Mal Freeburg

In 1929 he became one of the first pilots flying the airmail from Minneapolis-St Paul to Chicago at night in a four-hour schedule. It was on one of these very flights, July 12, 1930, along the Chippewa River, he spotted a train bridge ablaze and a train headed right for it. Freeburg left his flight path and began diving toward the train engine, crisscrossing its path near Trevino, Wisconsin, and dropping flares to signal the engineer of the trouble until the train came to a stop just 400 yards from the bridge. It turned out that amateur golfer Bobby Jones was one of the passengers on that train, on his way back to Atlanta after his victory in the U.S. Open at Interlachen. Mal became an instant hero, and with some fanfare he was thanked by the Burlington Railroad with a gold watch and a $100 reward from the Chicago Tribune. When Freeburg turned in his flight report the only mention of the event was that he needed a new supply of flares.[4] On July 23, 1930, Ruth and Mal had their first child, James "Jim" Monroe Freeburg. It wasn't long after that Mal began taking little Jim up on his lap. By the time Jim was 13 he demanded his father teach him how to fly.[1][3]

On 12 April 1931 flying his route between St. Paul and Chicago, shortly after leaving Minneapolis, a motor of Freeburg's tri-motored plane shook loose and tangled in the landing gear. Freeburg kept the plane aloft with the two remaining motors, flew to the Mississippi River and by maneuvering shook the tangled third motor into the river. He then returned to a nearby landing field and brought his plane with eight passengers and mail safely to the ground.[5][6] They transferred the passengers and cargo to another aircraft and complete the flight on schedule. Seventeen days later he was recommended to receive a new medal.[6][7][8]

In 1933 he was on the NWA crew that proved passenger service over the Rockies in the winter was feasible. Amelia Earhart was also on that flight, mainly for PR purposes. Freeburg had flown her into the Twin Cities for the trip. Neither of them liked the other very much. On July 21, 1934, Ruth and Mal had their second child, Patricia Ruth Freeburg. In less than two months he has to make another emergency landing but had more time to prepare for this one. On September 19, 1934, flying a Lockheed Electra from Chicago, the landing gear failed to extend. He flew the aircraft over St. Paul for more than two hours to empty the fuel tanks before making an emergency landing with his 5 passengers safe and only slight damage to the plane.[1][3][9][10][11]

On April 12, 1932, Pilot Freeburg, with co-pilot Joe Kimm, departed from St. Paul, Minnesota, at 3 p.m. en route to Chicago. The plane carried 8 passengers, 6 men and 2 women, besides a load of mail. The plane made its regular stop at Minneapolis at 3:09 p.m. and left at 3:15 p.m. en route to Chicago via Milwaukee. Approximately 45 minutes later, while flying at an altitude of about 2,000 feet in ideal weather, with everything functioning perfectly, the pilot suddenly experienced a terrific jolt. A glance showed that the left outboard motor was vibrating terribly, due to a portion of the propeller having let go. While in the act of cutting the switch, the motor broke loose from its mounting and the pilot, not knowing for the moment what its effect would be on the other motors, cut all the switches and then investigated further. He found that the motor had lodged on the left landing gear struts. Again Freeburg switched on the other two motors and still had an altitude of about 1800 feet. The plane was operating very well considering the additional resistance caused by the motor shell still being in place with a large opening remaining, due to the loss of the motor.

Pilot Freeburg stated that his next thought was to get rid of the motor, but as he was flying over a farming district he was apprehensive that it might land on a dwelling. As a result, the course was altered and the ship pointed its nose over the Mississippi River. Freeburg intended to shake the motor off the landing gear and drop it into the river, if possible. On approaching a fair-sized island in the river, he succeeded in maneuvering the plane so that the motor fell off. The pilot then turned the plane around and proceeded to the Wabasha emergency landing field, about 235 miles east. The damage to the landing wheel was such that the wheel would not revolve and the tire was cut open. But a safe landing was made without any further damage.

The incident had already been reported to the operating headquarters at St. Paul by radio at the time of occurrence, and a relief ship was immediately dispatched to Wabasha, where pilots Freeburg and Kimm transferred their passengers and mail and continued the trip to Chicago. One of the distinguished features of this occurrence is the fact that during all of this time, Pilot Freeburg was talking into his radio phone, advising St. Paul of what had happened and outlining what he was attempting to do. (Because there was only a short delay in the flight, it was not recorded as an interrupted flight.)[2][3][12][13][14]