Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-09-23
FIGHTING STORM
Z HIGH UP IN AIR
Navigator in Pane Tells Of Thrill
ing Experience During a
Fierce Cyclone.
BREAKS WITHOUT WARNING
Hail and Rain Lash Machine Mercl.
lessly, Making It Toss From One
Side to the Other Like a Cork
on Surface OF Sea.

New YOrk,-Al observer In an air
plane describing an experience In "A
storm thousands of feet above the
earth writes;
1.-THE sky was strewn with the rem
nants of a morning cirrus, as the
climb was made carefully but swiftly
on the wings of warm wind. Eight
thousand feet was reached with the
merest effort. The salient features of
the countryside could be picked out
without glasses The air had milky
tinge, but II was such as the eye could
speak through, and 1t gave no i'm
preston Of the moisture with which II
must have been heavy. 1t seemed
warm and brilliant. and as the ma
chine throbbed Its way through 1t two
warm slip streams flowed back over
the wind screen.
Comes Unheralded.
"Some time must have elapsed be-
fore the pilot. In twisting the craft
round to new direction. caught
glimpse of a livid purple-gray bank of
clouds which had crept up from the
south. 1t had come quite unheralded
10y thunder, but although the sight was
not attractive there seemed neither
cause for alarm nor need for prema-
ture descent. Even the growing rumble
Of thunder at q great distance. which
came at last, failed to disconcert. and
the airplane scared on with bracing
wires singing and the engine In deep,
ful-throated roar.
"Then, without further warning, the
storm broke in full fury. A mighty
crash Of thunder, which seemed to
deafen and almost shake the machine
out OF the skies, was accompanied by
wild burst Of hail and rain which
dashed the machine mercilessly and
made It toss from one side to the other
like cork on the surface of the sea
m a steaming cloak of rain and mist
II was impossible for the eye to see
the ground.
peal after peal Of thunder followed
In swift succession between vivid
flashes Of furious summer lightning
The heavens had opened to pour forth
the accumulated passion of centuries.
Al nearly 1000 feet up It would he
suicidal to descend into the unknown
and unseen. Which was Safer-air or
land? To the pilot. anxious almost
beyond endurance. came the thought.
common TO every flying man. of fire
In the air. and as II to confirm this
horror a fash In moment ilumi.
t.I hn al, 4
were caught in the probing beam of
searchlight at night The sky was
rent from vault to horizon by vivid
streak Of electric fire. The indicating
fingers on the navigation instruments
oscillated wildly.
Like Wounded Bird.
ut seemed the last moment; but II
passed, and still the machine was air.
worthy. The hail still tore fiercely at
the fabric Of the planes; the machine
was becoming more and more un
stable; but IT still hummed on. Down
below q cloud of vapOr made 1t I'M
possible to see the earth or to sight
a stretch Of ground whereon to land.
The thunder broke with undated fury
Mt regular intervals. and at each on
slaught the machine quivered like a
wounded bird.
"If the pilot continued to fly on 1t
could only be matter of moments
before all control of the craft would
he wrenched from his hands. 1t was
equally hazardous to plunge down into
the sea of mist in total ignorance Of
the lie Of the land beneath. But to
the latter course only could shred
of hope cling. The engine therefore
was suddenly shut off and the nose Of
the machine dropped.
"By the altimeter. watched feverish-
~. the descent of few thousand feet
seemed to take many minutes. In the
thick of a swirling mist a sudden and
violent contact with the earth was mo-
mentarily expected. But downtown:
until at what seemed the critical sec
ond there came sudden thrush of
stendy grateful air from a region of
smiling content and peacefulness, with
the earth thousand feet below There
was no sunshine, but there was also
no storm. 1t had been cyclone of
the upper regions only"