New Britain herald., 1926-10-13
DESCRIBES THRILL
 OF FIRST AIR RIDE
Herald Staff Woman Flies With
 Gates Circus Pilot
BY IRENE M. SULLIVAN


 Of all the pleasant thrills I have ever had in life, yesterdays ride in an airplane has them beat to a frazzle. Expecting all sorts of ter rible things to happen, such as fall ing out fainting from fright, etc, 1t is only natural that I was greatly surprised 10 find everything entirely different.
 As the aviators stood about the field I looked them over and picked out the one, who, in my mind, was the best looking one of the crowd. Of course that didn't make him the best pilot by any means, for they were all good but when a woman judges she usually picks out the good looking boys. I didn't have the opportunity to make my choice known, but when the time came to hop in, there, to my great delight, was the aviator who proved to be Buck Steele.
 It was just about sunset when we took off. Before I knew 1t we were sailing up, going higher and higher until everything down below looked like miniature Of its real self. New Britain and the surrounding towns, in their autumn attire, certainly made beautiful picture, hard to describe. The trees, with their vel low, red and green foliage, looked like spots of paint dropped from an artists palette. The sun going down in the west looked like huge ball of red fire which cast ruddy glow over the landscape likening 1t to a Maxf1eld Parrish masterpiece.
 It was rather difficult at first to distinguish any particular street or building but as we circled about the city 1t became an easier matter. The hospital. of course, was the first ob jective In mind. Not that I was thinking of hospitals in particular but I knew If I found that building then I could determine the direction of the others. Main street, with It's myriads of insect-like autos and smaller specks which I guessed were people, looked like a narrow lane. Walnut Hill, with its green expanses, seemed like a little garden and the pond on top of the hill resembled a little gold fish pool.
 Spectators tell me we f7uttered about a bit, that Is, swayed from side to side, but I noticed no per ceptible lurching.
 The pilot was apparently as inter ested in the doings down below as was for he kept looking down, first on one side and then on the other. I began to wonder what was hold ing his attention down there when he stopped the motor and told me to watch some chickens in a yard below. I told him I couldn't tell which were chickens and which were people and then he pointed them out and said to watch them disappear under the shed when we circled over. Finally I did distinguish some white specks running about. We circled over the shed a couple of times and the second time the pilot made the motor roar louder. This had the desired effect for the chickens all ran under cover as he said they would.
 By this time we had seen about all there was to be seen of New Britain from the air so he decided to come back to earth. The scenery became familiar again and I could make out the crowd down below on the flying field. It was with much regret that I found myself descend- ing to earth again, to mingle with the rush of humanity and traffic, for up there, there is no traffic, the alr is pure and everything is serene.
 Much may be said for motoring or travelling by water, but from now on I am 100 per cent sold on air planes.