The Air Splasher by Richard Howells Watkins
King Horn, known as the "Ace of Deuces," is the star stunt pilot of the Tennant Flying Circus on Long Island, celebrated for a reckless flying style that has already destroyed twelve airplanes. During a Saturday exhibition before a large crowd, he performs a punishing sequence of low-altitude stunts, deliberately skimming the ground and diving toward a fence to thrill spectators. As he comes in to land, a boy with a camera runs onto the field, followed by would-be rescuers who block his path; forced to bank sharply at low speed, Horn crashes his thirteenth ship, emerging shaken and cut but essentially unhurt. His friend Franklin Cross, aviation editor of the Era, is visibly distressed by the crash, while circus owner Walt Tennant treats it as good publicity. Walt's daughter, Lyle Tennant, tends King's wound, but instead of her usual gentle scolding, she breaks down in tears and accuses him of "playing the fool," then orders him away. Baffled, King wanders off to think through what has happened. He gradually realizes that his escalating recklessness has been less about serving the circus than about competing with his own legend as a daredevil, a reputation fed by Cross's sensational newspaper stories. He also realizes, with sudden clarity, that he is in love with Lyle and that her outburst was born of fear for his life. He resolves on the spot to quit stunt flying and ask Tennant for a job as a regular passenger pilot. When King finds Lyle gone and instead locates Walt Tennant, he asks for a passenger-carrying position. Tennant refuses, not because he doubts King's skill, but because King's public reputation as the "wild man of the air" and serial ship-wrecker would frighten away paying customers; the very fame that makes him a circus draw disqualifies him from safer, more lucrative work. Cross, present for the exchange, promises to publicize King's retirement from stunting, though he warns that the recent crash itself is too newsworthy to suppress. Fellow pilot Syd Scoggins, who had privately thought of shooting King out of mercy, welcomes the decision and suggests trying the Grand Trunk Airway, a fledgling, cash-rich outfit run by a Wall Street financier named Winship who knows little about aviation. King spends the rest of the day chasing job leads at several outfits without success, and that evening fails to find Lyle at her hotel. The next morning's Era carries a front-page account of King's crash and his declared retirement from stunt flying, framed sympathetically but honestly as a story of past recklessness. Stung but accepting its fairness, King dresses carefully in proper flying attire and heads to the Grand Trunk Airway field, where Winship is about to take his board of directors on an inaugural flight in the company's new three-engine monoplane. There he finds Lyle and Cross together, and a flash of jealousy sharpens his resolve. Before the flight, Winship nearly walks into a spinning propeller; King and the airway's regular pilot, Nat Scoggins (Syd's brother), pull him clear, but Scoggins takes a propeller blow to the arm and breaks it, taking him out of commission. With Cross vouching for King's skill, Winship impulsively invites King to pilot the flight in Scoggins's place, and King eagerly accepts, careful not to give his notorious name. Airborne with Cross beside him and Winship's anxious board of directors in the cabin, King enjoys the power and smoothness of the big transport plane after years of flying decrepit stunt ships. Touring Manhattan for the directors' benefit, he spots Lyle piloting Syd Scoggins's circus biplane nearby—she has followed out of concern. Checking his gauges, King discovers the ground crew sent him up with the tanks nearly empty; he has only minutes of fuel left, far too little to reach a safe field, and a forced landing over the city risks his elderly, fragile passengers. He puts Cross, a total novice, at the controls with hurried emergency instructions, climbs out onto the wing in flight, and, in a harrowing midair transfer, catches a five-gallon gasoline can lowered from Lyle's biplane, pours it into the tank, and repeats the maneuver for a second can—nearly being knocked off the wing when the last can strikes him and flings him back into the cockpit instead. With enough fuel restored, he pulls the plane out of its dive just above the bay and climbs to safety, then completes the flight back to Long Island. Winship and his shaken but grateful directors are deeply impressed by the unknown pilot's coolness and skill. King and Lyle, reunited and now openly devoted to each other, spend the rest of the day together. The following day, Cross—graciously accepting his own disappointment as a rival—brings them a copy of the Era as a "wedding present": a front-page story praising King not as the reckless "Ace of Deuces" but as the resourceful transport pilot who saved Winship's life and the lives of his board of directors through genuine skill and nerve, noting that in thirteen crashes he has never endangered anyone but himself. The story secures King's reputation as a safe, capable professional pilot, resolving both his romantic and his professional dilemmas.
By Richard Howells Watkins · First published 1929 · Genre: Aviation Fiction, Adventure, Action/Thriller · 9,993 words
First lines
A Dare-devil of the Clouds Performs the Most Hair-raising Feat of His Life to Prove that He Is a Safe Pilot.
"LA-ADIES and gentlemun! " bawled Sam Smith, rotating his fat body on the creaking box. "The next feature on the program will be an exhibition flight by King Horn, the wild man of the air! Horn has crashed no less than twelve ships in the course of his death-defying career as ‘Ace of Deuces' -- an' maybe he'll make it thirteen before your eyes this afternoon! " Sam paused to gulp air with savage intensity; then bellowed on:
Genres
- Aviation Fiction — The entire narrative centers on flying, aviation culture, pilot expertise, and aircraft technology. The setting, conflicts, and protagonist's identity are fundamentally defined by aviation.
- Adventure — Multiple dangerous, high-stakes sequences including spectacular stunt flying, mid-air fuel transfer, and life-threatening challenges that drive the plot forward with sustained excitement.
- Action/Thriller — Fast-paced narrative with constant physical danger, aerial combat-like maneuvering, and nail-biting suspense, particularly the climactic refueling scene above New York Bay.
- Pulp Fiction — The writing style, melodramatic characterizations, sensationalized action sequences, and magazine-story structure are characteristic of early 20th-century pulp adventure publications.
Tags
aviation · airplanes · pilots · flight · adventure · action · youth fiction · coming-of-age · friendship · courage · danger · competition
What this Textopian page supports
The Air Splasher is listed on Textopian as a novella by Richard Howells Watkins, dated 1929 CE.
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- Work type: Novella
- Author: Richard Howells Watkins
- Date: 1929 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Aviation Fiction, Adventure, Action/Thriller, Pulp Fiction, Romance
- Length: 9,993 words
- Structure: 1 section, 238 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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