The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-09-16
MISS WHEELER IN
AIRPLANE FLIGHT
Gives Unusually Entertaining Account
of Experience Soon After Visit
ing Relatives Here.

Miss Jessie i. Wheeler, reference h |
brarian in the Troy, N. Y, public IL
brary, also a historian and genealogist, |
who recently visited cher cousins, Mr..
and Mrs Robert +. Dunklee of 3 Chase
street, and was taken home by them in
their automobile, made an airplane
flight shortly after returning home, and
the story of her experience as related
to reporter of the Troy Recorder fol
lows:
| have always longed for a birds-eye
view rather than wormseye view, and
have stated emphatically that the first
airplane / saw ready for flight would
have me for passenger.
1t did.
NV occupation, librarian, being an
| indoor ones, have seen little aviation;
in fact, until recently | have never seen
| plane in motion. On Saturday after
noon, the 23d of August l was taking an
automobile ride to Saratoga Springs
and, passing the aviation field, my
host obligingly drove in, and there at
last stood plane ready and waiting
waiting for me.
| With glance at my whitened locks
and a glance at the sky, the aviator said
perhaps the wind would lie down later
in the day and the lady would enjoy the
trip more" but / said, IF it's merely
rough but not unsafe, let us go at once"
| have never been seasick or dizzy,
though l have peered into the crevasses
of glaciers, looked over the icy rim of
Niagara, ridden a mule in the Alps and
a mustang in the high Sierras and have
even leaned over the short side of Pisa s
famous tower without a qualm, so
faced this new experience with no fear
but with an absorbing curiosity and an
eagerness to be up and doing"
After signing a release to the Air
craft corporation for any prospective
accident, | made haste to get into the
regulation garb, which makes human
being look strangely like a Teddy Bear
| Having my helmet adjusted and goggles
| on, | put one foot firmly into an iron
shod niche, swung myself upward to the
next foothold on the wing, and thence
Il over into cushioned ''cubby" where ;
4 broad leathern belt strapped to thu
framework made me feel that the wing
4 really belonged to me.
H Nv pilot, sitting in the rear, gave tn
Il signal, the motor purred, we ran gentl,
Il over the turf, took the air quickly; AM
II instead of the earth seeming to sill
II away, my sensation was of "negativ
II gravity"-a gull-fight at last.
II | am native of Saratoga county am
II am familiar with its scenery, having rid
II den, driven, tobogganed, bicyeled, mo
II tored and canoed over its surface; bu
II to survey it from the upper air was t
H reveal new charms. To the east | coul
\ plainly see Mount Willard, and beyon
II the clear-cut profile of the Green noun
II tain range; to the north the Adirer
H daeks. Now, Just below was the rae
II track. where | saw some racing withou
VI paying the customary entrance fee
\ now over Congress Spring park, wit
II the Grand Union hotel at the left lool
= ing like toy house.
- Whirling about we flew straight t,
.. ward Snake hill, the country beneath
I relief map where | could plainly distil
/ guish the kind OF crops, the nature
l the groves, and note the meanderings
the tortuous kayaderosseras. The tw
i lakes, Lonely and Saratoga, lie near'
together than / had supposed, and pa
sing over the latter I was much su
1 prised to find how clearly / could see
the bottom. When well over the lal
/ the wind buffeted a bit, but | wished
90 still higher, and as the noisy mot'
l made conversation impossible, ] mac
l corkserew and aspiring gestures to n
/ unseen pilot, and at once we nosed II
l ward In spite of the wind there W;
i little rocking; but on turn one felt Il
pleasurable lit one gets from the sal
die when a brencho takes a corner
high speed. | later learned that we file
at 1900 feet, or about 500 feet high
than we usually take up passengers"
/ would like TO go much higher al
! fly great distances. Every moment
the brief trip was enjoyable, and abo
heat, dust and traffic, with the sky
oneself, flying seemed the safest kind
sport-crossing Broadway on TO
seemed infinitely more hazardous.
We swooped down toward this lit
planet with long gentle dive and ca
curves, alighting on the far corner
the field, whence we TAXED over t
rough pasture with fewer jolts TIL
one usually gets from ''livver," and
rejoined my waiting friends on earth
Half an hour later, attending a ba
concert in Congress Spring Park, an a
quaintance hailed me with: ''Y
should have been here earlier to see
airplane fly over" Il was here | l
piled, ''in it." My fight, l hope, w
but the forerunner of many more
. me. Air routes, l believe, will soon
laid out across the continent, and t
q discomforts of the desert and the per
of Death Valley will not concern t
tourist who fits aloft from Saratoga
Los Angeles.