Thousands come to watch Spud’s death-defying fall

His name was Herbert Ephraim Manning, but the world knew him as “Spud” – the fearless time-delayed skydiver who traveled the country, getting adrenaline rushes. The son of Emerson Manning – whose family owned the Manning Beef processing plant in Whittier, California – and Millie (Broadbent), he was 23 years old and had a wife and three-year-old son when his death-defying talents brought him to Rhode Island.

He came to the Ocean State from his home in Los Angeles in the fall of 1932. Seven months earlier, he had set a record by jumping from an airplane and plummeting 15,265 feet before opening his parachute. The previous record was half that height, set by Rex Harker in 1929. Spud later recalled that on that jump, he got “the worst jolt” of his life when he pulled the parachute ripcord. With the champion jumper here in Rhode Island, thousands headed to Hillsgrove Airport (now Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport) to attend the New England Annual Air Show on October 16 and 17. Spud had arrived a few days earlier with his wife and son and began falling from a Fairchild cabin monoplane onto the State House grounds.

Spud had perfected a two-mile jump that made it look as though he was swimming through the air as he fell – twisting, twisting, rolling and gliding. Famous for his delayed parachute pulls, he would regularly cause excited chatter from the audience just before his fall, dead silence and then a loud collective gasp as his parachute opened. His freefall jumps and delayed attempts to make a safe landing often resulted in many of the spectators he attracted covering their eyes or turning their heads away from the performance.

Thousands of people gathered at Hillsgrove Airport on October 16 and 17 to see the master skydiver in action. During one of his performances there, he jumped from a height of over two miles with an open sack of flour in his hand, leaving a white trail as he plummeted through the air. The next day, he made the most dangerous jump of his career when he spread his arms and plunged headfirst from a plane circling the airport at 11,000 feet. He didn’t open his parachute until he was 500 feet above the ground.

Spuds defied death again and again – until death won. He had flown to Chicago in the fall of 1933 to take part in the International Air Races. After the races were over, he was invited to a party in South Bend, Indiana. Pilot Carl Otto offered to take the party guests in his gyroplane. Spuds and a 20-year-old woman named Majenta Gerard accepted his offer. After the party, the trio got back on the plane for the two-hour flight back to Chicago. Shortly after takeoff on September 6, the plane appeared to have disappeared.

On September 11, as the search for the plane and its occupants continued, someone aboard a steamboat discovered a piece of canvas floating in Lake Michigan. Further investigation revealed that the woman’s body had washed up on shore near Indian Harbor. She was identified by a diamond she was wearing. The bodies of Spud and his pilot were found in the lake not far from shore and were pulled ashore. Otto was still wearing his wristwatch with his initials on it. It was never determined how the plane crashed, nor was any wreckage ever found.

Spud was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California. The 24-year-old’s wife gave birth to their second child while his body floated unnoticed on Lake Michigan.

Kelly Sullivan is a columnist, lecturer and author from Rhode Island.