Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-22
BROMLEY READY
FOR TOXIC FLIGHT
Describes Anticipatory Thrills
as He Awaits, Weather
Mans O. K.
Continued From First Page.)

The thing that thrills me most now
is that after years Of scheming, plan
ming and studying and months of
heartbreaking delay while the ship was
being built and tested. the City Of Ia
coma is on the starting line ready for
final grooming today before the long
dash through the possible storms of
day, a night and part of another day
1t must remain in the skies between
Tacoma and Toxic.
The take-off, that moment when
"the whole flight will either make or
break" still lies ahead of me, but the
bitter disappointment and heartaches
experienced before the ship could be
bought, and then before it could be
prepared for this flight, make this
take-of seem comparatively easy, and
the 40 or so hours I must stay awake
over the ocean alone seem only trifie
after the many hours spent in get
ting ready.
Still, I will take along some chicory
tablets to ward of drowsiness during
the flight.
The Tacoma Air Field has one Of
the finest runways I have even seen,
$500 feet long, hard rolled and smooth
as concrete. Ny plane fully loaded viii
weigh little more than 5000 pounds.
That's big load for q 4S-foot 5-inch
wing, even with 425-horsepower
motor. The low-wing plane lifts quick
er than high-wing, as 1t has better
cushion of air, being nearer the ground;
but. once a few feet in the air, the
ship will gain altitude very slowly. AS
an hour, a crash into a big tree would
spell fms for the fight and probably
for me.
In Peril on Load Test.
The City Of Tacoma can never be in
greater peril than 1t was during our
load tests at Muroc dry lake bed in
California, just after it was completed
in the factory at Burbank.
I had completed the load tests and
found that 1t took about 3 miles to
reach safe altitude. Then I opened
the dump valves, supposed to empty
the tanks in a few seconds. The gas
came streaming back all over me, In
my face, eyes, nose and mouth. almost
strangling me. It was nothing more
nor less than blind flying instinct, with
several dashes of good luck, that en-
abled me to bring that plane safely to
the ground
1t took little better than two min
utes to empty the tanks after the dump
valves were opened. and the air pres
sure forced gasoline all through the
wings.
It was the longest two minutes ever
ing to breathe, fighting to land the
ship as gently as possible, in order to
avoid sparks that might fly. due to
heavy jar on the steel landing gear.
With everything on the ship drenched
with gasoline. my Toxic flight was GER
tainly on the verge Of flaming finish,
with me in the middle of the bonfire.
New Dump Valves on Plane Now.
We landed all right or wouldn't be
writing this.
But it was three days before got
all the gasoline out of my system. There
are newer and better dump valves on
the plane now, however.
After those test flights were COM
pleted, made the nonstop hop from
Los Angeles to Tacoma, 1892 miles. In
about eight hours. This is an average
of about 100 miles an hour. But spent
lot Of time getting altitude-dying
$4,000 feet high at one time-and never
revolutions a minute, although 1t is
capable Of 2,100.
In addition to non-capSizable rub
Der lifeboat and device which will
condense my breath into pure drinking
water, will carry flares to guide ships
to me in case Of forced landing. The
ship is made entirely of wood and. ex-
cept In case Of a nose-dive smashup,
would float for long time.
The radio outfit will be operated by
dry batteries instead Of by a generator.
which would quit working II the motor
failed. This will enable me to broadcast
my position at all times. The Weems-
Bubble sextant will tell me my latitude
and longitude at all times, and the
Weems- Schenk turn, bank and rate Of
climb indicator will keep me flying level.
These two instruments are the ones
spoke Of earlier which are expected to
revolutionize blind flying" at night.
Made by Former Foe"
Incidentally. the turn and bank indi-
Gator Is the invention Of a former foe
of mine, DR.. Carl Schenk-not per-
sonal foe. but DR.. Schenk was in charge
of the Kaiser's horoscopes and COM
passes in submarines and Zeppeltns
during the World War while I was
stopping around In the mud Of no mans
land with the Canadian Infantry.
However, the war is over; Schenk and
I are good friends, and this Toxic
fight is our big interest now.
The plane also carries all the regular
flying instruments and three compasses.
These give me a 2-to-1 check. In case
one goes wrong, I'll lay my course by
the two that do agree. All these instru-
ments have luminous dials, which pre-
clude the possibility of disaster due to
failure Of the ships lighting system at
night, such as occurred to the Bremen
flyers on their hop across the Atlantic.
(Copyright, 1929, by North American News
paper Alliance0