Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-05

that steering the machine toward the
high side brings it again to the horizon
tai. Then he uses the warping devices
only in emergencies.
On this day at Belmont Park the wind
was nasty and gusty and would have
been hard enough to fight with Blerot
with whose wings one was thoroughly
familiar 1 went into the air in my racer
without much thought of the difference
the narrower wings would make, but L
was in trouble at the very start The
extremely small breadth of the planes, l
found. gave me practically no horizontal
support. and, though l kept steering first
to one side and then to the other as the
machine careened over dangerously, L
found that this simple method OF rightlng
my balance would not suffice. l had to
keep warping my wings to their utmost
limit. and not for one moment did this
necessity cease.
In the seven laps of the course that
/ made l cannot tell how many times l
felt that I was turning over in the air.
Almost momentarily / felt as though l
must go crashing to the ground below,
for, try as / did, I could not get an even
balance on the little planes for any
length Of time.
1t was totally new experience for me
and 1 regretted more than once that l
had not got these new planes in time
to test them out and become accustomed
to their vagaries.
The mental and nervous strain of this
flight was totally demoralizing. There
was not a moment of certainty in it, eX-
cept the certainty of demolition if / re-
Taxed my vigilance for an instant. and.
with this thought uppermost it was only
natural that there should be a reflex
r,1J aefA n.,1
1 found myself grasping my steering
post with such a tension that it became
painful to the finger tips.
But 1 had no thought to such a detail
is this. In fact, I did not realize it
until long afterward. All l. had in my
mind was the stubborn unmanageableness
of the aeroplane. its mulsh determination
to do everything 1 did not want it to.
and its seeming refusal to- obey any of
the controls as we'll behaved Bleriot
would do.
1t was like learning to fly all over
again, but instead of the quiet and pri-
vacy of q practice grounds there I was
in an international meet with Que Of the
greatest crowds in the world looking on.
and l as the sole representative of my
native country in the greatest competi-
ton in the history Of aviation! My
position might have struck me as pa
thetic had 1t not been so dangerous
For three circuits of the course |
fought that stubborn aeroplane, deter
mined to conquer it and to make as good
a showing in the result as possible. Then
I felt the strain begin to tell on my
nerves: found myself warping when
there was no need for 1t; my arms jump
ed the steering post about in way
that threatened destruction, and fancied
the Bleriot was bucking when she was
on an even keel, or thought she was on
an even when she was careening at
dangerous angle.
Again 1 went around the course, hur-
thing through the air at a speed that
would have left nothing but splinters
if I had struck the ground, and again
the strain OF those unfamiliar and can
tankerous little wings increased its evil
effects upon mind, body and nerves. 1
gritted my teeth as hard as could and
swore to myself that I would complete
the course but i knew it was a vain
boast I knew that my strength was
being Slapped too rapidly to allow this