Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-28

with him. And 1t WIS Just this very
thing that happened, for a French
man went aloft, went into his vrille,
went through the clouds still spin
ming and never did come out until
he came TO twenty-five meters from
the ground, Naturally. he pulled on
the stick, because he was in a
straight nose dive. There was u
stone wall in front of him two feet
thick ,and YOU will get an idea of
his tremendous speed when l tell
you he smashed the wall fiat. The
strange part of It was the machine
was smashed to splinters and the
pilot not even scratched.
Yankee Fliers Arc Game
It's saying u lot for the Ameri-
cans that when the monlteurs called
for volunteers to do their VrilleS
above the clouds they were the first
ones to ask for tho chance. I'll hand
it to the Frenchmen, though, for
they were right with us on the vol
unteer STUFF. They like the Amer
leans because they will try anything
once, II they never do it again, so
they gave an American the first
crack at 1t, but I was not the lucky
one. A Frenchman came next and
he came out all right. Gee whiz!
had just about given up hope of
getting q chance, because my name
was clear on the end of the list.
Sure enough, the whole morning
passed and l sat and watched others
tumbling around and out of the
clouds while l did nothing. OF
course, 1 was learning from watch
ing the others mistakes, but l was
anxious to have a try at it, even ii
| was just feeling at home sitting
around taking in the sights. They
were many, l assure you, for some
thing was happening every second.
1t sure was the original rubberneck
class, for it was always a question
what a student would fall into when
he tried his stunt, There are only
three principal acrobatic stunts
which they require of one, and they
are the vrille, REQUIREMENT and
vertical virage. One is sent up to
do them in the order named. It
shows how well they understand
this game that the Vrille is given us
first, because that is the usual thing
one falls into when he first tries
the REQUIREMENT, which is by fan
the hardest. These last two stunts
don't require so much altitude, so,
while we newcomers were doing
vrilles above the clouds the more
advanced students Were trying re-
tournaments and vertical virages un-
der the clouds.
A Complicated Stunt
Before l go any further, L better
explain retournement. The idea is
to come out of it in the direction op-
posite from which you went in,
doubling on ones tracks. SO to speak.
1t is done by diving a little to gain
speed, pulling up to a forty degree
angle, then kick the foot far oyer
on the side which you wish to turn,
that twists you over on your back.
Then one is supposed to shut off his
motor bring the feet back to center
and pull back on the stick. Sounds
complicated, don't it? II it sounds
that way here, imagine we poor, ig-
norant boobs trying to do all these
things at the right time, going
around 120 miles an hour. / assure
you one gets all balled up and comes
out every which way.
tainted in the Clouds
That afternoon the Frenchman
that ] told you about in the above
who came out at twenty-five meters
much against the wall-and his
wishes, the clouds were very low
when he went up about 200 meters,
and foggy the rest of the way. lie
soon disappeared in the clouds with
the moniteurs and twenty minutes
later the moniteur landed with the
information that the Frenchman had
gone into his vrille, made fourteen
turns and went into the clouds still
turning. A little later one of the
mechanics heard a crash and main
tanned he had seen a machine off TO
the left Immediately before the
crash. So the moniteur sailed up
again in the direction of the sup
posed smash, and while he was out
hunting for our unlucky comrade,
who we were lamenting as lost and
remarking what a nice fellow he
was, in walks the Frenchman hiDI-
self with a story of fainting while
going through the clouds. They
gave him no more training here, but
sent him to Avord for training on
a different type plane. That did not
hold work up any, though, as that
afternoon they were at the same
stunt-vrilling above the clouds.
You remember how L compared the
scene above the clouds to a little
bit of heaven; no, that don't mean
Ireland. Well, l was pretty we'll
pleased that l was going to get d
chance to begin my high school
education in such a beautiful place.
A Thrilling Ride
Sure enough, my turn soon came
and they gave me the Italian plane
for the purpose. They sure did strap
me in tight. Two big belts were
buckled around my chest one being
so tight that l had to exhale a, lot
of wind to enable it to be brought
together. You see how chesty
am getting! The way these me-
chanics buckle one in is sure ANUS
ing. One would think they were
tieing up a bag of sand the way they
handle one while fastening the belts.
After they were through | was quite
sure it would take more than n
mere stone wall to knock me loose
Up we went then, headed for a hole
in the clouds. Must have msssel T.,
because | went through quite n lay
er of clouds before reaching the ;cp
layer. Having flown through them
for several hours the day before,
this bothered me little. / could not
find the moniteur up there. hunt
though I did: so, not finding him
and reaching 1900 meters, l starred
the virille, anyway. This was done
by shutting off the motor, standing
the plane slowly up on its tail until
it had lost all it's speed and begon
to Wapble chen over went the rud-
der hard, and pack came the stick"
in my stomach and then, lowering
there an instant as if considering
whether we would start ANYTHING
or not, over we went nose down and
spinning like a top.
Spinning i'm the Clouds
Watching the altimeter, let her
spin several hundred meters and then
attempted to come out, wishing 10
Ah0Vn hut
over-controlled and instead of stop
nin@ the snin sIn rtnl to cInin ai,c