Aeronautics: Jinxed Races

A jinx perversely continued to cling to the coattails of Col. Abraham Lazard (“Abe”) Shushan of New Orleans and his airport last week. Week before, during the Mardi Gras weekend, the new $4,000,000 field on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain was to have been dedicated with a four-day air meet. The airport, far superior to any other field in the U. S., had been built by the Orleans Levee Board of which Col. Shushan, good friend of Senator Huey Long, is president. In gratitude for his loyalty Senator Long permitted the new field to be named for Col. Shushan. The name of Shushan was graven and imprinted no less than 3,200 times in stone, metal, tile and bronze.

The dedicatory air meet had barely started when a howling thunderstorm broke, driving the crowd into nearby hangars and administration building, postponing the ceremonies. That disappointment was small, however, compared to the blow that fell next day, when all domestic airmail contracts were annulled. Shushan Airport’s first big tenant was American Airways, which was expected to cancel its lease. Roared disappointed Col. Shushan: “New Orleans had just as well throw her field back into Lake Pontchartrain!”

Dispirited though he was. Col. Shushan was on hand when the air races got their second start last week. The first day of Lent proved fatally inauspicious for Capt. W. Merle Nelson of Hollywood, Calif. On the evening of the opening day he attached 18 rockets to the lower wings of his biplane, roared off into an inside loop. For a few moments the small night crowd saw what appeared to be a giant glowing cigar butt trace a circle in the dark sky. The circle then swooped downward, burst into flames and Stunter Nelson screamed just once as he was incinerated.

Last day of the races was marred by two more deaths. Attempting a spot parachute jump, a parachutist fouled his shrouds in the tail surfaces of the plane he was leaving. Plane and tangled jumper plummeted into Lake Pontchartrain. The plane’s pilot was also killed. On the bright side, James R. (“Jimmy”) Wedell, an adopted favorite son of Louisiana who builds fast little Wedell-Williams ships at Patterson, cleaned up most of the speed prizes without much competition. He won three firsts, did not break the record he holds for land planes (305 m.p.h.), but smashed the record over the 100-kilometer course by 17 m.p.h. by streaking along in his Wedell-Williams “45” at 266 m.p.h.