The Waycross Police Department is investigating a robbery late Sunday night or in the early morning hours Monday at the Waycross Journal Herald office.
Someone gained access to the office at 311 Carswell Avenue through a rear door and departed with an undisclosed amount of cash through a side door. WPD officers were on the scene early March 23, after WJH Office Manager Janet Nichols placed a 911 call after arriving shortly before 8 a.m.
Competing in the C-1.b class, Hammer averaged 258.27 mph, flying eight hours, five minutes and 21 seconds.
That record was broken a few years later at 292 mph and Hammer made yet another attempt to reclaim the mark in 2018, using a Lycoming 360 engine in his plane.
“So I put a belt-driven supercharger on it,” Hammer recalled Hammer, a helicopter pilot by trade servicing oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, “and I got just over Waycross here, and the supercharger failed.”
This mechanical failure, combined with thunderstorms impeding his progress, ultimately prevented Hammer from recapturing the record.
For this latest attempt, Hammer removed the supercharger, and put in a 540 engine.
“It’s a little bit faster with the 540 in, and I thought I could have a good chance of recapturing that record,” said Hammer, who builds planes for air race competition. “The winds didn’t work out quite as well as I would’ve liked. I would’ve needed a 30knot tail wind, all the way, which is pretty doable this time of year, but today it just didn’t work out.”
Hammer is persistent however, and said he may try again next year.
