San Diego museM got back to
me re:requesting information about one of our photographs. I did take a closer look at 01_00030316 and the tail number is 7998.

I also think L A Bowen may actually be Lloyd B Bowen

All

Thanks for your help.

I am trying to identity all US Caterpillars Club members in a list I have up ton end of 1934 – The US Navy records are not a detailed as the US Army ones, and I had a printing error which confused two separate incidents (one of which is this incident) that I wanted to resolve. This lead me to the following news report – My additions are in square brackets, and I have corrected names in original report and added full names where known

The aircraft was of VP-4F as confirmed by Garden’s unit in the US Navy Register of 1934

Here’s is what sparked my interest

Six Navy Fliers Abandon Flying Boat, Land Safe HONOLULU
Leave Airplane 1,100 Feet in Air and Landed Safely With Parachutes. Editor’s Note: The signal which sent. S. D. Kamrar [Simon Dedrick Kamrar, Aviation Chief Machinist’s Mate and Enlisted Airman Pilot], U. S. Navy flier and five of his companions jumped over the side of a stalled flying boat for an 1,100 foot parachute jump reminded Kamrar of a, “hitch hiker flipping a thumb for a ride.” He describes the incident in the following exclusive United Press dispatch:
By S. D. Kamrar. U. S. Navy Aviation Corps HONOLULU, T. H. [Territory of Hawaii] Feb. 17. [1934] U. P.
Lt. (jg) Gaden [Allan Gaston Gaden VP-4F] jerked his thumb toward the-wide open space below us and ordered us over the side and we went for a 1,100-foot ride to earth. It reminded me of nothing so much as a hitch-hiker’s gesture asking for another kind of a, ride. There were six of us in the 4-P-10 [Serial between A7979/A8003 Douglas PD-1 of Patrol Squadron 4 (VP-4F)] flying over Schofield (Schofield Barracks, aka Wheeler Army Air Field] airport at a height of about 8,000 or 9,000 feet when the trouble started. Clouds closed in under us just as the engines stopped. We entered a forced glide as the mechanics tried vainly to restart the motors. There seemed to be something wrong with the gas feeds, and the earth was coming up to meet us at a dizzy pace. I looked at the altimeter. It showed 2,500 feet, which making allowances for sea level, .placed us about 1200 feet up. Just then the lieutenant piloting the plane (Lt. A. G. Garden) gave the signal for the bailout. He just jerked his thumb. T. P. Goley [Tillman Perry Goley, Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1st Class U.S, Navy], who was manning the “camera gun” was the first to leave the ship. William ‘Willie’ Leslie Gruber [Aerographer (Weatherman) 1st Class U. S. Navy and Enlisted Airman Pilot], who was up forward, followed. L. A. Bowen (Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class, U. S. Navy,) left almost with him from the rear cockpit. I left from the forward cockpit, just as C. P. May [Aviation Chief Machinist’s Mate], stepped off from the rear. Lt. Gaden set the stabilisers and was the last to leave the boat. (We went down mighty fast. It only took about 30 seconds for me to reach the earth. The rest came down as quickly. Within, three minutes all of us were on the ground and unhurt. The ship itself made a freakish landing. It struck on its side and skidded to an upright position. Ordinarily it would have nosed over and collapsed. But all that was damaged was a wing that was broken and part of the hull which was cracked. Bailing out is getting fashionable around here. The day before we joined the ‘Caterpillar Club’ two army pilots [both of 19 Pursuit Squadron, Wheeler Field, Oahu, HI ] had a 1,100-foot ride on the chutes. They were Lt. Demas Thurlow Craw [#O-15860 P-12E 31-586] and Lt. Royden Eugene Beebe, Jr. [#O-18447 P-12C 31-229], whose planes collided. They had slight injuries. It’s all in the day’s work for us.