mounted on bob sleds, using a spring suspension to give better riding qualities. The steering was of the same type as used on a car, and the vehicle was powered by a six cylinder Plymouth engine with a rear mounted home made push type propeller. The engine was borrowed from Emest’s car for the winter.
This machine had plenty of power to carry it through almost any conditions. On one trip from North Tryon to Summerside, Ernest had Charles W. Ives as a passenger. For part of the way the traveling was on bare pavement, while across Bedeque Bay the slush was up to the benches, but these obstacles were not enough to stop the sturdy little machine from completing the trip to Summerside, returning to North Tryon.
However, the next winter our roads were opened by snow plows. It is interesting to speculate on what might have been produced by these brothers had the challenge to travel over snow blocked roads re- mained.24
Aircraft
On a Sunday afternoon in 1928, a single engine plane, carrying mail to the Magdalen Islands, landed on the icy surface of the Tryon River near the place where the old Tryon Point Wharf was situated. After picking up some mail, it continued on its flight. This event created quite a stir and brought a large number of people out to observe it.
On two other occasions pilots brought their planes down in this area because of foggy conditions. One was a single engine, the other a twin engine craft. These landings were accomplishments considering the hazards of wire fences, buildings and shrubbery, and poor visibility. Fortunately, very little damage was caused to either the planes or the hazards! When planes began flying over the district, the school teacher at North Tryon School allowed the pupils to leave their seats to have a good look at these new travelers in the sky. At first, the strange new sound of the motors was intriguing.
During the second World War, in May 1942, a Harvard training plane from Summerside Air Base crashed in North Tryon. The student pilot, a young man by the name of McCutcheon from Ontario, was able to bail out. Unfortunately, his parachute caught on the tail of the plane, and he died in the crash. The instructor also jumped. He was more fortunate, and after drifting over the woods, fields and highways, he landed safely in a field on the east side of the Ives’ Upper Mill Pond. After the instructor bailed out, the plane circled, rapidly losing altitude, passing in front of Max Lefurgey’s house, crossing the highway, and landing directly between a dwelling and well—house on the next farm, moving the well-house sideways on its foundation. Two elderly ladies, Christie Dawson and her sister, Flora Thomas, were living in the house
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