Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-02-04

thing, of course, was that neither Lieu
tenant Kelsey. when he made the first
jump. nor myself, when l made the
second, knew anything abut it. That
added a few thrills. OF course. don't
know exactly how the Lieutenant felt,
but as to myself
With Captain Page at the wheel, we
climbed about three thousand feet.
The air was little bumpy, and there
was strong wind blowing, which
with the 100-mile-an-hour speed Of the
seaplane seemed just that much faster.
Gradually the captain steadied the
plane, and then he gave a jerk at the
wheel, which was the signal to me
that / was about to take a trip to
earth, swift or slow, depending on
whether or not the parachute opened.
You don't make the jump from the
plane seated or from the fuselage.
You will when the new arrangements
which have been perfected and which
are now in the process of manufac-
ture are finished. But, in the first at
tempts, 1t was matter of climbing
out on the wing Of the plane, hanging
on against that hundred le-an-hour
wind from the propellers, assuring
yourself that your harness was straight
and that your rope was perfectly fas-
tened, then hanging down from the
plane in such a way that you would
be sure of missing the rudders and
the tip Of the plane when you let go.
And when you're waltzing around
few thousand feet above the earth,
this is not the easiest thing in the
world to do.
If I remember correctly, there was a
queer feeling along my backbone
when I loosed my safety-belt and be-
gan to crawl out of that seat. When /
got one foot over the side, the wind
hir me full and nearly blew me from
the plane before I could get chance
to steady myself However, 1 made
wild grab and caught on to the safety
strap just in time, and from then on
1t was comparatively easy.
Slowly 1 managed to get the other
foot out of the cockpit, and, bending
as close to the fuselaSe as possible, l
held on, as / made my way along the
wing of the plane to the rear. This
caused the machine to rock a bit but
Captain Page soon had it steadied
again, and slowly began letting my
self down.
The wind held me here. We were
going so fast that the breeze seemed
to hold me up, especially as / was
leaning against one OF the brace wires
which held the plane, which kept me
steady. However, as soon as l was
clear of this, the problem Of holding
on until the psychological second was
a trublous one. The wing of the plane
was smooth, and one doesn't like to
put too much strain on the wires which
connect the two wings, lest that
should snap the support and thereby
cause trouble for the pilot.
Gradually, however, the descent to
kneeling position was accomplished. l
let my leg hang below the wing of the
plane. Then, supporting myself on my
abdomen, let down the other leg,
The wind caught my feet and trailed
my legs out behind the swiftly moving
plane like strings of ribbon. / looked
up to see the captain nodding and
smiling at me. It was the signal that
the plane was steadied for the pull
that would be given when the para
chute jerked loose. So, with bit OF
a push, 1 cleared myself from the
plane and dropped.
A dizzy, blurred second, and then
something hit; me like punch In the
Jaw. It was the papachute opening
after a drop Of about a hundred feet,
and knew that was safe. From now
on nothing but an extremely bad air.
pocket could cause me trouble by col
lapsing the parachute on me, and
that, of course, is a chance that must
always be taken.
However, nothing OF that kind oc-
CURED and I landed safely. The next
lump was the next day after that. In
fact, 1 made a jump varying from three
thousand to four thousand feet nearly
every day-and liked it. 1t gives a
new thrill to aviation.
And there is always, Of course, the
feeling that in making these jumps
YOU are helping perfect the system
whereby an aviator will be safe from
fire in his plane-and that counts for
g. great deal.