1933 Newspaper Abstracts

The Weekly Corinthian, Vol. XXXVIII #39, Thurs, Sept. 28, 1933:
p. 8, c. 5 -

TURNER TELLS
        OF AIR SPEED
                RECORD TRIP
        -------------
        Whether from West to East, or East to West, Col. Roscoe Turner,
formerly of this city, is the unquestioned speed champion of America.
        Five years of persistent effort to travel from West to East
across the continent faster than any living man had ever traveled brought
success Monday morning when Col. Turner set his plane down in Floyd
Bennett Field, New York, after crossing the continent from California in
an official time of ten hours an dfour and one-half minutes.
        Col. Turner answered a few questions about his trip over a
national radio hook-up last night from New York City-- told a huge
audience of an experience that has never been shared exactly by another
human being.
        He averaged about 275 miles an hour on the transcontinental
jaunt, Turner said.
        The flyer left the California coast in spite of fog warnings
issued by weather men, pulled out through a light blanket of fog in order
to change his schedule and beat the jinx that had seemed to defeat him on
previous attempts for the west to east record.
        Luckily, the fog didn't come in heavily.  He pulled up over the
coastal ranges, averaging 300 miles an hour on the first lap of the trip
from the Burbank, Cal., to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
        After leaving Wichita, Kan., Col. Turner said he veered to the
left off the path of air signal lights, because that path offered a
shorter path to his goal, but he struck head winds and turned back over
about 150 miles, losing 30 minutes time as a result.
        He had planned an immediate return to California, but reports of
fog in the vicinity of Burbank deterred him.


The Weekly Corinthian, Vol. XXXVIII #43, Thurs, Oct 26, 1933:
p. 1, c. 1 & 2 -

TURNER TALKS
        AT MEETING OF
                JUNIOR C. OF C.
        --------------

        Accompanied by the formal escort of Corinth Sea Scouts, who a
short time before had been shooting questions about aviation at him with
boyish enthusiasm in an exceedingly informal bull-session, Colonel
Roscoe Turner, who holds more major air honors at present than any other
aviator ever held at one time, appeared at a meeting last night to talk
to the young men of Corinth.
        Ben R. Warriner introduced Colonel Turner to members of the
Junior Chamber of Commerce as the most successful individual the town has
ever produced.  "When judged by the yardstick of achievement, and that is
the way we must measure men," Mr. Warriner said, "Colonel Turner is the
greatest man that has ever gone out from this town."  Stating that his
welcome in corinth might have been more fitting for one bearing that
title had the circumstances of his visit -- to attend the funeral of his
grandmother, Mrs. Mollie Derryberry -- been different, Mr. Warriner
welcomed the famous aviator and requested him to speak to the group.
        Speaking with evident sincerity about his pleasure in returning
to his home town and renewing old friendships, Colonel Turner expressed
his regrets that he has not been able to come home more often.  Many
deep-seated interests of his life are centered in Corinth, where he was
given the start that led to his achievements-- Col. Turner said.
Organizations that he joined here have kept his membership and he has
declined to change them.
        "Sometimes I wonder whether this life of continual traveling is
worth the cost in sacrificing these relations I might enjoy with my
friends.  But it has always been a part of my nature," he continued, "to
want to do things differently and to get out of the beaten paths.
        "That is done at a cost.  You get criticized for holding out
against the majority opinion.  Sometimes you are knocked down but you
have to get up again and keep going to accomplish anything.
        "I have kept working at aviation, not because of a desire for
personal glory, but because of the faith my friends had in me, and
because of an opportunity to do something for the cause of aviation."
        In speaking of his aviation work, Colonel Turner revealed that
his effort has not been to determine how fast he could go, but to
determine how fast he could go with safety.
        "I will say frankly," he admitted, "the plane in which I made the
west-east record is the only racing plane I'd get in."
        Colonel Turner then proceeded to a discussion of the knowledge
and care necessary to guarantee a reasonable degree of safety in his
racing flights, and told of the habit of racing flyers in "figuring on
the worst possible developments" and "planning to get out of them
safely."
        He closed his talk with an interesting account of the flight in
which he traveled from Los Angeles to New York City in 10 hours, four and
one half minutes, to make another world record.


Abstracts (c) Copyright 1993 Stephanie L. Sandy

    Data transcription by: Milton Sandy, Jr. Corinth, MS - September 23, 1993