The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-26

landing fields are revolving beacons of 5,000,000 candle power, and the fields are outlined with lights marking the limits.
 We fly over scores of railroad tracks and head for the south of Chicago. Below suddenly appears our distina- ton, Haywood field. We glance at our watches. It is 80 o'clock.
 Breakfast on Long Island, luncheon at Cleveland. dinner at Chicago. Chi cago is the terminus of the second re- lay in the air mail route.
 Morning finds the sky overcast. Bad weather is reported west of Iowa city. We will endeavor to get through to Oma- ha and try the Illuminated airway from some point west of there.
 It is 10 80 o'clock before we get away, heading west. Clouds are settling lower.
 Only One Blue Roof.
 We pass a spacious county club and a few yards beyond real aviator's land mark. It is a spacious dwelling with a blue stucco roof. We have looked at thousands of roofs over three large cities and many smaller ones, but there is only one bright blue roof on the transconti- mental airway. Cities and towns fit by to the right and left. Under darkened skies they are mere speckled bobs in the monotones of black and white.
 Cornfields, pastures and grazing herds are below It is worthy of note that the cattle and horses over the air route have become accustomed to the roar of the airplane motors and the shadow of the plane suddenly sweeping in their la% disturbed.
 As we cross the Mississippi the clouds become more lowering with the threat of rain. Rain is disagreeable in an open airplane. Every drop bites like bee slight protection.
 A city by a river looms ahead. It is Iowa City. We land and are greeted by two other army pilots stranded by bad weather reports. One pilot is flying back to San Antonio from St. Paul. The other is en route from Oma- of McDuffie.
 The weather expert of the air mail station is surprised we got through. Bad weather is reported in all direc- tions The eastbound mail plane is eight hours late, forced down by rain and fog. Even while we gossip the rain begins to fall. It settled into down. pour alternating with lighter showers.
 Weather Blocks Planes.
 At o'clock in the afternoon the eastbound mail plane arrives in a down pour. By skimming the tree tops the pilot had managed to find his way. A motor failure would have meant a sure crash.
 Weather reports are worse. The westbound plane cannot leave Chicago. The second eastbound plane Is reported down at Sydney, Neb. From Wyoming to Chicago the route is blanketed in fog and rain.
 Morning found the rain abated, but thick weather still prevailed. The cell ing was less than 800 feet. Reports from the west were encouraging, how ever. The air mail weather experts in the east were less optimistic. ShOst- ly before 10 o'clock the eastbound mail pilot hopped off, twenty-siX hours late. But the mail would still beat the fast est mail train by more than thirty hours.
 We followed him an hour later, head ing west.
 Clouds held us down to 400 feet alti- tude for 100 miles. Despite our low altitude a wet sheet of fog occasionally slapped the exposed parts of our faces and obscured the landscape below.
 Spindrift swept between the struts and wires. After an hour in the air the fog lifted, the sun began piercing through.
 Head Wind Slows Flight.
 A head wind arrived with the sun, slowing our ground speed by ten miles an hour. It was 12 80 o'clock when the waters of the Platte river hove into view. To the north, Council Bluffs and Omaha appeared indistinct under haze We head south and land gracefully at the huge brick hangar and new build ings put up to house the general su- perintendent of the air mail.
 Here are two more army aviator friends of McDuffie. Both had met with minor mishaps while greeting the world flyers, who preceded. us by day: It is a tradition of the Army Air Serv- ice that accidents happen in threes. We should have felt a premonition. But we were too hungry and anxious to make Wyoming before nightfal. Cheyenne, 300 miles away, was our destlnatlon'
 An hour later we took off, and three minutes later we made acquaintance ot the haystack aforementioned, bless every straw of it. As this is written, 1t ap-, pears likely that we will be furnished with a new airplane to complete our journey ...
 Falcon A Misnamed Plane.
 The name of our new airplane was the Falcon. It was unworthily ehristened, for it proved falcon that failed to re- trieve itself. It fluttered into San Francisco Monday tired, rickety blrd- let. ready for the junk heap.
 It was Saturday afternoon when our flight over the United States mail airway was abruptly halted in the hayfield in Sarpy county, NeD., with only tail skid and propeller ln- tact in the wreckage. It was Tuesday when Maj.-Gen. Mason NJ. Patrick, chief of the Army Air Service, authorized the procurement of a new airplane from Fort Riley, Kan, to continue the flight:
 Lieutenant McDuffie, the Mitchell field pilot, flew to Fort Riley Wednes- day morning and returned in the aft ernoon with our new plane.
 Before we got off the ground Thurs day morning the waterjacket sprung a
 FOR HOME AND STABLE