Our most recent post here was way back in late February 2020, over 2.5 years ago. Obviously, we haven't done anything with this project during that time. We would like to resume studying the saga. The onset of the pandemic had a lot to do with why we dropped the ball on the Leo Story. But there were other reasons, too. With the passage of such a long time, it's almost like starting from scratch. However, at least this time around, we have a MUCH better idea of what needs to be clarified. Here is a starting list of our ideas for resuming the Leo Story:
1) Conduct oral interview with cowboy who visited the crash site many times. We won't give his name here because we respect his privacy. We came very close to meeting with him in early 2020 but the pandemic snuffed those plans.
2) Document all of "The Arizona Republic" coverage of the incident in September 1927.
3) Clarify that Marty Jensen went to Apache Lodge FIRST before going to Payson SECOND.
4) Find someone who will fly us over the crash site.
5) Clarify and verify that Jensen did NOT land in Phoenix to refuel.
6) Try to understand and explain why Jensen did not fly the El Paso route.
7) Better organize and describe photos from Payson relating to the incident
8) Try to find an aeronautical engineer to work with regarding potential extra fuel capacity
9) Attempt to get permission to reprint Frank Gillette's story
10) Attempt to reconnect with the man who recovered the crash debris from the site.
That's a pretty ambitious agenda. I'll be lucky to accomplish all of that during the upcoming Arizona Season. We also would like to pass off our information to someone who can tackle actually writing the story. At this point, we think the story might be better presented as "enhanced historical fiction" based on real facts. There are simply too many discrepancies to be able to tell the story in a cohesive manner.
In case you missed our own attempt to retell the story in short form see:
https://leotheflyinglion.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-short-story.html
