Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18

Down currents of air might have been parity
responsible for the loss of altitude. II our
plane had not been inherently stable the OUT
come might have been altogether differently
AS we were buffeted about in the darkness,
punctuated with recurring dazzling flashes Of
lightning, the rain drenched US and made me
wonder why the motor was not drowned ct
any moment. remembered eur arrangement
about jumping and glanced frequently toward
the pilot, so as not to miss his signal to 90
over the side. All saw was the back Of his
head, whenever the lightning flashed.
HE motor purred smoothly on-"4O0 horses
nickerng out in 'front.'" as have heard
it expresssd-and to me it was the sweetest
music one could wish for. We did not lose
enough altitude to be in danger and, fortu-
nately the motor did not quit before we ran
out of the storm, so the signal to take to the
parachute never came.
At 11:35 we came out of the storm cloud,
found ourselves at an altitude of about 5000
feet, and started circling around in an en-
daavor to locate Lieut. Q's plane Finding 70
trace of it, we turned northward There were
some broken clouds above us, and, while the
visibility ahead was good, the air was still very
bumpy. Five minutes later we sighted VIII
mington, Del. The lights of the city were
clearly visible, but dense storm was apparent
to the north Swinging southwark Capt. NJ.
located the Bel!anca Aircraft Factory and field
at New Castle, Pa.
Several bursts of the gun" aroused the
watchmen at the factory and they turned on
the food lights, which, however, did not
illuminate the field sufficiently to warrant an
attempt at landing. The wind cone was not
visible, so the pilot released parachute fare,
This flare not only served to illuminate the
field brightly, but by watching its drift it was
- -.
rection. A few moments later Capt. NJ REQ
leased second flare and then effected safS
landing.
AS we TAXED up to the line in front of the
Bellanca factory building we were greeted by
the watchmen and several other persons who,
hearing the roar Of the airplane motor, had
driven by auto, post haste, a distance of sew
eral miles to the flying field to lend whatever
assistance they could
They gathered together broken wooden
boxes, paper, ETC., in a frantic effort to build
a bonfire on the field to increase the lighting
facilities and thus aid us in making a safe
landing A United States postal agent had
rushed out to the field to meet us, under the
assumption that mail plane was having O
forced landing and would require the transfer
of its mail to the New Castle railroad station
for shipment on the next train.
With the assistance of our willing heIpery
the plane was staked down and otherwise pre-
pAsed for any storm that might come during
the remainder of the night.
Reporting our landing to Boiling Field over
the telephone, Capt. M. and proceeded to
watch the weather for the next couple of hours;
in the hope of being able to continue our
flight that night. Our vigil was in vain, for
it soon began to RAIN and at 2 am q solid
bank OF rain was visible to the north of us.
extending apparently from the coast inland
for many miles. 1t was during the lightning
flashes that we could see the rain falling. and
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