The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1916-08-26
Seven thousand feet a5ove
HYDE Park, an American
grl looked straight ahead
and sazv 1.-THE roof of the
sky" from one of Eng
lands nepeSt qvarplanes

III ut'SlSilt'u ltl Pun
ER suing Zeppeliris at night,
flew across London and. al
- height of 1000 feet
looped the loop over Hyde
Park, 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 Britain's finest
aerodromes and see spread In clear
coIored panorama one mile and half
below me, the houses and the streets
or the greatest city in the world.
In the great field from which start.
cd the turf was broken by patches Of
biack mud and the grass was beaten
Gown by heavy rain of the morning.
But, on the wooden runway, with
her wheels blocked and her black
planes silhouetted against the sky, a
bipiane was waiting. She was beauti-
1ul-this 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 strained
IN. The observers seat, where | SAT
was q wide seat, and the fusilage
formed my arm rest. There was
plenty OF foot space. Captain X, who
was my pilot, got into his seat behind
ME. To 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 1t.
1t was good climbing. 1t was good
and stiff. The black nose of the BIZ
plane pointed straight to the sun. |
saw. swiftly, visions OF a stalled mo-
tor, of rapid backward slide.
Below us the roofs of the hanrars
dropped away, and l 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 II
mousse with red rOOf-a big house set
little apart from long row of cot
tages. While looked at this red roof
the color OF 1t changed; from clear
vermilion 1t became mauve-one small
clear square Of mauve.
looked again at the>big house with
the red roof. But 1t had merged with
the iine OF little cottages; 1t no longer
stood apart with strip Of green sepa-
rating it from its neighbors. I had
come up 5000 feet above a little vii.
lage which Is on the outskirts Of
London.
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
blades of the propeller were flushing
even in the gray light. l was filed
with sense of security.
l 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 l found that l 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 solidity, Of substance, after my
journeying through the clear higher
air. / watched. on the aluminium rim