This week we have a story from the prolific pen of Thomson Burtis. Burtis is primarily remembered today for the Rex Lee and Russ Farrell series of books he did, but Burtis was way more than that. In his heyday of the 1920’s—he was cranking out the stories for magazines like Adventure, Argosy, Peoples, Air Stories, Wings, McClure’s and The American Boy. In looking into his previous stories I discovered that a vast majority of them are centered around the pilots of the southern Boarder Patrol. There was Tex McDonnel, Slimuel X. Evans, Sleepy Spears, Streak Sommers and Dumpy Scarth circulating through the pulps, while Russ Farrell covered the boarder patrol for The American Boy stories.

“Crash Proud” from the April 1930 issue of Wings features Dumpy Scarth. Dumpy first appeared in a 1921 issue of Adventure—he was one of the first members of the boarder patrol Burtis introduced us to. Despite his name and matching appearance, Dumpy is one of the most skilled fliers in the patrol.

In the story Corpus Christi has been hit by a flood and the boarder patrol is out looking for and helping the isolated survivors. To make matters worse, the same flood that decimated the town also allowed a homicidal maniac to escape from prison!

Scarth admitted he was the best in the flying game. Then came the flood, and a doomed city looked to the air.

• Download “Crash Proud” (April 1930, Wings)

This story is based upon real events Burtis lived through during the four years he was an Army flyer—in the March 1924 issue of Everybody’s he recounted the experience as being his most depressing time as an aviator.