The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-20

st. Johns ne had the same expectation
OF reaching Ireland as a man who takes
an elevator in modern office building
has Of reaching the floor to which ne
means TO ascend. The passenger in tho
elevator car 10 depending on a mechani-
cal appliance which experience has
taught him to rely on. So was Hawker.
His hight has been described by
every one as a sporting event and 80
Hawker would have described 1t, except
that he would have insisted also that It
was to be a demonstration OF the SUI
periority of the northern route across
the Atlantic In preference to the one by
way OF the Azores.
"Of course no one pretends that to
fly TO Ireland in machine OF small
horsepower and untitled for freight or
passenger carrying. has any Significance
so far as concerns tho practical or COM
mercial value of airplanes. But Hawker
always had 1t in his head that the fog
and mists prevalent in the region OF
the Azores made the course in which
they lie an undesirable one and he was
anxious to prove that, given a reliable
rope was the course to take.
From what 1 know OF him I don't
believe he had moments fear or doubt
that his flight would be successful. No
one should make the mistake OF believ-
ing that because he and the American
naval fiiers waited on this side for the
best possible weather conditions the air
plane Is a fair weather proposition any
more. 1t has developed beyond that. In
the war airplanes went up regularly in
every kind OF weather. But with the
desire of setting out to cross the ocean
with every possible advantage, Hawker
1I,,, ed fnr
| conditions of weather as ideal as they
were likely to get
! But as I say I consider that Haw-
kers reliance on his engine was COM
| plete that his self-confidence was OF the
justified kind, or the kind based upon
experience after experience. and that in
stead OF taking n desperate gamblers
| chance, he regarded the element of
chance as the low element in the under
| taking. He is naturally one Of the cool
est men I ever knew. and as for the
quality which We call nerve. he never
has 20 summon It, He has It
Remember that am talking about a
man who as long ago as 1912 established
a record for a continuous flight lasting
eight hours. He talked about flying
across the ocean to me as long ago as
that. DO l make 1t clear that such a
flyer as he Is might be expected to ad-
dress himself to the proposition of a
transatlantic flight somewhat more casu-
ally than the average aviator?
Going back and forth pretty con-
stantly l have spent about half the last
ten years in the United states and the
other half in England. May l say. there
fore. that 10 Englishman regards the
present attempt to cross the ocean as a
contest between Great Britain and the
United States. Every one who Is inter-
ested understands fully that success by
one OF the American NC planes will mean
far more in solving the problem of trans
oceanic commercial aviation than sue
cess by Hawker can ever do.
ITO know Fred Raynham, who was un-
able to start at tho same time that
Hawker did. is to feel very sorry for him.
He has been out OF luck in the army
phrase. on a number OF other occasions.
For the last nine years he has been re-
garded as one OF the greatest pilots In
England. but although he was one OF the
first to offer his services to his Govern
ment when war was declared he was
kept at home and assigned to duty as a
testing pilot. He and Hawker always
displayed the same qualities of charac-
ter Both full OF grit and determination
and flled with confidence In themselves
and in the rapid development OF the
possibilities of aviation