Evening star., 1925-06-16

was formed-juSt a mass of rugged,
barren knobs. deep canyons and Sul-
leyS and. worst of all. not field in
sight. according to the perspective
afforded from the right side of the
ship
Turning the head 90 degrees it looks
a little more inviting. If one could
consider craShin, into mountain
as an invitation. Now under the
right wing moves a mountain with a
flat top and the once table like sum
nit has been dug out either by ma
or nature into long sulleys, spelling a
perfectly good landing field. Why
should we he interested in landing
fields? It's either field or jump out
into space and hope the parachute
will open if something happens. OF
these two We choose the landing field
and so do the mail boys. Nothing but
these jumbled CraGs and hills lie
under MS. Circlin" around one is a
long freight train being pulled by one
engine and pushed by two. They are
putting splendidly. while our new Lib
erty lit has had just about six hours
flying before we got il crinds out
$50 revolutions minute at 1000
feet and the air speed indicator reads
80 miles an hour. although it Is doubt
full if we are going that fast because
there is a wind against US. At last a
valley appears followed by more
mountains. The needle on the alti-
tude instrument gradually moves 10
-" meaning 1000 feet, at o'clock.
and we begin to shiver.
Cold Intense.
Our hands are numb. II we We're
called upon to jump we couldn't pull
the ring which releases the chute.
Wanting to he prepared for any emer-
genCy, we start applaudinG violently,
rubbing our hands for circulation and
then take TO singing in a LOUD voice.
which nobody can hear above the
blast of the 400 horses roaring up in
front We pound our feet on the
floor of the ship. the plane shakes.
the parachute. shaped like a cushion.
which we sit on becomes as hard as
rock At SIS we stop for p minute
10 look over the side AT Sunbury.
nestled at the fork of river. and on
an island in this fork is an emer-
gency field for the mail. We go hack
10 the caliStheniCs again and more
lowbroW mountains are passed at
$40. Streams. highways and rail.
roads all follow snaky Course-there
* nothing running straight but our
Deli. Al S:t5 the skipper shakes the
control stick uhe ship is dual con
trolledD and from our crouched posi-
ton in the cockpit, seeking relief from
the cold blast of the propeller. we
look up askance. He motions Uhe
sign language is the language of the
air, that over the next range of noun,
tains IS Bellefonte. How does he
know? He's never flown the course
before. At S:55 we pass over this
range, the Nittanv range, and there
lies a small city in the valley. \
white circle Is on the ground. The
mail field. \ dive and a dash close
to the ground to get the best landing
position and also the wind direction
and down so the wheels at 9 O'Clock.
The plane crew assist the ship up to
a little tower. like railroad water
tower. Four men get to work and we
shiVer out TO the ground. We found
that the pilot leaving New Brunswick
yesterday morning encountered the
same headwind that we did and he
was 4J minutes late. The usual time
for the New Brunswick 10 Bellefonte
run is about l hour and 80 minutes.
but VIC, with our heavy Deli. loaded
down with a lot of junk, made it in
o:47 against the wind
Daring Maneuver.
p asked lne superintendent "nefe
the landing fields were and he said
there We're plenty of them; a I least
the boys knew where TO find them In
rain or fog, he said, they pick out
one or two of the numerous rivers in
that section and fly right over the
water. One fellow came in few
days ago having flown over a river
that ran between two mountains leaV-
ing an opening barely wide enough
to get his wings through That
wouldn't he so bad if the plane were
flying about 10 miles an hour. but
think of it when another zero is
added, There hasn't been force
& l