, 1909-10-13

this d escriptiOn, as he was passing oVeE
woods, houses, and roads for o distance OF
quite thirty miles. The previous record
holder, nj. BIeriot, covered twenty-five miles
in a cross-couutry fight from Etampes TO
Orleans, in France. Mr.. Cody's previous
best flight hal been one only seven minutes
in the air.
Mr.. Cody's Story.
Il took the air at 6.3 exactly" Mr. Cody
said in describing his flight, which is o pre-
liminary to his contemplated fight to-
Wemblev Park, forty miles as the crow
flies from Farnborough, where he will pre-
pare for his attempt to win Ibe Daily Mail
810, 600 prize fer q flight from London to
Manchester. at is practically a dead calm.
To test my engine l first flew about over
the plain. To begin with, / estimate | was
forty or fifty feet high. l cut all sorts OF
fancy figures in the air. After q quarter
of an hour of wheeling and circllng, during
which / had steadily mounted in the mir,
my ear told me that my engine was working
splendidly. 1t had settled down to .
steady, normal speedy OF 1900 to 1850
revolutions a minute.
81 turned, rose higher, and sped off over
the trees to Jersey Brow. Then l saw the
roof of the balloon factory below me, and
docided to fly over the top of it. I mounted
~ GOOIG.. VI OOOAGJ dIN Ign WV W.
balloon factory yard at the rear of the sheds.
Then I turned out over the trees on to
Marlborough Common.
4 determined to make a wide sweep over
the country, ignoring the sort of ground
that lay below me. l do not quite remem-
Der how many sweeps | made. Twice |
passed over the dirigible shed. Once, l
am told, l was within sight of my own home
at Frimley. My wife, standing in the
garden, saw me distinctly. Then | headed
right down the Farnborough-road Below
me, as my machine swept on, | saw Q big
red-brick building. / recognised it as the
Queens Hotel. l steered straight for
it and passed high over the roof. 1t was
estimated by those who saw my flight at
this point that / was quite scott, above
the ground. / felt cold-very cold. That
was partly due to the speed of my fight.
The spire Of a church hove III sight; l
paused long enough to circle 1t.
"Then l swept over the Balloon Com
pany's barracks, crossed the marlborough
road agtin, between the canal bridge and
the officers stables, and turned once again
on to Laffan's Plain. l crossed over to
Ball Hill. The engine was still going mag
nifcently. The flight WAS q swift, tri-
unphant glide. l felt it a shame to come
down, so turned to the left, back across
the canal, leaving the r%acecourse on my
right.
A Narrow Escape.
Long Hill was straight below me. The
ground looked very far away. At this point,
indeed, I saw i was above the level of
C84ar's Camp. This is SCOTT. above the
level of my shed. Over the farms and
golf links I flew. Then I skirted the rail
way to Cove. Marlborough Station was
straight before me. l turned to the right
again, passed over the dirigible shed once
more,and headed home-that is, for my
garage. Just as 1 neared my shed my
petrol gave out. 1 had used a little over
five gallons during the fight. I was more
than loot. in the cir at tie time. The
engine faltered and stopped. l knew there
was nothing for 1t but a long glide TO earth
This I managed, luckily, without accident.
save that [ landed q little sideways and
broke a stay of the main planes"
AS he descended Mr.. Cody was enthpsi-
astically cheered by q throng of soldiers and
civilians. Numbed with cold, splashed with
oil, but triumphant, he called out, whats
the matter with Cody's aeroplane now?"-
Ibid.