The Benson signal., 1916-07-22
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Seven thousand feet above
Hyde Park, an American
girl looked straight ahead
and sau "he roof of the
sky" from one of Eng
lands nepeSt qvarplanes

British military aero
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plane, painted black, and
| especially designed for pur-
suing Zeppelins at night,
flew across London and, at
height of 1000 feet,
looped the loop over Hyde
fark, and in the New York Tribune
Jane Anderson goes on to describe
her experience:
was permitted to make this flight,
10 start from one of Britains finest
aerodromes and see, spread in clear
colOred panorama one mile and q half
Delow me, the houses and the streets
OF the greatest city in the world.
In the great field from Which | start.
cd the turf was broken by patches of
black mud and the grass was beaten
down by heavy rain of the morning.
But, on the wooden runway, with
her wheels blocked and her black
planes slhouetted against the skv. q
Dlplane was waiting. She was beauti-
1ui-thls machine. There was power
IN the sweep of her wings; there was
power in the shining blades of her pro,
peller.
Her two Lewis guns, of blue steel
were mounted on galvanized brackets,
they were particularly businesslike-
those guns.
climbed aboard and was strapped
III. The observers seat, where | sat
was wide seat, and the fusilape
formed my arm rest. There was
plenty of foot space. Captain X, who
was my pilot, got into his seat behind
me. 10 my right and above me a
deaths head design had been painted
in white on the wing.
We circled the field, headed into
the wind and were off. / mean. we
dived up into the sky.
When we left the ground we left IT,
1t was good climbing. 1t was good
and stiff. The black nose of the hi
plane pointed straight to the sun. I
saw, swiftly, visions of a stalled mo-
tor, of a rapid backward slide.
Below us the roofs of the hangars
dropped away, and | saw, over the
whirring propeller, the great curve of
the Thames-the wide, splendid sweep
of gray water, spanned by bridges.
Where two streets met there was
house with red rOOf-a big house set
a little apart from a long row of cot
tages. While ] looked at this red roof
the color of it changed; from a clear
yermilion it became mauve-one small
clear square of mauve.
l looked again at the big house with
the red roof. But it had merged with
the line Of little cottages it no longer
stood apart with strip of green sepa-
rating 1t from it's neighbors. had
come up 5000 feet above a little vii
lage which is on the outskirts of
London.
1 saw, far below me, the white roads.
crossing and recrOssing, and the bright
green Of the fields. But there were
no longer any people; there were no
longer trans and buses and motors.
In this swift, upward climbing there
was no sense of rising. Before me the
OidUNho WI IiO plOpCllcI were udSnlQg
even in the gray light. l was filed
with sense of security.
| saw the roads, the broad, smooth
roads Of England, become white
threads on clear background of
green; from certain .centers they
reached out, spreading, then converg-
ing anew.
Then | found that | had come into
a bank of cloud. And, strangely
enough, this white vapOr increased,
mysteriously, my sense of security.
There was an extraordinary impress
sion of sOidity, of substance, after my
jOurneying through the clear higher
air. watched, on the aluminium rim