The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-01-18
Ross McCabe Describes His
First Flight in Air Plane

with the wind or decreases against
the wind.
Rise into the Air.
when we had TAXED out to a
place favorable to take off, we
stopped while George looked around
carefully for several minutes for
other machines, and to get his bear
iigs. Then he settled in his seat,
took the controls, and started giving
her the gas. The motor roared, the
wind whizzed past my ears. a big
cloud OF dust and flying clods of dirt
swirled up behind, and we started
off. running along on the ground.
Almost Immediately he pushed the
bridge forward, lowering the eleva-
tor and thus forcing the tail off the
ground. Thus we ran for some dis
lance, picking up speed as we went,
riding on the two wheels easily, and
with gradual bumps over the soft
ground of the recently plowed up
cotton field. Before 1 knew it-with-'
out being conscious of tive left the
ground. first noticed that we
seemed to ride easier--without any
bumping-and looking over the side
of the fuselage, / saw the earth
slowly leaving us, yet rapidly, too.
4 was not the least bit frightened.
There seemed to be no cause to
worry. l had never had such Flea
SAINT ride before.
I'VE continued for perhaps min
ute in straight line, constantly going
up, so that by the time we had
hundred feet up. i was thinking
= or
suddenly, the controls began to move,
and the ship began to swing over,
the left wing down, the right up
high, the rudder worker. l thought
we were nosing up at dangerously
steep grade of ascent. l had been
looking ahead at the murky horizon
over the right side Of the motor. l
looked over the left side Of the fuse
lage. Directly below me l could see
old mother earth. She looked
strangely unfamiliar and far away,
and seemed to be screwing around
underneath us. But we were not
starting into tall spin-only left
turn at the end of the field, bank
ing to the left very properly.
Ups and Downs.
'"Then we Strengthened out and
came back to an even keel. The
ship was rocking bit now and
occasionally we would drop suddenly
wee bit, and then as suddenly rise.
The instructor was working the con-
trolls constantly, his movements very
small in extent but frequent, and so
quickly that l could not understand
the reason for it, but knew that he
could feel the necessity for a move
ment, make the movemnt and be
ready for the next, before I knew
there had been any change at all.
This was quite disconcerting, for l
had watched the machines from the
ground so much that l had come to
feel there was nothing to it, what
ever.
"The realization that l not only
could not run the machine myself,
but that here were movements being
made that I didn't understand and
couldn't realize the necessity for.
made me think that it was entirely
beyond me-that IL couldn't do it in
a lifetime. / consoled myself by the
thought that | had only been UP
about two minutes, and that pos
sibly a little time would make a
difference. AS a matter of fact we
We're flying with the wind, which
was very strong and quite gusty
Presently we turned again and then
Strengthened up, nose into the wind.
We rode easier now. We had been
all the time.
The next circle was much bigger |
In extent. We were getting UP |
around 1000 feet, and riding much |
more comfortably. / realized that |
might relax bit without falling out |
beginning to pin faith on the six |
web belt around my lap. |
[ had been afraid to hold the con-
trolls with more than the tips Of my |!
fingers for fear of bothering the In