Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1914 — U. S. AVIATOR IS KILLED IN FLIGHT [ARTICLE]

U. S. AVIATOR IS KILLED IN FLIGHT

Army Scouting Machine is Wrecked in Pacific Ocean Trophy Con-test-Pilot Rescued. Oceanside, Dec. 21.—Lieut. Gerstner, observer in one oi the six U. 8. army scout aeroplanes\that started i today on a flight from Ban Diego I to Los Angeles, was drowned in the sea ten miles north of here. Capt. i L. R. Muller, pilot of the wreck d i machine, was resceUd by Capt. L. W. Patterson, another army aviator, whose aeroplane had been wrecked near where Lieutenant Gerstner met his death. Capt Patterson saw the wreckage of Muller’s • machine in the water and summoned aid. Muller was rescued badly Crushed by the fall and exhausted" Gerstner’s body was recovered. Lieut. Gerstner was the fourteenth aviator to give his life in the interests of government aviation since Lieut. Selfridge fell to hfe death at »Fort Myre, Va., in 1908, testing the ; first aeroplane for. the army. Fifteen army officers, two naval officers and .two civilian instructors make up the tolL>