Evening star., 1940-09-08

pictures were given three and four column
front-page spreads. over captions which -
even for Spanish - were f1Owery.
That heading was conservative which called
her 'the beautiful and charming Queen of the
Air"
Polly did not read Spanish and even if she
had done so, the grandiloquent praise would
not have turned her head, which was set too
firmly on her slim shoulders to be disturbed
by fine phrases. For every word of praise of
Polly Meredith there was another for Great
Basin Air Transport and its mission grand
publicity
General Carval did read the papers, how
ever, and he did not approve of women who
got their pictures therein by doing mans
work.
A girl pilot! A woman's place was the home.
her interests and activities should not extend
beyond her husband and children. There was
something almost indecent in the thought of a
woman understanding the complexities of
aerial navigation, of manifold pressures and
split flaps and of variable-pitch propellors
Still, and in spite of his dislike of women
pilots General Carval was anxious to see the
transport bomber and the sturdy fighting
craft.
He was frequent visitor to the Cero Rojo
Airport where the ship was being assembled,
and himself set the day and hour for the
formal demonstration.
1t was on the morning of that day that
Tacks Malone was knocked out of any pos
sibility of flying. by an attack of acute gas
tritis. The President of the Republic a score
of cabinet officers and senator's, members of
the diplomatic corps ranking officers of the
army and navy, and a few thousand spectators
had gathered at the airport - and Tacks
Malone was fighting temperature of lO2 de-
grees.
JIM VANCAMP came from Malone's room
and found. Polly Meredith in the hotel
lobby.
The doctor says he'll be all right in day
or two," said Vancamp, but we can't post
pone the show. You'd better race up and
change into your working clothes, Merry.
You'll have to fly the RF8."
1t was an obvious decision. With the
audience in its seats. the show had to go on
A postponement would only start gossip that
the RF8 was not what preliminary reports
had indicated and that Malone's illness was
one of convenience rather than of unwise
gorging on tropical fruits
Polly dressed for the occasion in wind
breaker Of soft green suede, white jodhpur
breeches and polished boots, and netted her
hair tightly under white helmet. Skirts have
no place in the cockpit of pursuit ship and
how was she to know General Carvals
opinion of women who aped men by wearing
pants
She put on a good show. Ten minutes of
conservative circling of the airport told her
that the ship was right in all its thousand and
one details. Satisfied, she opened the throttle
and dived to a wheel-touch in front of the
group of officials. A slight climb as the wheels
were retracted and then slow roll = very
slow roll - at less than three hundred feet
above the ground
Out of the roll, nose down and full throttle
for excess speed, and then the stick came
back and the nose went up and the Monsoon
engine screamed like banshee as it hauled
her to six thousand feet in an almost vertical
climb
She knew that Jim Vancamp would press
his stop watch as the climb started and halt
it when she leveled off more than mile above
the earth. Speed of climb was one of the talk
ing points for the RF8