Ripley County democrat. (Doniphan, Mo.) 1905-1920, 1916-09-08
Aviator Says There Isn't Enough
to Do While Flying sl
AIoft. lR|
THRILLING TALES Of. AIR
"SalI for Hours Without Putting 4
Hand on Lever" Says One
Clouds Most Deadly Things
They Have to Fear.

London.-The hardest part about
flying In war Is the thinking that q
flying nun has to do. Here's the idea
In an English flying mans own words:
"There Isn't enough to keep a mans
mind busy In the air since the war
has developed the aeroplane. In the
old days of the ueroplane there were.
so many things a flying man had to
watch that he didn't have time to wor.
ry about what might happen to him.
But In these days sitting in your ma
chine is about like sitting on log
and waiting for something to happen.
ave don't have to use our hands
as we used to. There is only one lew
or, and you don't have to watch that
very closely. You can fly for hours
without having your hand on 1t. You
can write or read or smoke, and un-
less you touch the lever to change It's
position you will fly along at the same
level indefinitely owing to the self
stabillzation Of the machine.
Look Down; Watch Shells.
$50, with your attention only mildly
occupied. you keep looking down over
the edge to see what's happening. You
get to watching the wires and wonder
ing what would happen II bullet cut
one Of them. You look ut the frail
irons and consider how frail they real
ly are. Shrapnel Is breaking below
you and around you, perhaps. That's
daily occurrence. There's no use
of trying to dodge 1t, for by doing SO
you may only run into 1t.
$50 there you sit imagining all sorts
Of horrible possibilities. You've been
told to go to certain place and then
return. Your route Is all laid out for
you and your duties are SO simple and
easy that while you're performing
them you have a thousand times too
much spare time for thought and wor4
ry. AS for myself, I'd much rather
have the aeroplane less simple afT
fair, Just to have my attention occn-
pied. An Imagination Is curse to ~
fler."
And then there's the problem Of the
whlrling compass.
An airman flies into a cloud; sud
denly the finger of his compass be-
gins to whirl around like clock
gone mad. Scientists say 1t doesn't
whirl, but so many English airrnen
have had the experience that even
the scientific men are wondering
whether the phenomenon isn't worth
studying,
The Whlrllng Compass.
Here's a flying mans side Of 1t:
my compass finger has whirled like
top when have gone into cloud.
It's enough to turn you dementel.
It's bad enough, goodness knows 10
be lost In cloud, but TO have your
compass go back on you at the same
time Is too much. Our scientific In
structors tell us that the compass
doesn't change but that we lose our
heads when we get into the mist and
change our courses without realizing
1t, SO that the compass Indicator
changes naturally.
.But in some clouds your compass
| doesn't change. 1t remains as stead,
as IL was In the sunshine. Why should
flier jiggle his course unknowinsi,
/ In one cloud and not In another? Ny
opinion Is that there are certain kind
| Of clouds that are charged with elec
triclty. In such clouds your compass
goes crazy. In other words, wher'
electricity is not present your compass
behaves ITSELF"
| How fnr are the clouds above tn,
earth2
/ As high above as we wish to climb
| But the chief question with q hylnl
man Is how low the clouds are.
crack English ilicr told the correspond
ent something about low clouds.
aYou may be walking along tn
street on heavy day ant, looking uT
may think that the clotds are mile
4 high. As matter Of fact they may h
/ only 200 or 800 feet above you. That
1 the kind OF day that the airiilal
breads. I've been lost IN a cloud i
France and come down out OF Il onl
/, 10 flnd myself flying around Among III
4 sshn.ci, sstaot,las If 81 French town will