Evening star., 1941-03-31

and an out waterproof flying suit.
On my feet were big flying boots
like moccasins, fleece lined.
So far 1 was far too warm and
was perspiring. When Jimmie
finally got dressed we busted our
selves making the place habitable.
We closed over the floor and ar
ranged our stuff around the sides.
We double-checked our parachutes
and Mae West ClifebelD and made
sure we knew how to operate the
rubber dinghy.
For moment I almost felt ad-
venturous.
Put on Oxygen Masks.
Then I laid my sleeping bag on
the floor and put my blankets on
top. An order came from the radio
operator to put on our oxygen masks
and giving the figure to set the oxy-
gen flow. We took our masks off
hooks on the walls and put them on.
The plane had been climbing stead
iy and 1T was now considerably cold
er in the cabin. Even with the flying
suits we were now glad to get under
the blankets and pull up our over
coats.
When thus comfortably installed,
I settled down to read. 1t was very
pleasant up there above the Allan
tic. The plane drove ahead so
steadily one could almost have be-
lieved he was in bed on the ground.
There were no bumps and only an
occasional slight tremor as the con-
trolls were adjusted. The motors
made a steady, beating drone which
was not hard on the ears. They
sounded as though they were run
ming effortlessly and found it mere
nothing to pull Is tons through the
air. We seemed to be in a pleas
ant new world of our own. Unable
to sense the speed at which we were
moving, we felt as though we might
be on little planet moving gently
through space.
Fly Above the Clouds.
The scenery was lovely most of
the way. During the night. North
ern Lights began to play across a
clear, star -flecked sky. On the other
side of us white moon bathed the
wings of our plane in its light. Be-
low were banks of clouds lit up by
the moon and by the Northern
Lights, too, and these seemed to
march with us in ever-changing
parade formations. AS we moved
steadily across the lines of longitude
the scenery would constantly change
as We came over varying kinds of
these cloud formations. At first we
seemed to be flying over what looked
like country of mixed woods, and
of snow-covered fields, but the fields
were strips of cloud and the dark
wood patches were holes looking
down to the Atlantic away below, in
the darkness
Another time we were flying over
pale blush clouds resembling the
Southern seas. Ahead you could see
the sharp, straight 'coastline"
stretching away to the horizon in
each direction and looking like roll
ing sand dunes in the moonlight.
When the sun was shining it lit
up the clouds in lovely gray-blue
pastel effects. Most of the time I
spent alternately reading and look
ing out the window I could see per-
fectly plainly as long as didn't let
the exhaust from my breath through
the oxygen mask freeze on the win
dow pane. So long as 1 watched
this detail 1 could look out the
window like the little boy on his
first train.
Easy to Read in Cabin.
When the scenery was dull or
didn't change I kept on reading and
went through a whole book on the
trip. 1t was easy enough to read in
the cabin, except that one had to
hold the book higher than ordinarily
since ones mask was apt to get in
the way.
1t was quiet trip because these
oxygen masks do not make for
sociability. In order to say anything
one would have had to take off the
apparatus and shout in the other
mans ear. Meantime water collect
ing in the mask would run down
your neck.
In his mask Jimmie was still q
stranger sight than before. He was
still wearing that fur cap. but now
the flaps were down and he was
still chewing gum, which made all
his apparatus jog rhythmically down
and up. Actually at each breath the
bladder of oxygen in the mask swells
and then debates, like something
out of the comics.
After flying some time Jimmie
pocked me in the ribs and worked
his jaws more violently than usual
1t was the sign that lunch time had