The Topeka state journal., 1916-12-01
Well Known AerOplane Captain
in a Long Flight.
EntertainS Crowds in Three
Cities With Stunts.
CARRIES PASSENGERS HERE
After Arriving Home He Takes
Brother and Reporter.
TOpekan Was Sixty Minutes on
Return ManeuVer.

Robert Billiard. brother of capt
Phil Billiard. and P. c. Powell. a State
Journal reporter. took short but ex-
citing rides in Captain Billiards. aero
plane this afternoon upon the arrival
of the aviator and Courtney C. Elliott
from Kansas City. Captain Billiard
and his passenger arrived at the avia-
ton field exactly at 2 o'clock. They
had been in the air just one hour and
sixteen minutes, leaving Overland
Park in Kansas City at 1914 O'Clock:
Captain Billiard stated that he could
have reached the aviation field IN
thirty-five minutes but he gave the
citizens of Kansas City, Lawrence ana
Topeka some thrills when he dipped
and careened in his machine halt a
dozen times over all three cities They
weren't obliged to drop to the ground
one time on the homeward trip.
For months Captain Billiard has en-
deavored to persuade his brother'
Robert, to go up in the air. Neither
Robert nor his father have been en-
thusiastic over Captain Phils aviation
bug. But when Captain Billiard ar
rived at the field full of enthusiasm
and dared Robert to make the flight,
his brother climbed in.
Frightened Robert Billiard.
Il want you to promise to go down
when 1 hold up my hand and jerk 1t
down. said Robert Billiard.
Captain Billiard remained in the
air just long enough to get mad at his
brother. His hands were going up
and down from the minute they left
the ground. He didn't take Robert
very high but it was high enough for
his brother to admit that he had had
the worst scare in his life
Il never want to so up again." said
Robert.
Captain Billiard to take Powell in the
air Powell had been begging for
ride in the machine ever since it had
been built. Captain Billiard was mad
anyway and evidently he wanted re-
venge on some one.
The Scare of His Life.
According to spectators Captain Bill
lard made some of the deepest dips
and shortest turns in his flying expert
ence. Powell agrees with the specta-
tors and is as honest as Robert Billiard
in admitting that he had the scare of
his life.
i've got all I want for a while"
said Powell. Anyone who says he
isn't scared to death the first time he
goes up in an aeroplane has less re-
gard for truth
It's a game for a machinist to play,
who knows when the machine sticks
its nose to the ground it isn't good
bye debts. | never experienced so
pleasant a sensation in my life as when
we began soaring up in the air. 1t
was hard to realize that 1900 feet of
air was between me and the earth.
The view of Topeka, it's state house,
the Mills building and other familiar
buildings and the surrounding country
is exactly the same as birds eye pic
lures of the city. The symmetry of
everything strikes one.
10 had coaro5 bout SO0
feet he began those awful dips.
didn't know whether the machine was
working all right or wether we were
really plunging to death. I tried to
keep my Adams apple in the right
place and keep looking at the land
scape but l finally lost my courage
and stuck my head down in the seat
grated my teeth and closed my eyes
Captain Billiard declares 1 didn't
look at the landscape more than two
minutes out of the fifteen minutes we
were in the air. 1 can't agree with
him on that but fully half of the time
was spent in contemplation as to
whether if we fell as 1 feared we
would do everytime we dipped wheth-
er it would kill me before l struck the
ground first
No Use to Shout
There wasn't any use shouting. we
were cutting the air at the rate of SO
miles an hour, that big engine was
going and there wasn't a thing to do
but sit tight and pray
But even with that awful sensation
of dipping, there is one still worse.
l don't know whether it was spiral
dip or not but the spectators tell me
ii was one of the deepest turns Billiard
ever made. To stick ones head out
of that hole and see one plane almost
straight above you and another wav
below you and wonder if that sudden
gust of wind will come to turn YOU
clear over is ten times worse than
dipping.
The nearest sensation to dipping
that one can experience is in one of
those dreams when you suddenly fall
into a deep cavern. The seconds thai
you are falling in the dream, wonder
ing where you are going, are almost
exactly similar to a dip taken in an
aeropl ne by one who doesn't know
the first prin pies of aviation ard has
more than the ordinary amount OF
nerves.
Il am going up again but first I'm
going to learn something about the
machine so I'll know what is going on
l lost all sense of direction and could
mt even locate Topeka at one juncture
when l summoned up enough courage
to take my eyes off my feet and look
out. | didn't get a bit cold. altho /
never had wind whistling around me Sc
rapidly in all my life
III take my hat off to Captafr
Billiard now, or to any man that has
the courage to risk his life against ar
elSht-cylnder engine and the treach-
erous air currents"
Before Captain Billiard and Elliott