Evening star., 1928-04-15

"A field, and nobody WAS around.
IA | looked for awhile at that
4 \ wide-winged old bus. II was a
temptation. IT seemed TO say,
'well. how about it," l was BOY en-
rloved as mechanic around the
hal,cerS-~-it was at the CurttSS train
ine station. North Island. Calf. Some
6ay l hoped 10 be a pilot, Why not
nowp l GOT into the machine and took
of. had been up a few times before
as a passenger and had watched now
fr1e pilots worked the controls. ham
died the ship all right II seemed TO
come NATURALLY. II was glorious up there.
The sweeping, driving wind was an ella
ton. To see the spreading earth 50
far below made my blood run hot and
fast | headed for bank OF clouds
aud pllnged into 1t and Spiraled over
Il. There was an undreamed-of glamour
in lofty height.
NV family. descendants of the early
Spanish pioneers of California, wanted
me to become civil engineer. But
what were mathematics and mechanics
10 this9 l few hither and yonder
around the sky and knew 1t was my
natural vocation. l could see that peo-
!. pie had gathered on the field and were
pieaSSat part of il. What right had /,
8 kid mechanic. to take a plane up9
II 1 landed With my neck unbroken.
vas due for a bawling out. | landed
safely enough and was instantly freo.
II was a melancholy ending FOR so fine
en adventure.
Although / had lost my job, couldn't
keep away from the field l hung
around every day. After a week or SO
they hired me back as a pilot AND
since then il has been case OF around
the sky. and many narrow squeak III
many a tight corner
have seen the game from one end
10 another. the narrow escapes. the IN
credible crises. the fantastic turns OF
events. Plain flying from one place 10
another has become fairly common
place. workaday affair and quite safe.
Sllt the racing pilot, the maker of rec
or6s. the instructor the military flyer
and the test pilot, these fellows play
hide e-and-Seek with death all in days
work. There is many queer story to
be told.
IN one close shave ] nearly got the
u hair shaved right of my head, The
CurtiSs Co. was putting out particu-
larly swift kind of little plane. the Cur
tiss Racer. The first one was built and
came out to be tested The Racer, after
experiment and alteration, as is neceS-
sery with any design Of ship, is now one
Of the best types of plane. But when
I looked over that first little devil l
had my doubts. I had an idea that she
would break her back in landing, would
crack and fold when the wheels hit the
ground I said so.
Now the funny part of 1t was that
was the test pilot out at the Held.
The test pilots job is to take up new
ships and see whether they will fly and
how; whether the controls work prop
erly. and incidentally whether the ships
will hang together in the air It's the
toughest Job in the game, according TO
my way OF thinking / was to try out
the Racer The fact that / thought
she would crack up in landing was not
particularly to the point. ! was sup
posed to find that out in actual trial.
The test pilot is hired not only for his
skill but for his courage, and he has
to have plenty of the latter II he is
any good at all.
Up she went, as swift as a rocket
Eow she could climb? And. let me tell
you. she had speed. I like fast ship.
Hitting up at 200 is nice, comfortable
gait. looming along in that speedy
mosquito was JOY in itself. The un-
ki4Ga$a4&A paw Va Al Go bA3nt 43Gt E61Ak
career in the air merely indicated the
speed at which she would have TO land.
I knew she was going 10 snap when
those wheels hit
Well was up, and had TO come
Down some time. I nosed her toward
earth. a dive. Up came the ground.
Now I Strengthened her out for the
landing. What devlish speedi AS she
touched ducked / suppose / figured
out tnstlnctively what was going to
happen. The cockpit was made of
metal, aYic the pilot was In it up TO his
shoulders. 1t was like head sticking
out Of tin can. AS pulled my head
down inside, the machine collapsed in
such a way that the two metal edges
Of the hole for the pilots head we're
driven together like a pair Of knives
ThEy Just grazed the top Of my head.
II had not oucked should have been
decapitated as neatly as If a Chinese
executioner were on the job. As it was
they had 20 cut me out Of my metal
container. as you open a can of her
rings. Luckily the gas tank did not
explode and there was no fire, or
well, don't like TO think OF II.
The incident was altogether serious.
There wasn't laugh In 1t. Some other
little Jobs Of test plotting, though. were
cutie con9icai--tlat Is, / did my
laughing afterward. While Things
acre happening j was more case o.