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Captain John Owen Donaldson (May 14, 1897 – September 7, 1930〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John Donaldson )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John O. Donaldson )〕) was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories.〔 Donaldson was born in Fort Yates, North Dakota, the son of General Thomas Quinton Donaldson. He left Cornell and joined the Royal Flying Corps in Canada in March 1917.〔〔 When the U.S. declared war, he transferred to the American air service. He was attached to the RAF (successor to the RFC), and posted to 32 Squadron. From July 22 through August 29, 1918, he destroyed four Fokker D.VII fighters and drove down three others out of control.〔 On September 1, he was shot down by Theodor Quandt, and captured. The following day, he and another prisoner escaped and tried to steal a German two-seater for a flying exit. Donaldson received a bayonet wound in the back struggling with a sentry, and the refugee duo fled. On September 9, they were caught swimming a stream in no man's land, and re-incarcerated. Three days later, Donaldson, his companion, and three other POWs escaped; Donaldson made it to the Netherlands in October.〔 Donaldson won the U.S. transcontinental air race in October 1919, and was awarded the Mackay Gold Medal. He resigned his commission in 1920. He became president of Newark Air Service in New Jersey while continuing to be an air racer.〔 ==Death== He crashed while stunting near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 7, 1930, in an airplane borrowed from Opal Kunz. After tail-spinning in to impact, he was pulled from the wreckage with a fractured skull and internal injuries.〔(''Syracuse Herald'', September 8, 1930) http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/newspaper-articles/31551-war-ace-dies-stunting-legion-race.html Retrieved on April 10, 2010.〕 One newspaper account of the crash said: "The ship in which he crashed was the Travel-Air Whirlwind in which Mrs. Opal Kunz won the 25 mile free for all race on Saturday and which she had piloted to third place in the National Air Races in Chicago ten days ago. The airplane was completely demolished. The tremendous force of the crash telescoped the fuselage and snapped off the tail of the machine… Captain Donaldson was alive when Police Captain Brehan rushed across the field in a police car to his side. He was closely followed by Police Captain Dunn. Mrs. Kunz, a pupil of the pilot, also hurried across the field and helped in the extrication of his broken body… Vernie E. Moon of Maplewood, N.J., mechanican () for Captain Donaldson, and who had been with him when he entered the plane for this aerobatic contest, was (present ) at the hospital."〔“John O. Donaldson, Noted Ace, Dies As His Plane Crashes: Greenville () Man Killed When Plane Crashes at Philadelphia Airport; Machine Went Into Fatal Tail Twirl; Body Badly Mangled As Ship is Demolished- Had Great Record in the War.” Greenville (South Carolina) News. Monday, September 8, 1930. Pagination unknown.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Owen Donaldson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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