Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-01

what added to my discomfort the
most. Worse luck, there were so
many in the class and so few ma
chimes that 1 sat around all morning
without getting a chance to go aloft.
However, l finally was sent up in
the afternoon. told to go to coo
metres and spiral down, staying
away for 80 minutes. That listened
real good until J. got off the ground.
When l had a sudden reversal of
opinion, for rougher weather l never
experienced even with an instructor
and there | was all alone, feeling for
all the world like a cork on choppy
sea. To make things worse there
was a 50-mile gale blowing and my
machine was all out of line, it re-
quiring both hands and one knee to
hold the stick" which is used TO
preserve ones balance, in the cen
ter. However, she had a good en-
sine in her and after fighting the
gale for 10 minutes or so l finally
got up to 700 metres (about 2,20D
feet). And then l began to wonder
Just what effect all these bumps /
was riding over would have If l
turned the wing up on end and went
into a spiral, but not for long. for
| was quite sure if l thought about
it long, / would not do it. So, finally
mSking up my mind, / shut off the
engine, stood the wing up to quite
an angle and started to spin with
one eye on the altimeter and the
other on the chateauX far below,
around which axis my wing tip was
revolving. l was surprised to find ]
did not slip down sideways and was
beginning to really enjoy the SEN
sation, when looking at my altimeter
to find | had 400 meters to go yet.
so we came out / was so pleased
with the success of the maneuver
tried again. AS an altitude killer
this second spiral was somewhat
more successful, since I stood the
wings right on end in my new born
confidence, but l made the mistake
of nosing her down too much, and
before l had whirled around one and
half times l was down to 800
metres with a beautiful headache
and getting dizzier every second.
Right there little Walter decided it
was time to fly level again, not wish
ing to slide in on the chateau in such
an unceremonious way.
Dropping 500 metres so quickly is
what gave me the headache, and the
next time l try spiral I'll be careful
not to come down so fast. After fly
ing around for So minutes l was just
about worn out working the con-
trolls, for turning some corners, l
was bounced all over the map. The
moniteurs told me to stay up q half
hour, but although I had a watch
with me in a very handy pocket, ]
had no extra hand to go in to find
what the timewa so ] STAYED up
until | was tired which was exactly
35 minutes. When | came down the
other pupils refused to go up in the
old bus, so the moniteur went up in
it, and came down feeling his sore
muscles. This morning | went pre-
pared with an overcoat for another
long siege, but fortunately / was
soon sent aloft, told to go to $50
metres and stay there 80 minutes.
One could go where he wished. but
when one is put on his own hook
like that he remembers that ESQ
metres is not very high and the en-
gine might go bad. Furthermore
murky haze overshadowed every
thing and when one turned around
and looked at the ground in the di-
rection of the sun hardly anything
was discernible, so l stuck pretty
close to the school. Still, there are
a number of chateauX very pretty in
deed from the air, situated near the
school and | flew over quite 81 few
enjoying the novel sensation of look
ing into the peoples backyards with
out climbing over the fence. Up to
date l have flown about five hours
alone and l am learning little things
all the time, luckily for me, l just
came down in time, for the next man
up. the engine died on him and he
came down in the grape vines.
One doesn't realize how fast he
goes in one of these airplanes until
you stick your head up over the
body and nearly get it taken off your
neck. It's q fact that my neck has
become tired of holding my head
against the wind pressure many a
time, and this morning, while quietly
lifting my hand to5wipe some oil off
my goggles, / nearly broke the gog-
giles when the force of the wind
slapped my hand back against my
face with terrific force.
Had letter from Paul Worcester
this morning and sure was glad to
hear from him. He says he expects
to come to France soon.
The only way we can tell when
Sunday comes around here is by the
numerous crowds gathered around
the field. The authorities kindly
send up several expert aviators to do
stunts to please them, while we poor
beginners (you can take the poor
literally, in my case) sit and watch
the ease with which they get into
their stunts and came out. Coming
out is the hardest part, and am still
turning over in my mind the half
dozen so-called ways to come out of
a spiral glide. 1 have come out of
several, but l have little idea how it
was done.
Hope / get aloft tonight for half
an hour. 1 have little chateaux