The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-19
St4PS SEARCH MISSING ENDANGERED GALE

meaning as the strains OF a symphony
orchestra to musician.
Good enough" he muttered.
Then after a final inspection of plane.
scrutiny of the mechanism by which
the wheels were to be dropped from the
body to add six miles an hour to the
speed of the machine and a warming up
run OF the motor. the two Adventures,
with the msthodical movements of men
with their nerves under complete control,
cflmly climbed into the little cock
pit which they will share until the plane
ends It's flight on land or in the sea.
"wiIl See Hin, I'm BrookIands."
After another short moment Of atten-
tfon TO the spinning motor and propeller,
which was corkscrewing the air and
sending 1t back of the machine with tor
nado like speed, while mechanics with
clothes Mapping wildly, moved about,
Hawker opened the throttle to the full
and the ground crew were forced to call
for aid lest the machine dart forward,
despite the blocks beneath Its wheels.
The thunder of the engine made nothing
but sign language possible. Then, throt-
Ting down again, he shouted
How about old tin sides? referring
to Raynham Of the Martinsyde plane.
Tell him I'll see him in Brooklandsr
Dumping in the ungraceful way Of an
a!rplane out of its element. the biplane
lurched away, both its occupants look
ing straight ahead. Then came its
menacing roar, an increasing speed of
its little wheels, and suddenly a rigidity
and fxity in forward movements which
was the first indication that the plane
had taken of.
The noise OF the motor as the machine
rose upward was the first indication to
the people of st. Johns that the great
flight was on. Hawker scared upward,
flew over the city at 1000 feet to drop
his challenge to the Martinsyde and then
headed for the sea. In eight minutes
the plane had faded out Of sight. even Of
the vision Of watchers on Signal Hill.
six hundred feet above che ocean.
Navy's Interest in Race.
The race between the NC-4, now at
Horta, $50 miles from the Portuguese
coast, and the Sopwith biplane. now
somewhere in air or water between this
place and the British Isles. is made
more interesting by the fact that both
navigators, Lieutenant-Comma Read
and Lieutenant-Command Grieve, are
naval officers of the same rank in the
American and British navies. Both men
are struggling for the first time with
the problem Of applying the known
science of navigation to the unknown
element air. The varying height. high
speed and unsteadiness of the airplans
and the aerial currents more tickle than
those of the ocean complicate their tasks.
Commander Read. however. was aided
IN his flight to the Azores by a chain of
nd hx diRAN NIL
indicator which enabled him to calculate
the position of the ship by the known
directions of land wireless stations. On
the other hand, Comma nder Read was
shooting at a very small mark, a widely
scattered group Of small islands, which
he reached In the middle OF a fog bank,
while Commander Grieve will be salts
fed II the British Isles are sighted.
Not q Word by Radio.
Long after he had disappeared from
view the news of Rynham's mishap was
flashed out by wireless. Commander
Grieve. who will operate and receive
messages from ships at sea-should any
be met In the lonely waters over which
they pass-Sent no messages to land.
The f1iers previously had announced their
abandonment OF the original plan 20
49, w ioi'e
Jus. oeiow 'ne lsiaho OF NeWtounoiaho
III ia'or Oh oash straight 10 ireland
The weather. as best 1t can be judged
by the observers here. will be favorable
for the first thousand miles of the Jour-
ney. Commander Grieve had the ad-
vantage of four or five hours of the sun
10 get ms bearings ana TO accustom
himself to the use OF a sextant and COM
pass IN the throoplng and swaying
machine
Night will be sborter actually 70 NOT
seemingly to the venturers as they
speed eastward, for they are travelling
In the same direction in which the earth
turns The Sopwlth heads direct for
the southwest tip OF Ireland. The navi-
cation can be approximate only because
of the difficulty OF making any sort of
accurate observations in the speeding.
gust tossed plane.
All Ireland Is the Mark.
II we strike ireland anywhere we
VIII nave FOUND our mark" Commander
q ~ lgTEE