The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-07-05


MILITARY A|RPLANE
Montana hanehsr Has Thrilling Ix.
Psrisnos In The Clouds with
HE Con . plist. ;
- ii
Carl w. Riddick, asesesof of terauo
county, prominent rancher, and 1 al
didate toy congress from eastern Mon
tana. 10 just back from Z trip IN the
clouds. /.
TIVE ooNs n Army. '
Mr.. Riddlck has two sons commits
stoned officers In the air service. one
IL an expert pilot. doing duty on tAs
other ede. and the other ID retained q
Instructor Of flying ct Park Field min.
tary aviation camp. near Msmpnls.
Tenn. =
At Park Field III. xad6ak Sas tatSn
for a half hour Ride Ia one q the MIN.
tary airplanss. This was an unusual
privilege, 40 he ID the oaly civiliaa .
whom that courtesy has been shows At
that camp.
Ne oeNss q teasae1.
Mr.. Riddick IL enthusiastic over his
experience. In talking Of his flight 10
said: II went ~ over 1000 fest. and
while at that height drove the ship M.
self. My son, Merrill. was my pilot.
The one most Astounding revelation Of
the trip Al q whole was that rathGv
than thrilling. It was indescribably fas.
cinatins. There was no sense Of hax.
ard or msuacine danger, but quite to
the contrary feeling that the ship
was as stable and buoyant and safely
controlled as a boat on the water.
Starts Like Z Perd Car.
"Just as a Ford car would be handl.
ed the machine raj started across the
field at 10, 20. 20 miles an hour. Pres.
emily the ground seemed smoother and
I glanced over the edge, and Jaw W
were three or four feet up in the air.
We gained momentum and seemed to
be climbing up a gradual ascent ut 60
miles an hour. . There was no sense OF
shooting up. as in an elevator. The
earth just seemed to sink gradually
away. There a not the n Of
fear, as in looking over a cliff, nor Of.
fort to keep ones equilibrium. as IN
walking on a scaffold. The ship felt
rigid and sure-foOted, and I had the
same sense Of being securely buoyed
up as when buoyed up in water on Z
plank that I could not sink.
Hitting High Attitudes.
I'm less time than it takes to tell It
We % up ovsr 1000 feet. The eight
cylinders purred assuringly. The ship
glided along firmly and smoothly ana
seemingly with ever increasing speed.
The earth was far below. Men looked
like insignificant insects. Some were
building houses. Others were walking,
or driving little toy autos. Colored
farmers each with n mule, were cul-
tivating cotton. Other airships were
below us. and still others disappearing
In far-away clouds. The busy military
camp with it's barracks in orderly
rows and its broad rooted hangers was
disappearing in the distance. A little
town nestled at the edge Of a grove
near by. I could pick out the houses
and the stores and the depot. A To-
connective, which always seems 80 big
and powerful, as one stands by the
track, was pulling a long train. It
appeared 50 little and helpless-that
tiny creeping thing.
The whole earth was an ant hill.
and there was that useless and aim
less running hithsr and thither.
Like a Dream Trip to the Moon.
II was fascinated and exhilarated,
with a sense as of something super
human. It was akin to the feeling
when one opens the throttle of a r.
cylinder racer on a smooth country
road on an early spring morning, or as
when n plays a masterpiece on q
self-player piano. I was lifted out Of
myself, and felt that I possessed un-
limited power, such as a boy sometimes
dreams Of, that I could float to the
noon IL I chose. Nothing was impos-
Tble.
Great SWells In the Air.
W sped on over great unseen
wells Of air, the ship just slightly
rolling, like a small sail boat on tho
ocean-now up and up, over a great
unbroken swell, and then gliding down
into the trough and on and on. No
words I a find begin to convey the
supreme, the inexpressible exhilaratiOn,
the Joy, the sense Of detachment from
the sodden things Of the earth, the
freedom, the of power as one
leaves the world behind and drives bold
" on and on along IN unmarked path
that invitingly stretches into unlimited,
fathomless vastnesses Of unexplored
clouds and planets, and unimaginable
wonders az real and ~ strange as the
fairylands of our childish fancies.
He Drives Alone.
"But my dreaming came to a sud-
den end. My pilot indicated that I
was driving alone now, as he calmly
leaned back and folded his arms. Those
great sweeping swells that were 50
delicfously e~xhilarating became nasty
and choppy. We seemed to have run
off that smoothly u%ndulating road onto
a plowed field full of pitfalls and
stumps and to have punctured a tire.
The path looked clear, hut we would