The next-to-last laugh

In Short

Set at Rook Field, Raoul Whitfield’s 1928 aviation tale follows test pilot Al as he volunteers to fly the "Gull," a tricky experimental baby plane designed by Eric Burnson. While fellow pilot Joe Curtis refuses to touch the dangerous craft and warns Al away, Al pushes ahead out of professional pride and curiosity. When the fragile under-carriage shatters upon takeoff, Al is forced to bail out by parachute as the plane crashes and burns, uncovering a sinister conspiracy of corner-cutting and redemption that cements the limits of mechanical ambition.

The Story

At Rook Field, eccentric inventors frequently bring untried aircraft for testing. Eric Burnson arrives with a duraluminum-surfaced single-seater called the Gull, which mimics natural bird-flight with fan-tailed elevators and wing-tip air brakes. Experienced test pilot Joe Curtis flatly refuses to fly the machine, recalling a previous fatal crash involving a similar design, and mocks Burnson with a harsh prediction that the public will give him the final laugh while he, Joe, delivers the next-to-last laugh.

When Joe steps down, Al agrees to test the Gull out of curiosity and professional duty. The tension thickens the next morning when MacComas, the field superintendent, receives an anonymous typed warning letter urging them not to let the pilot ride the Gull. Shortly afterward, Burnson mysteriously vanishes from his hotel room. Convinced Joe is involved, Al and MacComas investigate. Joe suddenly reappears alongside a pale and shaken Burnson, who offers a flimsy excuse about an accident. Burnson abruptly changes his mind, declaring that he will fly the first test hop himself and hand any remaining work over to Joe, a strange reversal that deepens Al's suspicions.

Furious at being sidelined and determined to prove his nerve, Al bypasses the schedule, slips out to the hangar, and takes the Gull onto the dead-line. He fires up the engine and takes off into the wind. Immediately, the plane handles poorly. A ground-gust drops the nose, and when Al pulls back the stick, the under-carriage strikes the earth and shatters, leaving the machine crippled in mid-air. Realizing he cannot land safely without wheels, Al gains altitude, squirms out of the tiny cockpit, and leaps into the sky with his parachute. He drifts safely back to the turf as the Gull plummets and explodes in a boom.

Joe rushes to Al's side, furious and relieved. Joe reveals that he kidnapped Burnson at gunpoint in town, forcing the inventor to confess that the Gull's under-gear was deliberately weakened because Burnson was not entirely sure of his own calculations and needed to sacrifice something to achieve his aerodynamic goals. Burnson fainted upon seeing the wreckage, realizing how close he came to murdering a man. As the ground crew approaches, Al acknowledges that Joe's intervention saved him, leaving Joe with the next-to-last laugh while Al reflects on the perilous cost of aviation glory.

How It Unfolds

• The challenge is laid down: Eric Burnson brings his revolutionary, bird-inspired Gull plane to Rook Field, prompting Joe Curtis to refuse the flight test and taunt the inventor with a bitter warning about the next-to-last laugh.
• The assignment changes hands: Al steps in to test the tricky machine, brushing off Joe's warnings and an ominous anonymous threat letter received by the field superintendent.
• The inventor vanishes: Burnson goes missing from his hotel room overnight, sparking a police search and leading Al to suspect that Joe is mixed up in his disappearance.
• The mysterious return: Joe walks back into the field office accompanied by a pale, evasive Burnson, who abruptly announces he will pilot the first hop himself.
• The unauthorized takeoff: Frustrated by the sudden political maneuvering, Al sneaks out to the hangar, climbs into the Gull's cockpit, and launches the craft into the air on his own terms.
• The bail-out and revelation: The fragile under-carriage shatters during a botched takeoff, forcing Al to parachute to safety just before the plane crashes, whereupon Joe confesses how he cornered Burnson into admitting the ship's fatal structural flaws.

The People

• Al: The narrator and veteran test pilot who values his professional pride and curiosity above safety, ultimately surviving a near-fatal crash due to his stubborn refusal to be outdone by his peers.
• Joe Curtis: A seasoned, level-headed pilot who cares deeply for his comrades, recognizes the lethal flaws in Burnson's design, and goes to extreme lengths—including threats and anonymous notes—to protect Al from his own bravado.
• Eric Burnson: A cold, stocky inventor with piercing gray eyes who is obsessed with his revolutionary aircraft, willing to cut dangerous corners and sacrifice structural integrity to see his theories validated in the sky.
• MacComas: The pragmatic superintendent of testing at Rook Field who balances the reckless ambitions of inventors with the safety of his pilots, though he is occasionally blinded by the relentless drive for aviation progress.

In Its Own Voice

• Describing the perils of testing experimental aircraft, the narrator notes, "A test-pilot—the man who tries out new types of airplanes—has about the most hazardous job known."
• Explaining his contempt for the inventor's lack of practical experience, Joe Curtis remarks, "It would be a damned good idea if some of you fellows learned to fly before you started inventing!"
• Reflecting on the terrifying mechanics of his emergency exit, the narrator recalls, "I somersaulted down, counted seven—jerked the rip-cord ring."

What It's Really About

The story explores the dangerous gulf between theoretical mechanics and practical execution, contrasting the cold intellectual hubris of inventors with the visceral, lived experience of the men who test their machines. It examines professional pride, masculine rivalry, and the obsessive human drive to conquer the skies regardless of the cost. Beneath the mechanical details of duraluminum surfaces and fan-tailed elevators lies a moral inquiry into responsibility: who bears the ultimate blame when innovation outpaces safety, and how much risk a community of workers should tolerate for the sake of progress.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love fast-paced aviation history, mechanical grit, and classic pulp adventure will find this an irresistible snapshot of early twentieth-century flight culture. It feels visceral and claustrophobic, placing you directly inside the cramped cockpit alongside a man gambling his life on untested engineering. While modern readers may note the brisk, economical prose style characteristic of 1920s magazine fiction and the absence of deep psychological interiority beyond surface-level bravado, the story delivers a taut, suspenseful narrative that captures the genuine terror and exhilaration of early flight testing.

<ElicitationsGroup message="To explore more of Raoul Whitfield's aviation fiction or the world of 1920s air testing:"> <Elicitation label="Examine the real-world history of 1920s test piloting and parachute technology" query="What was the state of parachute technology and test pilot safety protocols in the late 1920s?"/> <Elicitation label="Explore other classic pulp aviation authors and magazines from the era" query="What other pulp magazines and authors besides Raoul Whitfield wrote about aviation in the 1920s and 1930s?"/> </ElicitationsGroup>