Transport: Death in Miami

From South America, Cuba and most sections of the U. S. airplanes big and little last week converged on Miami, Fla., until nearly 500 were grouped around the tourist city’s newly enlarged Municipal Airport for the 10th annual All-American Air Maneuvers: four days of races, aerobatics and conferences. Mostly privately owned and flown, more than 200 of the planes present were Taylor “Cubs,” Aeronca and Taylorcraft; 40 others were righting and bombing machines from the U. S. Marine Base at Quantico, Va. In a speech before the meet, Contest Chairman Carl Fromhagen enthusiastically declared: “We’re playing directly to the grandstands this year. We have more stunts in this show than we know how to get into the program.”

No stunt and decidedly not on the program was the shattering accident that obliterated two planes, killed two racing pilots in the first day’s events. Zipping around a pylon in specially designed speedsters at nearly 200 m. p. h. Thompson Trophy-Winner Rudy Kling, Lemont, Ill. garage proprietor, and Detroit Barnstormer Frank Haines sideslipped and somersaulted from about 200 ft, struck the ground with an impact that sickened the 7,000 spectators. Both were apparently caught in the same down-draught, both crashed within a few seconds and 200 yards of each other. As her young husband was sawed from the wreckage, young Widow Kling said sadly: “Today was Rudy’s 29th birthday. … I guess he died the way he would have wanted to. He worked hard running our garage and about the only real fun he had was when he got away from the business with his planes.”