplane cannot go backward. It can go forward, right, left, up, down. The coördination that Collins kept talking about meant that when, for instance, you were going up and to the right, you should do it in one perfect arc between the two desired points, not in a wavering line that sometimes bulged and sometimes flattened itself out.Pretty near any dub can be taught to fly some if he has patience enough and can afford to pay for two or three times as much instruction as the ordinary man gets. But nobody not born for it can learn to fly like Collins. His rhythm and reflexes were like a good orchestra. He was just a natural aviator. He had the wings of an angel all right, and he was more at home, more comfortable, more at peace with himself and the world in the air than he was on the ground, where he sometimes thought himself to be a misfit.Jimmy talked as well as he wrote, drank less than most aviators, and that’s not so much, and smoked a considerable number of cigarettes.Until the last couple of years, when the depression and his trade had deepened the lines in his face, he might almost have been called “pretty,” though it would have been better not to say that to him. He had light wavy hair, blue eyes, fine white teeth, smiled a good deal, and as far as his appearance went he could have been a romantic hero in Hollywood.He was the most fearless man I ever knew. No, I take that back. I have known other aviators whom I considered to be without fear. Collins was as brave as any of them. Even at best, in spite of what its adherents say, flying is not a particularly safe business, and Collins chose the most dangerous branch of it, that is, dive testing. “Return to Earth,” in this book, explains that. He said he did it for the money, which was partly true, but I don’t think entirely so. I think he liked to pull the whiskers of death and see if he could get away with it. Anyhow, he had made a resolution that the dive that killed him should be his last one. Whether he would have kept that resolution, I doubt. I think he liked the thrill of having everybody on the field say, “Jimmy is dive testing a bomber this afternoon.”The story, as told by McCory, the photographer, who had a desk near to him, is that he said to Collins, “Jimmy, you are making some money now out of your newspaper articles. Why don’t you stop this test racket?” And Collins answered, “I will. I was under contract to do twelve dives on this navy ship, and I have done eleven. The next one is going to be my last.” Then he paused, smiled his bright smile, and said, “At that, it might be.”—JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSON

The article from theSaturday Evening Post, “Return to Earth,” which is printed in this book, is the most extraordinary flying story I have ever read, and as a newspaper and former magazine editor I have read hundreds of them, fromThe Red Knight of Germanydown.

Jimmy wrote his own stuff—every word of it. Not one line has been added to or taken from any of the stories that appeared in theDaily News. If a story had any unkindness in it, or reflected on any other pilot’s ability, Jimmy omitted or changed the name of the person under reproach.

Jimmy graduated from the army training schools of Brooks and Kelly fields, in the same class as Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. Collins and Lindbergh were two of the four selected for the pursuit group, which means they were considered to have the greatest ability in their class. Jimmy afterwards became the youngest instructor at Kelly Field.

I was privileged to receive some instruction from Jimmy. He was a fine teacher, making you know precisely what he wanted and why. He told me promptly that I lacked coördination. He said, “Every student lacks coördination, but you lack more of it than any student I ever saw.” In driving a car, you can go forward or backward, left or right. An airplane cannot go backward. It can go forward, right, left, up, down. The coördination that Collins kept talking about meant that when, for instance, you were going up and to the right, you should do it in one perfect arc between the two desired points, not in a wavering line that sometimes bulged and sometimes flattened itself out.

Pretty near any dub can be taught to fly some if he has patience enough and can afford to pay for two or three times as much instruction as the ordinary man gets. But nobody not born for it can learn to fly like Collins. His rhythm and reflexes were like a good orchestra. He was just a natural aviator. He had the wings of an angel all right, and he was more at home, more comfortable, more at peace with himself and the world in the air than he was on the ground, where he sometimes thought himself to be a misfit.

Jimmy talked as well as he wrote, drank less than most aviators, and that’s not so much, and smoked a considerable number of cigarettes.

Until the last couple of years, when the depression and his trade had deepened the lines in his face, he might almost have been called “pretty,” though it would have been better not to say that to him. He had light wavy hair, blue eyes, fine white teeth, smiled a good deal, and as far as his appearance went he could have been a romantic hero in Hollywood.

He was the most fearless man I ever knew. No, I take that back. I have known other aviators whom I considered to be without fear. Collins was as brave as any of them. Even at best, in spite of what its adherents say, flying is not a particularly safe business, and Collins chose the most dangerous branch of it, that is, dive testing. “Return to Earth,” in this book, explains that. He said he did it for the money, which was partly true, but I don’t think entirely so. I think he liked to pull the whiskers of death and see if he could get away with it. Anyhow, he had made a resolution that the dive that killed him should be his last one. Whether he would have kept that resolution, I doubt. I think he liked the thrill of having everybody on the field say, “Jimmy is dive testing a bomber this afternoon.”

The story, as told by McCory, the photographer, who had a desk near to him, is that he said to Collins, “Jimmy, you are making some money now out of your newspaper articles. Why don’t you stop this test racket?” And Collins answered, “I will. I was under contract to do twelve dives on this navy ship, and I have done eleven. The next one is going to be my last.” Then he paused, smiled his bright smile, and said, “At that, it might be.”

—JOSEPH MEDILL PATTERSON

CONTENTSTO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNRETURN TO EARTHCOLLISION, ALMOSTHE HAD WHAT IT TOOKDRY MOTORIMAGINATIONI SPIN INBUSINESS BEFORE FAMEEVERYTHING WRONGA SHOWY STUNTDEATH ON THE GRIDIRONNOVICE NEAR DEATHHUNGRY’S SHIP BURNEDBACK-SEAT PALSWATCH YOUR STEP!FLYER ENJOYS WORRYWEATHER AND WHITHERI SEEWON ARGUMENT LOSTMONK HUNTERCOULDN’T TAKE ITGOOD LUCKWILL ROGERS IN THE AIRHE NEVER KNEWBONNY’S DREAMCOB-PIPE HAZARDSWHOOPEE!BUILDING THROUGHMUCH!CROSS-COUNTRY SNAPSHOTSREMINISCENCEMEXICAN WHOOPEE!IT’S A TOUGH RACKETALMOSTRUN! RUN! RUN!HIGH FIGHTGESTURE AT REUNIONSAS I SAW ITWAS MY FACE RED!CO-PILOTORCHIDS TO ME!RECOVERY ACT“A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME....”“YES, SIR!”MOONLIGHT AND SILVERFIVE MILES UPAËRIAL COMBATWINGS OVER AKRONTEARS AND ACROBATICSACROSS THE CONTINENTTHE FLYER HIKES HOMEKILLED BY KINDNESSTHE FIRST CRACK-UPA POOR PROPHETTOO MUCH KNOWLEDGEHIDDEN FAULTS“DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY”CONFESSIONGONE ARE THE DAYS“LOOK WHO TAUGHT HER”A FAULTY RESCUEHELPING THE ARMYAPOLOGYI AM DEAD

CONTENTS

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