Hang gliders be hanged

On sunny days the Black Forest of Duckburg swarms with picnic parties. There are carnivals and games. . .and contests like pie eating. . .and this day there is a hang glider race about to start from the top of Mount Demontooth.

The purpose of this race is to see which daring pilot can land his flimsy glider nearest the center of a circle in the valley below where the belles of Daisy's club are staging a pie social. The winner will be crowned "King Custard Cream the First" by Queen Daisy, herself. Determined that he will be the winner is Donald, whose glider is by no means the best-looking craft in the contest. Don's helper, Louie, foresees only doom and gloom for among the rival pilots is Gladstone Gander with a super glider that was given to him by a rich widow who liked his wavy hair. Even so, Donald thinks he can fly so skillfully his cousin's overweening luck won't be a factor. Louie advises Don to be the last to jump off.

Gladstone jumps off. His glider is favored by the most perfect updrafts. He soars with the grace of a guIl. Maidens swoon with ecstasy. Don turns green with envy. Louie advises Donald to not even try to outdo Gladstone's gymnastics. Louie hangs an emergency kit on Don's seat bar and tells him to open it and read the instructions at the first sign of trouble. Donald jumps off with his glider. He vows that he will use no unethical assistance. The updrafts that helped Gladstone are now downdrafts. Don is whipped down the face of the cliff. His fanny gets "sanded" to a pink on the granite. He pushes dear only to be flipped over and forced to fly upside down to the great delight of Gladstone. Don's luck gets no better fast. Louie, scrambling down the mountain trail, sees Don's glider blown into a big hole in the cliff face. "Goodnight," he moans, "Uncle Donald's been blown into the terrible cave of the vampire bats!"

But the bats aren't hungry. The glider comes back out carried by so many angry bats it looks like a giant black bat itself. The bats "throw" the glider clear and once more Don is in precarious flight. Louie yells at him to open that emergency kit. "I won't! I won't!" vows Donald, but he sees the bat swarm turning to come at him like a black arrow. He paws the kit open, as bats "buzz" him like the Red Baron buzzing a Spad.

Inside the kit is a reel of fine fishline with a weight on the end. Card says to drop weighted end to Huey and Dewey who are below and who will tow Don by the fishline to where he can't miss the target circle. Donald obeys. Huey and Dewey come out of a grove and grab the weight as it falls. Their first tug on the line saves Don from a kamikaze dive by the bat swarm.

Now all seems well. Donald's glider sails straight toward the target area with no foul-ups by wind, beast or bad luck. But Gladstone is still to be reckoned with. He swoops his glider near to taunt Donald. He sees the almost invisible towline and deliberately strikes it with his wing. The weight is snapped from Huey's hands and goes sailing over a line of trees, beyond which is a carnival fair. The weight catches in the frame of a car on the whirling "whip cracker."

Round and round goes Don's glider in sudden yanks and yaws. He can't break or cut the fishline. Gladstone soars past chiding Donald about his predicament. Kids have to buy tickets in order to stop the ride. Don now so dizzy he doesn't know East from North.

At the picnic the crowd awaits the finish of the glider contest. So far no pilot has landed in the target circle. Only Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander still have chance to be "King Custard Cream the First." The ladies ave placed a giant custard cream pie on the Queen's table awaiting the crowning ceremony. Donald sights down his glider's nose toward what appears to his dizzy eyes to be the target circle. He cuts his flaps and goes into a steep dive. The kids cover their eyes and scream, "Oh, no!"

Up above Gladstone starts his dive. "1 see the target circle! I can't miss! Queen Daisy, get ready to crown me winner - like I knew all along I would be!" Gladstone does win. His glider lands exactly in the target center, but no queen is there to greet him, no cheering crowd. He is slighted. "Where is everybody?" he asks Huey and Dewey. They point to crowd in silhouette stoning Donald over a hill in the distance.

"Crowning Unca Donald!" they say. "He mistook the giant custard cream pie for the target circle!"

They point to wrecked glider in gooey pie mess. "And he made a perfect landing right in the middle!"