The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-07

Hamel reads like page out of some
 imaginative romance, for until three short years ago no one but his own cir cle of acquaintances ever had heard of
 this handsome young daredevil then
 barely turned 21. Nor has his recogni-
 tion as the king of British flyers been
 a matter of luck. On the contrary. it aerial feats as few aviators in Europe except perhaps Beaumont, Vedrines
 Paulban and HuclSs, have to their credit No other aviator has flown the channel as many times as he, nor any other ex- cept Pegoud, the Frenchman who first
 demonstrated that it could be done. performed the dangerous trick of up-
 side down flying or looping the loop as often. Perhaps Hamers greatest
 accomplishment so far, however, was his nonstop flight with a passenger an American by the way, from Dover to Cologne, in making which he flew
 over five frontiers, and covered the dis
 tance in just over four hours, leaving the English seaport at 12:40 p. m, and
 coming down. in the famous cathedral
 city on the Rhine at 4:5S p. m. All the way, moreover. he was bucking against a head wind and fighting adverse air currents. and while flying over the North sea ran into the middle of hall
 storm, which for several minutes look
 
 His Favorite Passenger
 The woman who has flown with Hamel more often than any other is that most
 daring of all feminine passengers, Miss Eleanor TrehawSe Davies, the heiress of
 welathy London solicitor, who has been described without much exaggeration as | a woman without nerves" Miss Davies accompanied Hamel on his first flight across the channel. being, in fact the first woman to fly Ia Manche," both being wrapped about with rubber tubes to act
 as life preservers should they fall into the sea-and together the intrepid pair have made flights both in and outside the United Kingdom, which must number close on a hundred. One of their return trips" from Paris, by the way. was de- scribed to the writer by Miss Davies in characteristic fashion. Fog enveloped them for practically the whole of the way Tt was like going through a kind of transparent cotton-wool," she said, the
 clouds were thick. and the cold was intense. Being unable to speak or see
 much. read most of the time. The book was A Sentimental Journey" Shade of
 Laurence Sterne.
 Another fair one who has made many flights with this most picturesque of air.
 men is Lady Victoria Pery the 21-year- daughter of the Earl and Countess of Limerick, who Is admittedly one of the prettiest girls in society. Lady Vic" as a passenger with Hamel, was the second woman in the world to Hoop the loop" Miss Trehawke Davies having been the hrst-and a black cat mascot with which this peers daughter presented the aviator
 and which now adorns his monoplane has, so she tells me- proved so effective that Hamel's mechanic now will not let him fly without 1t. Of course the gosslps
 promptly have engaged Hamel to Lady Victoria, just as they previously had en- gagged him to Miss Davies. and as they would have done to the Countess of Dud- ley, who looped with him at Worcester, and to lovely Gladys Cooper. who has been ''up' with him several times at Hen don, had not the two latter been mar ried already. but both Hamel and Lady Victoria have assured the present writer that there is nothing doing so far as mat rimony is concerned.
 Son of Physician
 The aviator is the son of pr. Gustav Hamel, a London physician, who has the right to put Member of the Victorian Or der" after his name, and first opened his eyes on this vale of tears in the year An no Domini 1890. Always a high-spirited youngster, he proved just as indifferent a student as one would expect at West
 minister school, the famous seat of learn ing just behind the abbey where they do Greek play every year and toss the pancake" on Shrove Tuesday, and soon after emerging as an "old boy" thereof 1 began to demonstrate that taking risks of one kind or another was the sort of thing
 that was meat and drink to him. Among | other things he was as keen a sailor as l you could find in England. and when | barely IT managed to sail ten-tonner all | the way from the Solent up the east
 coat of England practically by himself without piling her up anywhere, as it was confidently expected that he would do He is a good shot and an ardent fisher man, too, and in quest of victims for his rod and gun has travelled all through Norway and Sweden and most of the rest of civilized Europe, taking the luck of the available days sport however it came And so we take young Hamel up to the ripe age of 20. which he attained in Au- gust. 1910. Aviation was still in it's swad- ding clothes. less than a Year having