His name was Herbert Ephraim Manning but the world knew him as “Spud” – the fearless delayed parachute jumper who traveled around the country making adrenalin race. The son of Emerson Manning – whose family owned the Manning Beef processing plant in Whittier, Cal. – 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 arrived in the Ocean State from his home in Los Angeles during the autumn on 1932. Seven months earlier, he had set a record by jumping from an airplane and falling 15,265 feet before pulling his parachute open. The previous record was half that number, set by Rex Harker in 1929. Spud would later remember that jump providing him with “the worst jerk” of his life as he pulled the parachute cord. With the champion jumper here in Rhode Island, thousands drove to Hillsgrove Airport (now Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport)   to attend the New England Annual Air Show on Oct. 16 and 17. Spud had arrived with his wife and son several days earlier and commenced to drop onto the grounds of the State House from a Fairchild cabin monoplane. 

Spud had perfected a two-mile aerial high dive, appearing to swim through the air as he fell – turning, twisting, rolling and gliding. Famous for his delayed chute pulls, he would regularly cause excited chatter among the crowd just before he dropped, dead silence as he fell and then a loud collective gasp as his parachute opened. His free-fall dives and delayed efforts to make for a safe landing often caused many in the crowds that he drew to cover their eyes or turn their heads away from the performance.

Thousands of people showed up at Hillsgrove Airport on Oct. 16 and 17 to see the champion parachute jumper in action. During one of his performances there, he jumped from a height of over two miles holding an open flour sack. As he plunged through the open air, he left a white trail in his wake. The following day, he made the most perilous jump of his career when he spread his arms and fell headfirst from a plane circling the airport at 11,500 feet. He didn’t pull his chute until he was 500 feet from the ground.

Spuds defied death over and over – until death won. He had flown to Chicago to perform in the International Air Races during the autumn of 1933. Following the close of the races, he was invited to a party in South Bend, Indiana. Pilot Carl Otto offered to provide lifts to the party in his autogyro plane. Spuds and a 20-year-old woman named Majenta Gerard accepted his offer. After the party, the trio climbed back onto the plane for the two-hour return trip to Chicago. Not long after take-off on Sept. 6, the plane seemingly disappeared.         

On Sept. 11, as the search for the plane and its occupants went on, someone aboard a lake steamer spotted a piece of canvas floating in Lake Michigan. Further investigation showed that the woman’s body had washed up on the shore near Indian Harbor. She was identified by a diamond she wore. The bodies of Spud and his pilot were in the lake not far from the shore and were pulled in. Otto was still wearing his initialed wristwatch. It was never determined how the plane crashed and no wreckage was ever found.

Spud was buried in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, Cal. The 24-year-old’s wife had given birth to their second child while his body unknowingly floated upon Lake Michigan.

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