Name/Title
Mail Aviator Samuel Custer Eaton crash lands in oak treeEntry/Object ID
2013.13.1.134a-bDescription
Clippings and memorabilia from World War I scrapbook compiled by Dr. Naaman H. Keyser, page 131.
Two newspaper clippings are glued to page 131. The first is from an unknown newspaper dated August 12, 1919, 131a, includes a photograph of a plane in a tree, and includes the following caption: "Engine trouble which threatened disaster, led Mail Aviator Samuel Custer Eaton, Jr., to land his Curtiss biplane in the thick topmost branches of a towering oak tree in Germantown. The plane alighted only a short distance from the home of the aviator's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Eaton, 6319 Sherman Street. The wings and body of the machine were smashed, but Eaton escaped unhurt. He was rescued from his lofty perch by Germantown firemen, who placed a tall ladder against the tree." The article contains a large photograph of the biplane caught in a large oak tree, with gawkers- mostly children- looking on.
The second article [131b] deals with the same subject, with the headline "Air Mail Aviator Alights in Trees," and provides different details than the first: "Engine trouble which developed in his flight between Washington and this city compelled Samuel Custer Eaton, Jr., to land his plane yesterday afternoon in the topmost branches of an oak tree in Germantown. Eaton, a Washington- New York mail pilot, escaped unhurt. The tree in which the plane landed is on the grounds belonging to Edward S. Jackson, 331 West Johnson Street, only a short distance from 6319 Sherman Street, where his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Eaton, live. His wife, Helen, with their six-months-old baby, Samuel Eato, 3rd, are on a visit to the Sherman Street home. Eaton, who is twenty-four years old, lives at 6324 Woodstock Street. He was a lieutenant in the air service during the war and was making his second trip as an aerial posstman between Washington and New York. His parents' home is directly in the line of flight... A mail truck from the Bustleton field was called and Eaton took five bags of mail that he had carried from Washington there, intending to obtain another plane and continue his flight. However, he received word to proceed to New York by train, giving the mail to another aviator for delivery."
Pages are 7.5 x 10".Photograph Details
Subject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
unknownCollection
GHS Scrapbook CollectionMade/Created
Studio
UnknownNotes
Author: Unknown
