Miss Eloysa Levine, nine-year-old daughter of New York-Paris Flight-Backer Charles Levine, patriotically christened the Wright-Bellanca monoplane Columbia, (TIME, May 2) with a tepid bottle of ginger ale. Afterwards, laughing, she climbed into the Columbia with her friend Grace Jonas, Superintendent John Carisi and Pilot Clarence D. Chamberlin for a ride. As the plane took off, a bolt was sheared in the shock absorbers, crippling the landing dolly, meaning disaster 99 out of a 100 cases.
Five thousand terror-gripped onlookers watched airmen rush into the air with seven planes to warn Chamberlin. Flying...
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