Evening star., 1925-11-08

II adventures. | am not hoping
\ to convince any one that THESE
adventures have not meant ex
element for me, but Curiously enough
the greatest nervous excitement mas
not come at the times when 1t woulc
have seemed most exCusable.
| had no fear or mental agitation OF
any kind on the first crossing OF the
Atlantic by airplane. | was one OF
the two pilots Of the United states
Nayy's NC-4. The crew was in SerN.
ice and was ordered to make the flight.
We made one long hop from Trepa ssey
Bay. Newfoundla I'D. 10 Ponta del Gada
the Azores, ther another hop to Lis
bon. Portugal. and then on up to
Plymouth, England.
1t was an eXcellently organized un-
taking with the best possible equip
ment then available. Navy ships were
stretched out on the course. The crew
was painstakingly selected. Now That
il has long since been completed, | am
sorry to find that the romantic pos
sibilities were go much neglected. AT
the time it was just a job to all of us,
and there was hardly misgiving that
we might not survive the attempt.
So far as perils are concerned we
were much more in danger when we
flew the NC-4 over the waterways of
the Middle West in the interest of re
cruiting for the Navy. Landing and
taking off that big flying boat on rivers
had possibilities of crashes every day
that were never existent while cross
ing the wide Atlantic.
The balloon fight from RoCkaway
Beach into the wilds Of Canada, when
we Were caught in n blizzard and
carried ap near Moose Factory, being
lost to communication for 20 days,
caused aualms 10 my two compa mons
and myself that now seem laughable.
Our greatest fear in the air was that
we would land, either OF our own
volition or because of lack of ballast,
some distance from a railroad station
and that we would be forced to walk.
When we did come down on the
second dav, after our balloon had
crashed on a tree, we were sure we
had landed somewhere in New YORK
state, and were afraid we might miss
our supper. Well. Ne missed several
suppers, and those first nights we
n1istook wolf howls for barking dogs
and plunged through desolate forests
looking for barnyards.
When we finally followed some
small stream down to the Eskimo iur
trading camp at Moose Factory we
could hardly believe that we were
almost as near the Arctic Sea as
Rockawav Beach, OF course. we
practically starved in that time, but
we expected a hospitable New York
state farmer to turn up every MIN
ute. That was my first experience
with balloons.
THE most colorful adventure l have
l. had was the first fight between
North and South America, from New
York to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that
made in the interest of New YORK
newspaper. We were obliged to stop
at six island capitals in the West
Indies, the three capitals OF the
Guianas. and the capital of every At
lantic Coast State of Brazil, from Para
10 Rio. excepting Ceara, in the inter
est of Pan-American friendliness.
The enormous crowds of hospitable
people. the generosity of governors
and other officials, the keen interest
in the first airplane to he seen In the
harbors in which we landed, mace
this flight a memorable one In my
experience.
It's thrill Law in what might he
ahead-a difficult landing place In a
small harbor basin. the chance 1ha'
there might he floating logs in jungle
,;yars which a flying boat coming
down at so to 10 miles an hour muS'
trv to avoid new air and current CON
dItions never before encountered.
The troubles we had were with
small mechanical breaks. and they
we're very irksome because on a
priyate flight of this nature II was
well.nigh Impossible TO ship stores ol
extra parts ahead, such as Is done
on ell distance flights organized pF
governments.
But the most eXasperating, alarm
ing dumbfoundine experience IN my
career occurred just Few weeks ago
in the northern Amazon jungle.
was a member of the Alexander HAM
ilton Rice 19241925 scientifc expeol,
+ion that went up the Amazon and
;ts northern tributaries. the Rios
Negro and Branco, ultimately discov-
erine the headwaters of the hitherto
uneynIored Parma River, near the
Venezuelan border.
The function of the airplane IN thls
axnedition was to assist in mapping
10 scout routes for explorers, TO re-
connoiter over villages and possibly
unfriendly Indians. over these vi
lagos we dropped down peads' ish
hooks and pocket knives, attacheo 10
psrachutes, and the expedition eNpe
1.ienced no hostility whatever from
any of the many tribes 1t visited to
oond,,ct it's research into Indian IAN
suages and customs.
can't. A. w. Stevens of the United
States Army accompanied me on these
two and three hour flights, as op'
server and map maker. Few men nave
had his aerial training. He holds tne
worlds record for an altitude para
chute drop. jumping 2a.Ono rect frnm
tbe airnlane piloted by st. John Nc
Cready over McCook Field, near Day
ton, Ohio. in 1923.
err Ten davs when we were deep In
the Jungle with the Rice party an, and
am sure neither Of us wants tha'
eznsrisnee again. The fact that ~e