Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-08-24

FORCED LANDING

EVALEV LANDING
Russell Brown drove into Mercer air.
port that morning Just as he had On
many mornings He parked his car IN
the usual place beside the hangar and
unfolded his long frame Of 8 body out
Of It. He walked over toward e long
cabin aarpiane on the line whose motor
was already tuning up. he saw his
mechanics fat and beaming face look
ing out at him through the glass Of the
pilots cockpit. He stopped BY the tip
Of the wing TO listen 70 the motor.
He saw the fine snow dust Of the six
inch fall OF the day before being pick
ed up by the shining disk Of the whiri-
ing propeller and swtried backwards
along the cleaning black fuselage and
over the tail surfaces. He felt the bit
ing cold wind on his face, but didn't
turn up his coat collar because he was
straining to hear any irregularity IN the
sharp, cracking beat of that motor. He
was worried about It. Finally he slow
" and thoughfully nodded his head to
his mechanic. Sounds all right from
here, he thought, as he saw his me-
chanicS hand start backward with the
throttle and heard the tapering roar
Of the motor easing down to the pop
ping tdling beat Of q few hundred
r. p. NJ.
he walked toward the door Of the
ship, ducked his head toward the front
Of the ship and hurried up his move
ments as he entered the icy cold blast
OF the slip stream to reach for the door
knob. With q quick twist Of the knob
and a GREATNESS little scramble ne
jumped into the protecting warm inter-
Tor Of the cabin. He walked up to the
pilots cockpit, waited for his mechanic |
to crawl out and crawled In and sat i
down.
us she stin rough?" he asked.
turning his head toward his mechanic,
who crouched now behind him, looking
over his shoulder.
mo. she seems all right to me" his
mechanic answered. she turns up
full 1875, which is all this motor ever
turnssup I've checked everything and
can find nothing wrong"
"Okeh," Russell said resignedly. you
might as well pull the blocks now. III
hold her on the brakes until the old
man comes"
He waited until his mechanic had
crawled out and pulled the blocks from
in front of the wheels, then he stamped
down hard on the brakes and opened
the motor. The loud even drone In the
frosty air sounded all right, but he
thought it still felt rough. There was
AAQ ioS DcAJ 11AAAAE " LID
though. He knew his mechanic was
thorough and reliable man. If he could
find nothing wrong with the motor
there was probably nothing wrong with
It. 1t was probably his imagination.
Maybe he was getting old. Maybe he
was losing his nerve. Getting fussy
about a little thing like that. There
was no use denying it, The motor tun-
ed up perfectly and sounded all right.
Funny though, he thought, that
should have thought for the last three
ever since this motor came
put of the overhaul shop. that it felt
-ough.
He eased the throttle back and sat /
and waited with the popping Of the idl-
ng motor in his ears. He looked out
If the cockpit windows across the snow !
sxpanse Of the little airport to the little
own Of Mercer in the distance. He
,ould see the smoke curling up from 9
ome Of the chimneys Of the houses on
he airport side OF town. He could
zee the tall cluster of buildings In the
middle OF the business district. Beyond !
hat, on the other side Of town, al I
hough he couldn't see it at the NOM
mt, was his house. He pictured his a
wife. She was probably finished with q
he feeding of the baby now. She was
robably starting her own breakfast. II
after that I'LL
He saw the old man just swinging II
nto the airport entrance in his car.
lie took his idling mind from its wan
ering thoughts and opened his idling III
motor up with a couple Of businesslike III
lurps, which served to clear the motor III
ut from its idling as well as to inn
ress his boss.
The old mans car stopped in little ::
loud OF snow alongside the ship. The
Id man, bundled to the ears, got out
nd got into the ship. His wife was
18th him this morning. Russ didn't #
Ike to see the wife She was nervous
bout flying. He would have to fly the
nip with kid gloves that morning with
en- In it. he hated flying nervous @
sople.
The old man wasn't nervous he had Ia
own in the war as an observer He
nd a lot Of CUTS, as q matter Of fact.
e wasn't an old man either. A man @