The Washington times., 1921-05-29

Win nine hours fuel capacity.
| Picking up the Ohio River at
the Dayton w Arlington airway for
Cumberland Immediately after PASS
ing Moundsville, the ship plunged
into rain, with clouds lying thick
above 1000 feet. I headed under the
clouds and kept on.
HAD TO KEEP Low ALTITUDE.
The rain and clouds were so bad
that couldn't keep any altitude and
was accordingly forced to follow the
river at very low altitude. l sud
denly remembered that II was Gus
tomary to string high-power cleo
trio conduits across rivers and
thought I had heard OF such wires
! across the river at about this point.
With heavy mental visions OF my
ship crashing into a high voltage
| wire, 1 turned to the mountains,
lodging through the gaps and fol-
lowing the valleys.
Twenty miles from Cumberland
| the storm struck me full force. The
plane ran into an airpocket and was
Immediately struck by strong de-
scending currents of air. Though
the throttle was opened full. the
snip continued settling. 1 saw that
IL would inevitably crash unless L
was the only possible choice and
into this I sideslipped the ship. In
spite of all precaution, the neid be-
Ing very soft. the tail began to rise
and saw myself christening the
safety felt and dropping on my
head once again.
However, the ship decided to be
good. and the tail, after hesitating on
the verge of topping, settled back
again. kept the motor running,
AFRAID that I would be unable to start
II again. unassisted as was, IL 1t
stopped. The kids from a nearby viii
lage came fiocking around. followed
by farmers and their wives. They
helped me turn the ship around, the |
wheels being buried to the axles in
mud. There was a gully in the mid
die of the 6eld, which was very rough
The plane was pulled to the edge
OF the FIELD, with a twenty-five to
thirty-feot drop at the other end.
With the motor full on the ship
| roared ahead and went down the
slope pulling through the mud ana
unable to rise. Again IL almost nosed
over i saw that only by drastic
measures could I hope to get on
1 accordingly drained the tank OF
nifty gallons OF gasoline. which I |
tomobilss in sight. The farmers stood
gaping. probably thinking II was
Christmas or something. Finally one
of them piped up, What's the matter
with II. misterf"
i drained the tank with. the motor
running, a rather ticklish procedure.
but unavoidable under the circum- ,
stances. then let the air out of
the tires. having learned from my au-
tomobiIe experience that IL you want
to drive over sand or soft ground the |
best way is to hatten your tires. y
Then I got the fright of my life.
! thought had taken every pre-
caution to avoid accident. But look |
ed suddenly toward the whirling pro-
peller and there were two little girls, /
one about three, the other i've years |
old. walking smack into the propeller. |
They wer gazing fascinated at the shim- |
mer of the blades hypnotized, like |
birds charmed by a snake. 1 let out |
scream that could be heard for miles
Startled, they came out OF their trance |
and backed of. put guard around |
the ship.
A little yellow cur broke through /
the line. however, and trotted cheer /
fully and happily right under the /
whirling prop. His tail stuck jaunt-
lily up into the air and the blades |
neatly took off the last inch of IL. |
He screamed even louder than 1 had /
the moment before.
The ship was turned back again
and 1 gave her the gun. As she
started down the slope I felt the
wheels lift slowly out of the clinging
muck and heaved a great sigh of re-
lief.
The Potomac CLEANED through the
trees and followed it Downstream.
Ten miles from Washington I again
ran into rain and the sky ahead was
black and threatening. From this
point bucked a headwind, fighting
for every foot. The sky became
biacker and more threatening every
minute, and ! wondered IL 1 were to
be forced down again with the goal
almost In sight ONLY logged determi-
nation carried me on.
! had learned wh,, TO expect when
hit the field at Washington from tho
pilots at Dayton. so when / finally
circlsd the Washington Monument I 1
knew my worries were over.