The Washington times., 1928-01-12

Lindy's Own Story
tcontin Ia fronn Page 3D.

tContin led from Page 81
ol,ietIv il the clubhouse my host
stated that he had never spent
more enjoyable quarter Of an hour
III his life.
The next morning ! was again
heading toward Texas against
strong westerly wind which ee-
tarded the speed OF the Jenny so
greatly that even with my double
fuel capacity 1t. was necessary TO
land at sFarmerville, La, to ret
plenishs my supply. Form there
flew to Texarkana and landed be-
tween the stnmps Of the 1928 air.
port.
on the following morning I left
Texarkana with a strong tail wind
and after crossing the western end
OF the Ozark Mountains landed near
small town in northeastern Okla
hona, where I took on fresh
supply Of fuel and again headed
north toward Lincoln. Nebr.
Gasoline Gets Low
MY tank began to run low about
hair wav through Kansas and ]
picked out q hillside near Alma. \
After flying low and dragging the
field several times ] came in for I
q landing, but just as the wheels
were about to touch the ground 4
discovered that it was covered with
fairly large rocks half hidden In
the tall grass. opened the throttle
to take off but the plane had lost
too much speed for the motor to
take effect as it hooked In the rocks
ground without doing serious dam
age. The landing gear wires were
strained and about two feet OF the
rear spar on the IoWere left wing
tip was snapped off. Nothing was
broken, however, which would re-
Quire immediate repairing.
The field was quite distance
from Alma. and in order to get an
early start in the morning stayed
with the ship that night. During
the heavy rain at Maben, Miss,
had constructed hammock of
heavy canvas which could be sus-
pended under the top wing.
Quite Comfortable
Il tied the corners OF this ham
mock to the upper strut fittings
and crawled into the three blankets
inside. which were sewn up to ]
form q bag, Thus spent Il com.
Portable night.
When arrived over Lincoln the
next day circled over the Lin
coin standard factory, and after
landing on the old flying field south
OF town waited for the car which
was sent out to bring ii visiting
airmen.
The remainder of the day was
spent in ground flying with my
friends in the factory. We had
not been together for seven months
and the usual exchange OF expert
ences was necessary
soon learned that Bud Quincy
had made parac chute for himself
and was intending to test Il BY the
simple method Of going UP TO an
altitude OF 800 or 1000 feet and
the chute opened. it was successful
After great deal Of persuasion
/ prevailed upon him to let me
take him up iii my ship while we
made the FIRST test vita q sand
bag.
The tanks had Just been filled
with fuel, but had unlimited con-
fidence IN my Jenny, and We lzshed
the parachute and sandbag on
the right wing Bud. who weighed |
165 pounds. climbed into sLe 'front.' |
cockpit. and we started the take |
off with q total load Of ABOUT 600 |
pounds, to say nothing Of the re- |
sistance OF the parachute ana sand
bag. which were directly in the slip |
stream from the propeller.
a Narrow Squeak
Even with this load we cleared |
the nearest obstacle By q safe
margin and finally attained an alfi- /
tude OF about 200 feet. Then we /
were caught by descending cur /
rent of air which carried the plane +
down to within 10 feet OF The I
ground. and try as / would l could I
was directly in front, and to avoid |
striking the trees ] turned down /
wind. A railroad trestle was then
It by inches For five minutes we
lodged hills. trees and houses.
signaled Bud to cut the sandbag. I
but when he started to climb out of
the cockpit to reach it, the added |
resistance brought the plane down
still lower. Then in front Of us
a row of trees much |
higher than the rest. which ! knew I
t would not be possible to get over.
We were then passing oter a grain
'ieid and cut the gun and landed
Town wind. The grain was high
enough to keep the ship from roll
ng far and we unloaded the sand
rag before taking off again. With
he weight of the bag and its re-
'istance gone, we had no trouble
n getting out IF the Grain and
pack to the fling fielG
A week later Bud carried out
his original intention Of testing the
.hnte. It was successful
Before continuing the flight to 4
Bud and made short
transforming trip through Eastern
Nebraska. That territory had been
fairly well covered by other barn \
stormers, however, and we did very
little business.
At one place where we landed we H
we're oyerfaken- by violent thunder. Il
storm combined with a strong wind.
1t came up so suddenly that we had 1
only time enough to tail the ship 4
into the wind and lash the stick 4
TO keep the ailerons from whipping
before the wind struck us. We
were both holding on to the tail 4
irving to keep the plane from blow
ing away. Following the wind was
! heavy rain which covered the
ground with water and at each Il
oh NfewlA g. - - 4