Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-19

worlds record figures. / was preparing
myself for work that should be officially
preparation / have had experiences with
the bumps Of the air which shall not
soon forget and which have taught me
always to expect the unexpected in the
upper strata Of the atmosphere.
AS I write / have before me several
Paragraph records of my various flights
and the thin tracing Of the pen points
. on one or two Of them recalls to my
passed while making them, and one in
particular / pick out as being a souvenir
of as strenuous days work as I have
ever done.
1t was q little iaunt into the heart Of
the heavens, made because Of my long
cherished desire to so up to the 10000
foot mark, and it gave me my hardest
fight with the bumps in the air. The
weather was ideal for climbing. It was
cold, but the air was fairly still and the
first few thousand feet of my ascent
with one exception which I will speak of
later were made smoothly and without
much difficulty in a steady rise that was
almost mechanical in its exactness.
The Paragraph record Is interesting in
showing the progress Of this flight. For
those who do not know 1t may be we'll
to explain that the Paragraph Is an In
strument which registers altitude, and,
by means OF pen point filled with In
constant line on a piece Of paper which
is moved around by clock work.
This Paragraph record shows that in
the first fifteen minutes ] rose to a height
of the climb are indicated by the fact
that at the end Of the next fifteen min
uteS / was only about 300 feet high,
but the line traced by the pen up to this
point is fairly steady and only when it
passes the 7,0oO foot mark does it begin
to waver. 1t was during this part Of my
flight that the strain began to tell upon
me and the steadiness of my climb was
got myself together better, for the line
shows sudden jump of nearly a thou
sand feet In about five minutes and then
1t is plain to be seen that my troubles
began. For the line from SEQ feet to
the topmost limit. which was graitfyingly
close to the 10000 mark. is little more
than a blur. 1t shows that the pen point
was vacillating up and down and up and
plunges and jump-the humping the
bumps-the rough riding-that caused
this line to take such an appearance. :.
had set out to make 10000 feet, and
where near there I looked at my baro-
graph and found that it registered nearly
thousand feet short Of my mark. had
almost reached the limit of my strength; 1t
seemed lmpOSSlDle 10 make the BleTlOt
climb any higher. yet I showed her nose
up at an angle that threatened destr71c-
ton if anything went wrong. But the
motor only spat protestingiy and dragged
her forward horizontally without SEEM
ing to pull her up an inch.
1t marked the beginning Of the hardest
fight of my life. I was determined not
to come down until l had at least got
within hailing distance of the ten-thou-
sand mark. because before starting had
told my friends that that figure was my
goal
So when found that there was no more
direct lifting power in the propeller l
decided to see what an increase of speed
would do. Accordingly. 1 headed the nose
of the Bleriot downward, and, with the
engine running at it's utmost. I took
deep plunge into the space below and
kept plunging until my speed must have
been somewhere near 100 miles an hour.
Then. with this tremendous impetus, l
headed tie machine upward again at a
good angle and was rejoiced to find that
not only climbed above my starting
point, but that the propeller seemed able
to hold her there without difficulty.
Time after time 1 tried this extremely