Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-19

quick farewell
 Flying straight, without swerving hair from the chosen course, the little plane faded rapidly from view. In five minutes it had dwindled to a speciz in the sky and in six minutes it was out of sight beyond the hills. Hawker's start was made in the face of weather conditions which he char terized as mot yet abie-but pos sible." He and his navigator gravely considered the hazards of the attempt, l and decided to stake everything on an effort to beat the Americans Oycrnight reports to the meterolog- l ical station had showed increased at- 1 mospheric pressures, smoother seas 1 and fair barometer conditions. AL ! though winds and pressures were not 1 all they hoped for, Hawker and Grieve l ordered their hand satchels packed and l made ready for the start. I Hawker considered weight as of ut
 most importance, Lifting Mackenzie l Grieve's bag, he found it heavy and ] inquired solieitously if he couldn't l dispense with pajamas" on the trip. l When asked if he thought he would have chance to sleep during the voy age, Hawker replied:
 l 'We'l have a long sleep coming at l the end of it.'
 l It Was IlNe . CLOCK III the dIleIlOOH. i Greenwich time. when Hawker order 1 ed his Sopwith plane trundled out of l it's hangar for a ground and wind test. Over in the Quidividi field, at the 1 other end of the city, Raynham had l found cross winds sweeping over his
 Martinsyde 'takeoff' grounds.
 1 Hawker tried out the Sopwith for 1 minute or two and called conditions for a start good enough" Grieve | agreed The plane was then given a 1 final inspection.
 At 5.51, Greenwich time, the Sop 1 with was ready.
 ! At s.55 sharp. Hawker gave the i word and the ground crew let so.'
 The little plans jerked forward. ther moved steadily over the unever
 ground.
 | Hawker gathered speed rapidly as h.
 ,owled over the turf, rocking heavily
 At two hundred yards he was goins
 fairly well, but sWaying badly. 4
 hummock lifted" him at 300 yards ant
 with 8 last lurch the Sopwith tool , the air"
 From that instant it "set sail'' ali
 rectly northeast. winging higher ant ]; higher. When the undercariage wa
 1 dropped, the little group of specta 2 tors cried out:
 She's off"
 . Raynham at Quidividi heard tht
 roar of the Sopwitl1 engine as tn,
 Eplane rose well into the air. He or
 dered the Martinsyde made ready a once and went into lasty consuItatio,
 with his navigator, Morgan.
 i Withan an hour the Martinsyde wa
 taxying for q start, with Raynham a } the control, pumping heavily aIl, rocking from side to side over th' 3 rough ground. Suddenly rear axl t, buckled and the machine crashed ol it's side. ploughing into the earth Raynham aud Morgan were lifted ou of the Hreckage streaming witt
 blood.
 s Too heavy cargo was said t , have caused the collapse of the Mar : tinsyde's undercarriase. It was tryini , to carry 3eS gallons of gasoline. gt Hawker and Grieve. in their e1ev eI enth hour effort to wrest trans-Atlan 4 tic flight honors from the Unite t States naval planes. are flying over $ course all their own, figured out las g night and this morning with the on e object in mind of t'fow to head off tn = Americans"
 As soon as they had finished break V fast this morning. Hawker and Griev h hurried to the offices of the Royal Ali h Force meteorologists. Finding condi k tions improved a little, though not 9 l. favorable as they would have demand If ed had not the Americans been we
 started on their passage, they went di 70 rect to the Mount Pearl plateal 1T where the Sopwith was waiting in th e airdrome and began preparation fc a the flight
 k They were wholly calm at the star |. MethodicaIy, and without the slight
 est trace of nervousness, they clin1f ls ed aboard their small craft and set q work dispassionately. Hawkers COT le fidence in his navigator and in his CT l. zine were absolute, he said, quietly 8 After preliminary spin of the me