The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-07-29
ice WATER AND SMOKE FIRST THINGS CRAVED BY s. FLIER
AS HE REACHES ENGLAND ON HISTORY MAKING AERIAL TOUR
Lieutenant Lowell Smith
Turns Down Whisky and
Soda Right in London, But
He Reaches First of All
For a Cigarette Landing
of u. S. Fliers Is Described
BY Milton BrOnner
NEA Service Correspondent.


airplane with the figure "2" painted
on it comes roaring from the south,
circles two or three times around the
great Croydn Aerodrome, and then
settles gently on the ground.
A few minutes later two other
American airplanes land on this
British field.
They have made history. Four
hundred and three years ago a Portu-
guese named Magellan, in command
of fleet of Spanish ships, made
similar history. The little vessels of
wood and equipped with few sails,
were the first to circumnavigate the
globe. And this tiny fleet of three
airplanes, led by Lieutenant Lowell
H. Smith, has repeated part of that
performance.
With pieces of stick and yards of
linen, some steel and some alumi-
mum, propelled by powerful engines,
these daring latter-day Magellans
had gone three-quarters around the
globe when they landed in London.
And what do you think was the
first thing Lieutenant Smith did
when his machine stopped? He
ducked his head out of the cockpit,
jammed cigaret into his young face
and enjoyed smoke.
Perhaps some day an imagina-
tive historian will attribute to Smith
some very fancy words as he stepped
out of his machine onto British soil.
Let an imaginative chroniclcr tell
what he really said:
I'D like a drink"
"What, whiskey and soda?" asked
one of the attaches of the aerodrome
as matter of course.
"No, pard, l said l wanted a drink.
A long drink. A cold drink. Water
with ice in it,"
And that was that. And it was
said with such fervor that Frederick
Sterling, first secretary of the Amer
lean embassy who was deputizing for
Ambassador Kellogg, forgot his
speech of welcome-if indeed he had
one. All he did was to shake Smith $
hand and say-"Howdy!"
Came solemn moment when the
united army of British reporters cor
rallied Lieutenant Smith, took him
off to the British Customs Bureau,
away from the autograph hunting
crowd, and began firing questions at
him concerning his trip.
"The worst part of it all was in
Northern Alaska" said Smith.
There we encountered the woolies-
winds that blow 70 miles an hour and
then suddenly stop and then just as
suddenly begin again-icy cold, whip
ping sleet and snow into your. face"
Pardon" says polite Britop,
"you say these winds are called the
willies ?"
"No. Woolies. But they give you
the willies."
whats that? ?" asked the Briton
blankly.
Enters the woman reporter. She
beams brightly at Lieutenant
Smith and pops the great question
"What is the first thing you are 60
ing to do when you land in New
York;"
Smith looks at her quizzically for
moment and then drawls-
Prepare to hop off for San Diego"
There was a pathetic side to the
London welcome to our fliers. Mrs.
MacLaren, wife of Squadron Leader
MacLaren of the British Air Forces,
who also started on a world flight.
congratulated Smith and his COM
panions upon their success. She
thanked them for some favors they
had helped secure for her husband.
Then the anxious wife was reveal
ed. She knew the terrific fight with
the elements that our men had when
they crossed the north Pacific. She
knew her own husband was in those
same regions at that very moment.
And she sought comfort by asking
our men whether they thought Mac
Laren was in much danger.
Smith proved himself a gallant
diplomat. He told the pretty young
wife the truth about the dangers at
this time Of year and yet in such a
way as not to add to her fears.
And that very evening the papers
reported MacLaren was overdue and
that Japanese war vessels were seek
ing traces of him in the desclate
waters around the Kurile Islands.