Airplane Is Stolen, Then, Given Up by Two Flying Burglars

1920

The first airplane theft in Chicago has occurred at Checkerboard Field.

The field hangars are not extensively guarded. So there was no interference to the two men who arrived at the flying field at daybreak and opened a hangar where a Standard plane was housed.

The pair trundled the plane around so that its nose pointed into the wind. Evidently both understood flying. One climbed into the pilot's seat, while the other turned the propeller and primed the motor.

Then at the shout of "contact" the switch was on and the blades spun into action.

The man who had cranked got into the forward cockpit and with a roar the Standard sped across the ground and skimmed into the air.

Two or three sleepy mechanics who had watched the take-off suddenly realized what was taking place. A telephone call was put in for officials of the field.

An hour afterward several ships had taken the air and from extreme altitudes the pilots were searching with glasses for the stolen plane.

But later in the day the missing machine was found. The would-be thieves had been forced to land four miles from Checkerboard Field. The men had stripped the plane of instruments, valued at several hundred dollars.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1.