Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-16
MY AEROPLANE ADVENTURES
THE PHYSICAL STRAIN OF FLIGHT.
BY ARMSTRONG pRExEL

Man has invented nothing that looks
80 graceful and so easy as an aero
plane dn flight. Swimming overhead,
with broad, outstreched wings, and
With no effort apparent in any part, so
sar as the behOlders can see, the avi-
ator sitting calmly in his seat SEEM
ngly doing nothing but enjoying him
self. this modern aircraft looks to be
he very acme of comfort, of ease, of
sXhiliration.
At every meet n can hear on all
sides EXPLANATIONS of delight and Of
v all based on the common suppos-
'tion that The man in the air is merely
'estlng Quietly upon his broad, soaring
wings while his machine carries him
smoothly and safely higher and higher
n deilaiots swooping curves while he
arInNs in the intoxication Of the swift
MOTION and the rushing scenery
To be an aviator! That has become
he dream of a host of boys and young
men. To SO soaring away into the
heavens with the wild applause Of a
multitude ringing in the ears, to climb
higher and higher until all the cares of
earth are left behind. to revel in the
freedom Of the birds. to match them in
heir swirtness, in their liberty, in their
scorn of mundane things-that seems
20 many an ideal worth striving for.
And then to come swooping down. to
De greeted tumultuously as a hero, to
step from the aeroplane triumphant,
axhilirated. renewed with fresh vigor
rom the restful flight, to feel a SUI
periority over fellow mortals. and all
without effort or strain or work of n
xind-that IS a picture of human bliss
That is to-day in the minds of many.
l nave had so many people talk to me
enthusiastically as though the aviator's
life Were this very delightful and rest
.ul form Of existence. They have gush-
N my enthusiasm, and then they have
been utterly surprised and often down.
eight skepticsl when l have told them
the true conditions that are met by the
dying men and have stated that a few
aours in the air in an %aeroplane is the
hardest days work that any man can
do.
What is there hard about it. they
want 10 know. What is there for an
aviator to do or to endure that should
make IL comparable to labor?
It is hard to answer such questions as
this in a way that the average man can
understand. He must operate an aero
plane for himself before he can fully
realize the tremendous strain that it
outs upon all the faculties. because
there is nothing else just like 1T. The
man who races an automobile knows
VI viz * 11oC AS ~ ACAi.
Yronted with only one-third or v less
Of the difficulties that are constant
with the aviator in flight.
The automobile driver has only one
method Of steering to engage his atten-
ton. He sends his machine to right
Or left and that is all there is to it. The
aviator must constantly be in control of
three sets of apparatus and mOmentary
neglect of any one of the three means
wreck. He must steer up and down, to
right or left. and must keep his hori-
xontal balance in the air. The auto
mobile does n require the latter two.
Yet they are the ones which put the
greatest strain upon the man in the
air.
Three Kinds of Strain In Flying.
Roughly, the strain of flying can be
divided into three kinds-the physical,
The mental and the ervous With the
man who attempts to break any of the
records established to-day, these three
become in a great measure. interde-
pendant and i~nseparable. l mean by
that that when a ANS brain becomes
ired, his body becomes tired with it,
and that when his nerves are shattered
Or worn, his body and brain give way,
too. I recall one experience of my
own which illustrates this very clearly
and which is simply typical of what
every aviator must endure MOI once but
time after time as long as he continues
to figure in public meets.
This was during the trials in the Cor
don Bennett cup ace at the Belmont
Park meet. near New York, las Octo-
Der. l had had built for my Bleriot a
special set of racing wings and had
hoped to be able to try them out before
the contests in his country. but had
been unable to do so. They were the
smallest surfaces it was possible to fly
with even at the maximum speed, and
were made with as little span from tip
20 tip as was absolutely necessary, so
that there should be the smallest con-
ceivable head resistance when the
machine was in motion. Every detail
and measurement was reduced to a
minimum and the machine looked like
= mere toy beside the broad-winged
passenger carrying types with their
wide span. suggesting great stability
In the air and ease of control while in
flight.
On the day when the Gordon Bennett
trials tool place. I had had these little
wings put on. I a v flown with
them, but I knew that it would be use
less, with the regu~lation-sized wings,
to try to compete against the two 100
horsepower engines that were entered,
because mine was only a 50-horsepower.
So I had to trust to luck that every
thing would go right and that the
smallness of my planes and h min
lmum head resistance which they af-
fered would in a measure compensate