Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-07-03

adjacent to the field, until the barom-
eter marks $500 feet. Now we "pOr-
pOise" across the sky, shooting up
ward at a sharp angle and dropping
down the other side, for all the world
like great sleigh going over giant
acknowledgements" and then the pilot
"cuts" his motor so that he may make
himself heard, turns round and asks
me how [ feel. tell him I'm enjoying
it hugely. "Some stunts ?" he inquiries,
indicating a loop with his hand "Any-
thing you like" 1 answer, and then for
25 minutes he gives me about every
thing in the stunt line he has in his
repertoire.
[ feel the ship nose up and we climb
steadily; the hand on the dial indi-
Gates 5000 feet, 35-36-37 hunderd
then forward goes the stick and we
slide downward at a terrific speed,
throttle wide open; back comes the
stick, slowly at first, then swiftly un-
til its top is in the pit of my stomach!
Up we come in great sweeping curve
until we hang poised in the air, tail
! downward and almost stationary.
| Then slowly we tip backward and
cross the upper arc of the circle fly
ing up side down. For a space of one
or two seconds | look straight down
at the earth p of a mile below and
realize that there is nothing beneath
me but strip of webbing; then down
comes her nose on the backward arc
of the circle and with every wire
shrieking we sweep downward in an
other great curve, the stick moves
forward and we level off in the same
direction we have been going.
Again we climb and again repeat the
stunt and this time I realize that the
strap is not really necessary as the
centrifugal force is so great that I sit
as firmly in my seat when up side
down as when right side up, and the
strap, is not even tight. Nevertheless
I feel more comfortable knowing it is
there A third time we repeat the
trick but this time just as we are on
the point of fitting over backward the
stick swings to the right, down goes
the right wing until we stand exact
ly on edge, we turn an enormous
'cart-Wheel" in the air, roll over
some how, turn right side up, and
glide away in the direction from which
we came-an "Imnulman turn" my
pllOG C6IIS HE IdI0r.
We climb little and I am wonder
ing what is coming next when back
comes the stick and we shoot up at
an angle of As degrees until the pro-
peller slips through the air, tanning
! it back past us at a terrific rate, but
no longer lifting the ship. Slowly her
nose settles and we plunge vertically
downward a thousand feet, whirling
round and round in a tail spin, f1atten
out gracefully and start for home, the
barometer registering 2700 feet. We
are about four miles out and we make
a bee line for home doing a series of
wing-overs on the way.
Arriving over the flying field still
/ half a mile in the air, I get the thrill
of the entire flight when my pilot
puts the stick little forward and
over to the left, gives her little rud-
der to the left and then as we tilt ov-
err until we stand exactly on edge
brings the stick back and sends US
downward 200 feet in a ''tight-spiral."
The ship tears downward almost on
edge following the path like the turns
Of a giant cork screw; the motor is
shut off but the screaming Of the wind
ing until they hurt. For the first time
l am fully conscious of speed as old
mother earth comes rushing up to
meet u.s. Never have I seen trees,
houses, fields and men increase in
size as rapidly as in the ten or fifteen
seconds required to come down those
200 feet Just as it seems the earth is
about to meet us we sail away some
500 feet up, circle round until we face
the wind, and glide down upon the
landing field. Our wheels touch with
slight thud and we turn and taxy
back to the starting point. l spring
out and find that the ground is just
as firm as when I left it. l am not
even dizzy. Looking at the clock l
see that we have been up just 40 min
utes. AS we stroll up to the bench
one Of the aviators inquiries of Mac
ready, "Mac, what in h were you
doing up there?" And Mac the silent
one, answers with smile, "Just do
in 1i++Io