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Beyond the Byline: Give me a few like Bob Gibson

Less than a month after Frank A. Dickman landed a hydroplane on the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre in August 1920, he was killed in a crash in an area once known as the North Flats near today&rsquo;s Pierce Street in Kingston.
				Dickman made Wyoming Valley history when he landed the first hydroplane just below the former Market Street Bridge on Aug. 12, 1920.
				&ldquo;Thousands of people witnessed the first time in their lives the arrival of a hydroplane on the Susquehanna River yesterday afternoon. Shortly after 12 o&rsquo;clock, eager spectators began to line the bridge and the river common,&rdquo; reported the Wilkes-Barre Record on Aug. 13, 1920.
				At about 2:30 p.m., the plan flew over Center City at an altitude of about 3,000 feet and began dropping cards, which was part of a plan being carried on by the Dort Motor Car Company, the Record reported.
				A day earlier, the car company advertised in local newspapers they would drop cards, similar to coupons, from the hydroplane that were good for $100 off an automobile purchase.
				Spectators on the bridge and the river common watched the hydroplane began a thrilling landing that swept down over the Market Street Bridge and gracefully landed on the river, the Record reported.
				The hydroplane was towed to Finch&rsquo;s Boat House formerly located in the area of today&rsquo;s Market Street Bridge and South River Street.
				Once at the boathouse, Dickman took newspaper reporters and 20 eager spectators for flights around the Wyoming Valley.
				&ldquo;On up the aircraft went until a beautiful panorama of the valley presented itself. The grain covered fields, the hills and patches of woods, the placid, winding Susquehanna and the familiar mountains, wailing the valley, were revealed in a way that made life seem serene and beautiful,&rdquo; the Record reported.
				Dickman, of Williamsport, a U.S. Army aviator during World War I, made several flights to the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre in the ensuing weeks, most were advertised in local newspapers, including the flight on Sept. 8, 1920.
				&ldquo;Two men lost their lives in Wyoming Valley&rsquo;s first serious aerial disaster when a Curtis hydroplane went into a nose drive at a height of 500 feet last night shortly before 7 o&rsquo;clock and crashed into farm land along the North Street road in Dorrancetown borough,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported Sept. 9, 1920.
				Dickman, 28, and passenger, Frederick R. Mefford, a superintendent for the Susquehanna Collieries Company who resided with his family at 337 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, were killed in the crash. Mefford worked from an office in the former Miners Bank Building at West Market and Franklin streets in Wilkes-Barre.
				&ldquo;The fatal plunge of the plane occurred in sight of thousands of people who had been watching Dickman take up local people on short flights. These spectators heard the engine give a final snort just before it struck the ground, indicating that the pilot had made a last frantic effort to pull his craft out of its nose dive,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported.
				Immediately after the plane crashed, nearly 5,000 people went to the scene and were held back by policemen on the North Street Bridge that spanned the pond holes bordering Riverside Park and the wreckage, the newspaper reported.
				Mefford died at the scene while Dickman died at Wilkes-Barre Hospital several hours later.
				When Dickman visited the Wyoming Valley, he stayed at the Hotel Sterling often meeting with newspaper reporters and the public in the hotel&rsquo;s grand lobby.
				Just before the fatal flight, a Wilkes-Barre Record reporter quoted Dickman as saying, &ldquo;This will be my last trip,&rdquo; which was reported in the Record on Sept. 9, 1920.
				Dickman made the statement when he returned to the boathouse to pick up Mefford. The Record took Dickman&rsquo;s statement as the last trip of the night.

Lookback: Pilot, passenger killed in 1920 hydroplane crash in Kingston