The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-29
The Sea Is Kind to Flying Men.

Since May 8 twenty-five men in Ave
flying machines have attempted to
60 from North America to Europe.
Only six Of these men and one Of the
five machines succeeded; yet all Of
the twenty-five valiant airmen are
alive and well. When we remember
the discouraglng regularity with
which tragedies on the flying fields Of
the United States were reported dur
ing the last year of the war it must
seem that the sea Is kind. True,
RAYNHAM and his navigator, Captain
MORGAN, came to grief on land, but
1t Is likely that they and their ma
chine would have Jared better If they
had fallen into the Atlantic.
Nothing could be more conducive
to confidence in oversee flying than
the happy fate of all the adventures,
successful or otherwise. When three
out of four ships are compelled to
exchange the sky for the water far
out in the ocean and all the crews
of the three reach land safely it is
hardly possible to pour out all the
libations Of gratitude at the foot Of
the god Of luck. 1t was generally
believed before HAwKER sailed out
on the most daring errand of peace
times that he would win or be lost.
If his plane failed him how could
he hope to be picked up when he had
no patrol service and was not even
flying over a steamer lane? Yet luck
alone would not have saved HAwKER.
1t was his perfect knowledge Of his
engine that gave him hours, after the
overheating Of the cylinders started,
to search the sea for a ship. He
found 1t and there he is-safe and
the idol Of England.
The navy fliers were not trusting to
luck, what with the we'll arranged
chain Of destroyers along their course,
but of all the venturing airships the
NC-1 was the one whose rescue was
due primarily to the fortunate meet
ing with passing vessel. BELLIN-
GERS seaplane came down to the
water far out of her course and there
fore far from the waiting destroyers.
Still, there Is every reason to believe
that even II the Ionia had not hap
pened along a destroyer would have
reached the NC-1. Before landing
BELLINGER had sent an s o 8 call,
and his wireless apparatus was still
working after the seaplane had been
hopelessly crippled by the shock of
alighting on the water.
There was no luck at all in the
exploit of Commander TowERs's NC-3.
The story of her struggle to Ponta
Delgada on her own power after she
could crawl but not fly is a bright
chapter in the navy's history. Like
BELLIHGER, TOWERS had the bad luck
to be lost in the air and the worse
luck to have his plane damaged by
the heavy seas on coming down to
get his bearings.
Was READ lucky? He kept the
course when the others lost 1t, but
whether that was part luck or pure
science and skill Is not now to be de-
termined. He surely was free from
the i'll fortune which plagued him be-
fore the start, when his plane was
damaged by fire and his chief special
mechanic. E. II. HOWARD, lost a hand
in an accident, and which seized him
again Off the Massachusetts coast and
compelled him to put into Chatham
for repairs. But the luck of his vic.
torious flights from Trepassey to
Horta, from Horta to Ponta Delgada,
and finally to the estuary of the
Tagus-that was good luck only in
the sense that 1t was not bad luck
He did the job just as 1t was planned
he should do 1t.