The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-06-16
CAPITAL
CELEBRATES OCEAN
FLIGHT Of FLYERS
CONTINUED From First Page.)

HeN @e@sf
slightly injured on the nose and mouth
by the jolt given the machine when It
landed. Both men were leaf and dazed
and were unable to walk steadily for
some minutes. They quickly recovered,
however, and were escorted TO the wire
less station in triumph, They distributed
clgarets as souvenirs and gave away
the small dog and cat which were mas
cots during tho trip.
Describing the trip, the aviators said
they had a very trying ordeal. Capt.
Alcock said the sun came out only
once when the biplane had attained a
height OF H. 900 feet. The altitude of
the machine varied from a few feet
from the water up to $4,000 feet, and
the flyers eve sighted a single ship.
II did not know once during the
night whether I was upside down or
not" said Capt. Alcock. "Once we
assembled hurrledly when we saw the
green Atlantic only 80 feet below"
The breaking away Of the propeller
generating current for the wireless ap-
paratus soon after the start prevented
shore, When It happened Lieut.. Brown
noticed the propeller had carried away
with 1t one Of the stay wires, but he
did not tell Capt. Alcock until after
they had landed at Clifden. When Al
cock learned of the incident he said.
"SNhN ANfS b"~N hN
known"
Weather conditions were very bat
during the trip and Lieut.. Brown hat
to climb from his seat to clear the ice
away from the petrol gauge: .
Br 1VST' went T'e e. bed, while tcI Capt. Aicocl
inspected the machine. The lieutenant
however, was unable to sleep and 500
got up. by noon boil were lookinJ
perfectly well and willingly distributed
autographs to admirers. Capt. Alcocl
wanted to fly to England in a borrowed
plane. but his companion observed:
II have had enough flying for a bit.
Capt. Alcock exhibited a bunch o
rain soaked letters, which he had beel
asked to mail II the flight was sue
c~esstul, saying: .
81 am the first transatlantic post
man"
The two aviators said they were onl.
once in real danger, when the machtn'
went into a flat spin, owing to tn
pilot being unable to tell how the ma
chine was moving. Lieut.. Brown, no
ticing that the compass needle wa
swinging from side to side-the hrs
indication that something was wrong
managed to get Capt, Alcock to under
stand the difficulty, The machtn
Travelled at q rate of 140 miles an hou
at times and the pilot once found him
self diving straight toward the surfac
OF the ocean. He was SO near tn
water that he had to Snatch" the ma
chine from its dive so quickly that
almost looped the loop. He says tn
machine would have crumpled up ha
il touched the water at the speed
was then travelling
The biplane is being guarded by sol
diers and ii Is probable 1t will be neces
sary to dismantle It.
Mai. Murray, Of the U. S. army al
/, service, has t~elegraphed the followin
messake to Capt. John Alcock, at Gill
den:
"As the representative of the Unite
States army air service in Great Brit
ain, l take great pleasure In ~extendin
! TO you and your splendid crew heart
+ est congratulations on your brilliar
: achievement"
. Describing his experiences Capt. A
cock. in a message from Galway to tn
Daily Mail, says: .
! we had a terrible journey; RI
d wonder Is we are here al all. w
scarcely saw the sun, or moon or star
A For hours we saw none OF them, III
fog was very dense, and at times "
. had to descend within 800 feet of II
n sea.
i For four hours machine wa
covered with a sheet of Ice caused b
frozen sleet, At another time the &c
i was so dense that my speed indicate
did not work and for a few minutes
was very alarming.
eve encountered no unforeseen cor
q ditions. We did not suffer from co
or exhaustion except when looking ov'
Il the side; then the sleet chewed bi
cut of our faces. We drank coffee ar
ale and ate sandwiches and chocolat
!, "Our flight has shown that the A
; lantic flight is practicable, but ! thir
IL should be done, not with an airplar
or seaplane, but with flying boats.
I'VE had plenty OF reserve fuel LEI
using only two-thirds Of u supply,
. THE only thing that upset me WI
= to see the machine at the end g
damaged. From above, the bog look,
8, like a lovely field, but the machil
y sank into II to the axle and fell ov
+ onto her side"