The Omaha morning bee., 1924-11-29
Told by LOWELL THOMAS.

<AtAodkD oil SiA VI <AinCiitd ,
world fliers are entitled to equal
credit for having been the first to
circumnavigate the globe by air, the
first to actually complete the circuit
was Smiling Jack" Harding from
Tennessee--he whom fellow airmen
have jokingly charged with having
flown round the world from one
Noman's arms to another"
s. As a matter of fact, Jacks right to
the former honor is just as genuine
as Magellan's. You will recall that
when the immortal Portuguese cir
cumnavigator set forth with his
Spanish fleet he met his death on an
island in the East Indies. But he had
won his right to be forever known as
the first to sail around the world be-
cause on previous expedition he had
, sailed in the opposite direction to
point farther than he reached via the
west on his final voyage.
So it was with Jack Harding. In
1919 he had flown across America
from Atlantic to Pacific on what was
known as the Round-the-Rim
Flight" And when the world fliers
reached the coast of Maine, they
crossed the trail that Jack had
s helped blaze on his previous flight.
Therefore, when he reached Maine
he at that moment could say he had
been all the way round the globe by
air
Mother Then His Sweetheart.
However, as to the charge that he
flew round from one woman's arms
TO another that rumor has spread
Z simply because Smiling Jack" has
such a winning personality that every
body, everywhere, singles him out
: for special attention and affection. As
a matter of fact, the only real sweet
heart Jack Harding ever had up un-
til the end of the world flight was
his mother. Since then-ah, but that
would he getting ahead of our story.
And surely it's not surprising that
. six handsome bachelors, after sue
cessfuly carrying out one of the
most hazardous and daring feats in
all history, should be even more
sought after than the prince of
Wales. Nor in that adventurous and
romantic sequel to the world flight
did Smiling jack" shrink from his
share of the hazard. But we will
not so into the romantic tale of the
world fliers' triumphal postflisht
tour until we have gone with them
around the globe.
Smiling jack Harding, like all of
the other world fliers excepting
Lieut.. Erik Nelson, comes Of a long
line of pioneers who have played a
prominent part in American history.
This same Harding family, through
another branch, produced the late
president of the United States. One
of his ancestors was 'Stonewall' -
Jackson.
We have already seen how Lieut..
Leslie Arnold made the acquaintance
OF Smiling Jack. When Arnold
''took off from Dayton with Hard
ing beside him, he thought his pas
>. senger merely a civilian who ha~
succeeded in getting the air service
TO allow him to take a joy ride to
Washington. But an incident oc-
.curred on the way that opened Lieu
tenant Arnolds eyes. In addition to
himself and his passenger, Harding,
,Arnold had two others along in the
Martin bomber. They were the reeu-
liar mechanics assigned to take care
of the plane. While flying over
West Virginia. 80 miles west of
Moundsvillo. one engine started TO
sputter ominously. Before Arnold
had . chance to spot a place to land
and before the two mechanics could
do anything, Lieut.. Arnold was
amazed to see his passenger crawl
out OF his cockpit and start tinkering
With the engine in mid. air The re-
suit was that the engine kept running
until landing could be made at
MounGsVille
The two mechanics Immediately
'bustle1 about and after few min
.utes' in7pccton informed Lieutenant
Arnold that it would he necessary to
stop overnight in order to give the
motor complete overhauling. BEG
pardon. lieutenant" interposed Hard
ing. but If you like. | VIII fix your
motor so that we can push on TO
Washington in a half hour" So say.
ing he pulled on a pair OF overalls
and got busy. In less than 30 min
ntes he had that engine in order and
the flight was resumed.
Was Motor Expert.
Instead of being Just an ordinary
civilian, Jack turned out to be a man
who had served two terms of enlist.
ment in the air service and was still
employed as an airplane motor expert
at the aviation headquarters in Day.
ton.
Lieut.. John Harding. jr is the son
of an inventor and chemical engineer
As a youngster he attended a small
red brick country school house whore,
in his own words, he got "a lickin
every day
lis mother charming southern
lady. whose family came from Nir.
ginia and Carolina, says that her
Jack always wanted to know what