The sun., 1919-06-16

field, but 1t aided In the most difficult
part of the flight, the tirst miles In
which the plane, with speeding en-
glnes, dragged Its great weight of fuel
heavily through the air. Disaster was
more to be feared at this stage Of the
flight, when the engines were not yet
warmed to their task, than at any
other. As 1t happened, however, fog
and not the burden Of the overload ed
plane was the principal difficulty OF
the trip.
AIceek's Hopes ESeeeaed.
How greatly the flight exceeded the
expectations Of Capt. Alcock Is seen
by the fact that he said before the
start he hoped to average eighty Ave
miles an hour. starting at about sew
enty or scventy-fve and speeding the
lightened plane at the end of the trip.
Actually he made thirty-five miles an
hour more than he had hoped, which
compensated somewhat for the dou-
bled danger brought by the fog.
The words two miles a minute
convey more Of the idea of the speed
made by the plane throughout the
jump across the ocean than does 40
miles an hour, but the great speed Is
even better emphasized by saying
that In each second of that long flight
the great plane dashed 176 feet nearer
her goal. Neither the fastest express
train nor the swiftest automobile
could hope to cover more than half
the two thousand miles under ordi-
nary conditions on the ground in the
same time.
Remarkable as the long flight
would be even under perfect weather
conditions. 1t In even more creditable
to the dauntless teammates because
of the mist which threatened them.
Skilled pilots here who have them
selves bueked mist and drizzle on the
battle front in France are most en-
thusiastic in their praise of Capt.
Alcock. for to them the fog is real
enemy. more hated than by seamen.
In that binding screen Capt Alcock
very easily might have so lost his
air developed sense Of equilibrium
that the biplane would dive straight
downward into the sea before eithel
man, lulled by the monotony Of the
unceasing drone Of the motors and the
unchanging force Of the wind beating
upon their helmettsd heads. realized
anything was wrong.
Browns Task Made DimcuIt.
To Lieut., Brown equal If not
greater praise is given, for his was
the difficult task Of heading the sway
ing, wind tossed airplane direct to.
ward ireland. He had to face and
vanquish the ordinary difficulties of
navigation and then the multiplied
difficulties of taking sights in the
unstable craft, OF calculating the
varying speeds and of figuring the d.
rectiOn aud speed Of the wind by OBJ.
serving how far from the true course
the plane drifted. This latter he could
only Determine by the rough method
of watching the foam Of q whitecap
meath the plane to see whether or not
II disappeared behind them In a direct
line. The mist must have prevented
him from seeing the sun or stars for
some time at least, so that he was
compelled to keep track Of the posi-.
ton Of the speeding plane by deck
reckoning. AS the Vickers bomber
was changing its position at the rate
Of two miles minute this required
agile headwork.
What is considered here the mos
remarkable feature of the whole
epoch making flight is the fact thai
Lieut.. Browns navigation, beset by
all these difficulties. was absolutel,
accurate, The Viekers men were
aiming for Clifden from the start