Our Past Is Present June 11, 2018

June 11, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is titled: "Not One, But Two Rough Landings."  The story comes from an article in a 1919 publication in the Junction City Daily Union newspaper.

            The article stated that: “The Albert O. Spencer referred to in a “Kansas City Star” newspaper article and Lieutenant Jack Spencer is one in the same.  For those of you who have lived in Junction City for a long time, this was Jack Spencer, Sr.

There were two thrilling experiences recorded involving Lieutenant Spencer.  One of those was when the plane he was flying in with eight others and there was a break in the plane’s gas line at almost 10,000 feet in the air. The men were forced to spiral down through several layers of clouds and rain, to a level of about 1,000 feet before the ground became visible.  Lieutenant Spencer found himself over a town and was obliged to make a landing in a vacant lot.  This drew a crowd of curious people.  To avoid hitting them he made a sharp turn and collided with a telephone pole, damaging the wing of the plane.  With the aid of two broomsticks and some muslin, temporary repairs were made and with the gas line having been repaired, resumption of the trip was possible.”

            Lieutenant Spencer and the others in the plane again encountered difficulty when seeking his next landing place.  He had picked out a black spot, which appeared to be cleared land.  Spencer leveled out for a three point landing.  A few feet off the surface of his black spot he suddenly discovered the surface was water.  He was landing in the middle of a pond.  He “zoomed” just in time to keep his plane’s tail out of the wet and climbed about 300 feet and began searching for landing strip.  However, once again he met with no success.  He cited what appeared to be a vacant lot, settled the plane down to the street level and flattened out, when to his surprise instead of feeling ground beneath him, he kept on settling and finally found himself and the others in an excavation 20 feet below the surface of the lot.”  

            Jack’s nephew recently donated this article and some items to the Museum, which included a camera, a flight log book, a flight wing pin and a compass that belonged to Lieutenant Jack Spencer. 

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.