Evening star., 1919-11-07
WAS BUFFETED BY STORMS
WHEN 1000 FEET IN THE AIR

fog was encountered. There the second
thrilling experience Of the flyers was
encountered.
Loses Way in Fog.
The fog was so dense. Lieut.. Gish
stated. that he soon lost his way. In
fact. it was so dense that he was un-
able to see as far ahead as the radiator.
At times he was 1000 feet above the
ground and then it was discovered the
machine was only five feet over the
ground. Farm fences were skipped over
and fortunately COW. barn or farmers
house did not appear in the path of the
machine. Having lost his bearings and
with the machine turned around the
officer was cropping his way along to
find landing place.
n,,sn Finally. ~ after :. covering a about eighty
At daybreak the flight was made to
North Platt and thence on to Sidney,
Neb., and Cheyenne, Wyo. Landings
were safely made and the flight took In
Rawlins. Wyo.. and Green River, where
q stay was made that night
Lieut.. Gish spoke of the hospitality
OF the people of Green river and Of
the excellent landing field there. Up
at daybreak. the flight was made to
Salt Lake City. Salduro, Utah. and
Battle Mountain. There the landing
field was covered with dust, which
greatly hindered the airman in find
ing 1t. because OF the strong winds
which blew the dust about. During
this part Of the flight the course was
over barren lands of sand. salt and
sage brush. Reno, New, was reached
safely. as was Sacramento. Calf.
and the Anal landing October lS al
San Francisco.
Begins Return Trip.
The retrrn trip was begun October
e. The machine left about 8 o'clock
In the morning. scoring In at Sacra
mento. Reno. Battle Mountain. Sal
uuro e,'n ana salt Lake City. Landing
was made at night at Green River
where the night was spent. Leaving
the next morning for Rawlins. where
the landing field il short, II was found
thfrty-hv hve-mile wind was blowing
across the field. In landing the ma
chine took nose dive and struck the
ground with force enough to break
the propeller, two of the wings. the
radiator and one of the wheels.
Lieut.. Gish took an automobile trim
OF eighty miles to get new radiator.
with pieces OF wire and tape and nv
gluing pieces of linen to the wings
they were mended. A new propelien
also was placed on the machine. Be-
cause Of bad weather a forced stay
was made there Of two days.
Leaving Rawlins with snow falling
and about foot Of 1t on the ground.
extremely cold weather soon was an :,
countered. The officer climbed to an
altitude a. tnu g. OF 1900 feet. Away up there
perature continued to drop. Serrt
Pomeroy had bundled himself nm in n
canvas covering and piled other things
Tpout MS Feet to keep from freezing.
me radiator had frozen. also the un-
new on the radiator and struck Iiert
an instant. -'-Nii A"i
Lands in Laramie, Wyo.
A dive downward was made and II
was discovered he was at Laramie.
Wyo. directly on the course. A noun
this was climbed over, and a dron wa .
enen made to Cheyenne, where they re-
NAMED about an hour. Starting for
sidney, FOG was encountered. which
was SO dense that the airman re-
turned to Cheyenne. and remained
there over Sunday.
Because the radiator had hprs+ O..
a result Of being frozen, At had TO be
soidered time and time again at va
rious stops. The flight was resumed
Monday to Des- Moines, where the
Iadfator, pumps and water connec-
tions We're found to be frozen. The
next day the flight was resumed to
Chicago. After having gone ahout ~
twenty-seven miles from Chicago. a
return had to be made, as a nine NJ
the gas tank had become plugged. In
making a landing this time the ma
chlne was on field and sank so deem
h IN .ne mud that 1T required three
Three attempts were made to GOT
away, but they were not successful
until some new connections for the
plane were installed. AS the officer
did not finish the flight by October
because of the expiration OF the time
limit. He then decided to make a
one-stop flight from that city to
Washington.
,t His one-Stop Flight.
Leaving Chicago Sunday afternoon
at ! :46 o'clock. he landed at Cleveland
at IA O'Clock. IN the darkness. He
was forced to fly about for ten minutes
before he could locate the landing
field. which had been in total dark
ness. During the excitement of the
arrival Of the plane q woman dropped
dead. He left Cleveland Monday morn
ing at 1920 o'clock and landed at
The fight from Cleveland was made
entirely by compass on a direct south
east course.
Lieut. Gish, with Sergt Pomeroy,
expects to leave Washington in a few
days to return his mHchine to Roose-
welt Field.
Need Of Good Mechanics.
Asked what he thought Of the lib
erty motors used on the airplanes. in
view of the failures. Lieut.. Gish said
he did not believe the results were
due to a great extent to the mechani-
cal features of the motor, but to the
mechanics.
"The pay Of the mechanics in the
service Is too small" he said. "The
government cannot. expect to hold
good mechanics in. the service with
the pay now given. They go else+
where and get better pay. I believe
much Of the failure Of motors is due
to the lack of skill on the part of
mechanics"
In his flight here Lieut.. Gish
brought letters 60 Senator Mccormick
and Representative W. j.. Gardner
from their constituents.