The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-17


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climbing and then circled so that her
commander and pilots might look up
on the other seaplanes, struggling to
get their tremendous weight--2S,200
pounds-off the water with their tre-
mendous power-1,600 horsepower. So
long was the battle between gravity
and gasolene that the NC-4 descended
landing eighteen minutes after her
first start The NC-s. flagship Of the
fleet, with Commander Towers, the i'm
perturbable thirty-four year old leader
Of the expedition, made three unsuc-
cessful attempts to raise herself into
the air.
order of the start.
Then at 1889 p. M. Newfoundland
time) the flagship rose lightly of the
water, as IL ashamed of her bad be-
havior, and two minutes later the
-Four followed her as easily. Then
came the One, the veteran OF the
fieet-the original NC ship-her wings
dun even in the sunlight. for they
were war gray as became a veteran,
rather than a creamy white like those
of her sisters. In the forward cock
pit sat Lieut.. -Commander Pat" Bel
linger, also a veteran, the first Amer
lean flyer to sail over enemy lines, an
exploit he performed when the Unit
ed States was knocking at Vera
Cruz, the front door to Mexico. The
NC-1, some seven minutes after the
Lee oil
rose without fuss in businesslike
way, as a veteran would.
The planes all hoped of the water
near the narrows of the bay. passing
over the hump Of land called Powell's
Head q hundred feet above It Maneu-
wiring for a moment over wide Nut
ton Bay they took v formation. for
the seaplanes are duly commissioned
ships of the United States Navy and
will proceed to the Azores in naval
style. The Four and Three took the
tips of the wings and the One followed
behind them.
Disappear Into the Evening.
II seemed to those on shore that
once clear of the surrounding land the
planes speeded up a bit as IL relieved
to put the land behind them. This
may have been. however. because
navy hands were on the throttles
The heavily laden seaplanes gradually
climbed upward away from the water
until they were at 500 feet and gradu-
ally nearing the great mass OF land
Cape Race, which would be the last
sight Of land until the little island OF
Corvo, six miles long and three miles
wide, 1900 miles around the curve OF
the earth, Is sighted. They faded into
the eastern horizon as a snowflake
melts into water.
It was not until the seaplanes had
disappeared on their hazardous flight
a flight which may mean q new epoch
in aerial navigation or merely disaster
to three good ships. somewhere In the
waste Atlantic-it was not until the
eastern sky was blank that those on
shore realized how madly they had
been cheering-both the undemonstratlve
Newfoundlanders, whose sympathies
should have been with the British flyers
further north. still waiting for the
zenith of propitious weather, and the
officers and gobs on the mother" ships
which had lost their children.
Kept in Touch ~ Wireless.
1T takes strong throats to vie with
the roaring chorus OF twelve 400 morse.
mower engines-Liberty englnes-but
those on shore had such throats. II
meant nothing to them that the voyagers
themselves could hear nothing save the
terrific thunder Of their engines II was
their only way of wishing the aeronauts
good-by and demonstrating their ad-
rifration for the men who were heading
into a night above an unseen ocean In
craft whose very life in the air de-
pendea upon the unfailing beat or en-
gines which though the best man has
made are fallible after hours OF rackins
speed.
Although out Of sight. the voyagers
are not out OF hearing of their fellows
for each ship has on II a wireless which
can talk with ships for 200 miles. They
have another reliance also. the chain OF
destroyers which stretches beneath them
One of these fast little vessels Is sta
toned every fifty miles of the journey
a very short distance on the map. bu,
a mighty stretch in the middle OF the
Atlantic-in a frail airplane feeling It.
way along among strange winds WITH
the aid of a compass and a radio direc'
ton finder which depends upon the sltua'
ton OF stations many hundreds OF mile:
away to indicate its own position.
Crews Carefully Chosen.
The men who set out on the journey
all picked men, chosen for dozeI
qualities - pluck, endurance. physica
strength. knowledge of sea and air and
technical training-are OF the regular
navy. the reserve, which stepped from
civilian ranks when the war call came
and the Coast Guard, which Is a part OF
the navy in time OF war. With Com
mander Towers on the flagship are Com
mander II. c. Richardson of the Con
struction Corps, u. S. N, who more thar
any other man had to do with the build
ing of the seaplanes. and Lieut.. DaviC
II. Mccullough. a reserve man who wal
called back from civilian life because Of
his skill as a pilot These two men are
pilots. Acknowledgement r. A
Lavender of the regulars. one of the
most skilled wireless men of the navy
acts as radio operator on board. while
the task of keeping the four great twelve
cylinder engines in good humor and syn.