New-York tribune., 1919-10-12

chine kissed the earth on the opposite
side of the flare, and after short run
along the grass came to a stop. In 1t
was Major Spatz.
Il went to Hazelhurst first by mis-
take" he called out to the first flying
officers who ran to his machine. "Any-
body else here 2"
"Yepl Kiel just landed. His time
was 6:36:10; yours is 6:36:30. 1t will
take a Dutch lawyer to fix your time at
Haze hurst"
Major Spatz's father, mother, brother
and sister, all from Boyertown, Penn,
him a congratulatory hug and ask him
a dozen questions at once. Questions
didn't bother the major, and neither
did they bother Lieutenant Kiel. Both
men were deaf from the road of the
exhaust from Their powerful engines
driving them through space at the rate
of two miles each minute.
After the flyers and their observers,
Sergeant Emmett T; Tanner, of Fresno,
Cal. with Major Spatz and Sergeant
Frank Mckee, of Bedford, Ore, with
Fresno, Cal, ~ posed for several
ordered them to go to a tent which was
serving temporarily as headquarters.
There they were questioned about the
trip through the air from the Pa
cihc to the Atlantic. 1t had been a
thrilling journey, and as Major Spatz
told about it his mothers eyes cleaned
behind her glasses and his fathers
chest swelled visibly.
Made Perilous Start
1t was perlous journey from start
fA rrk l.
of the way. For Lieutenant Kiel and
thing more than thrill. When they
circled the field in San Francisco, pre-
llminary to their start, and then
landed, Mckee crawled out on the
fuselage in order to bring the 'plane
to quick stop. He didn't get on the
fuselage until the machine was almost
on the ground and his weight was cal
culated to drop the tail skid hard
against the ground, acting as brake
and preventing any rough places from
throwing the plane on her nose. But
Lieutenant Kiel overshot the field
He looked back at Sergeant Mckee.
signal. which meant "give her the gum
The plane scared high over the field once
more, with Sergeant Mckee clinging to
the tail with hands and feet and
teeth. Then they landed.
II can laugh about it now,' said Nc
Kee last night, "but. baby, | was scared
while | was taking that ride" Sergeant
Mckee has been in the air service since
March, of this year.
He Felt Like a Drink
In order to get Major Spatz started
on the story of his cross-country race
iuct oh l., L
~ feel like having little drink of
whiskey," was his reply. But this was
cnly one Of long list of questions
prepared under the direction of Col.
Miller, and SC it was e~nlaincd to Major
Spatz that few more details would
be appreciated. He got the whiskey,
however. Then he said:
Pm very tired; otherwise I'm al
right"
"Hardships he repeated, from a
question. "There weren't any except
let's see. Lieutenant, was it last night
that we couldn't get a private bath
with our rooms? on, yes, and at
Minneapolis they made us go to a
the night"
Coming over the Rocky Mountains,
Major Spatz said there were times
when he was flying only fifty feet
above the railroad tracks. Had he
tried to fly higher, he said, he would
have gone into heavy clouds, and prob
ably crashed blindly into the side of
mountain peak. He said he wouldn't
want to try the. trip across the noun
tains again in a single motored ship.
They had cellar weather, they said, to
Salt Lake City,
Encounters a Snowstorm
After that, he encountered snow
storm thirty miles west of Rawlins,
and flew through it until twenty miles
east of Cheyenne. Forty miles east
of Rock Island, H., the airplane en-
tered rainstorm, and the rest Of
the journey to New York was made
in the rain
Major Spatz went to West Point in
1910, and in 1915 went into the army
flying corps. BE went to France in
September, 1917, in command of the
9th Aero Squadron. He was a major
then, but in order to get to the front
he sacrificed his rank and accepted the
grade of second lieutenant. He got
three German aviators there, and now
he is major once more.
Lieutenant Kiel went to the first
officers training camp at Fort Sheri-
dan, then to the Austin Ground school.
and finally to Kelly Field.