The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-09-06
CHAPTER xxx

was necessary to fly by instrument
for short periods; then the fog
brake up into patches. These
patches took on forms of every
description. Numerous shore lines
appeared, with trees perfectly
outlined against the horizon. In
fact, the mirages were so natural
that had / not been in mid-Atlantic
and known that no land existed
along my route, I would have TAX
en- them to be actual islands.
AS the fog cleared ! dropped
down closer to the water, some
times flying within ten feet of the
waves and seldom higher than two
hundred.
There is cushion of air close to
the ground or water through which
a plane flies with less effort than
when at a higher altitude, and for
hours at a time / took advantage
of this factor.
Also, it was less difficult to de-
termine the wind drift near the
water. During the entire flight the
wind was strong enough to produce
white caps on the waves. When
one of these formed, the foam
would be blown off, showing the
winds direction and approximate
velocity. This foam. remained on
the water long enough for me to
obtain a general idea of my drift.
During the day l saw a number
of porpoises and "a few birds, but
no ships, although I understand
that two different boats reported
me passing over.
The first indication of my ap-
proach to the European coast was
a small fishing boat which | first
noticed a few miles ahead and
slightly to the south of my course.
There were several of these fish
ing boats grouped within a few
miles of each other.
l flew over the first boat with
out seeing any signs of life. AS l
circled over the second, however, a
mans face appeared, looking out
of the cabin window.
/ have carried on short CONVEX.
sations with people on the ground
by flying low, with throttled en-
CINE, shouting a question and re-
ceiving the answer by some signal.
When / saw this fisherman l de-
cided to try to get him to point
towards land. / had no sooner
made the decision than the futility
of the effort became apparent.
In all likelihood he could not
speak English, and even if he
could he would undoubtedly he
far too astounded to answer. How
ever, / circled again and closing the
throttle as the plane passed within
a few feet of the boat l shouted:
(Which way is Ireland ?"
Of course the attempt was use
less, and / continued on my course
Less than an hour later rugged
and semi-mountainous coastline ap-
pearej to the northeast. Twas fly.
ing less than two hundred feet
from the water when / sighted it.
The shore was fairly distanct and
not over ten or fifteen miles away.
A light haze, coupled with numer-
Gus local storm areas, had pre-
vented my seeing it from a long
distance. r... -..
The coastline came down from
the north, curved over towards the
east. I had very little doubt that
it was the southwestern end of
Ireland, but in order to make sure
l. changed my course toward the
nearest point of land.
/ located Cape Valentia and
Dingle Bay, then resumed my COM
pass course towards Paris.
After leaving Ireland / passed
number of steamers and was sell
dom out of sight of a ship.
In a little over two hours the
coast of England appeared. My
course passed over Southern Eng
land and a. little south of Ply
mouth; then across the English
Channel, striking France over
Cherbourg.
The English farms were very
impressive from the air in con-
trast to ours in america. They
appeared extremely small and un-
usually neat and tidy with their
stone and hedge fences.
/ was flying at about a fifteen
hundred foot altitude over Eng
land and as | crossed the Channel
and passed over Cherbourg,
France, ] had probably seen more
MAHMAMMMHHHHH
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