Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1919 — FLYING UPSIDE DOWN THRILLS [ARTICLE]

FLYING UPSIDE DOWN THRILLS

Becomes Dangerous Only When Caught in Bank Close to Earth. SENSATION IS DESCRIBED Pull of Motor Is so Strong Aviator Never Knows He Is Out of Normal Position Until He Is Able to See the Ground. New York. —Flying upside down in a bank of clouds or fog, as Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown -found themselves doing on their journey across the ocean, is not at all uncommon or particularly dangerous, Hundreds of aviators who were serving on the western front in the allied armies experienced this sensation time and again in both their sc’outing and bombing work. Acrobatic flyers think nothing of it. It becomes dangerous only when they are caught in a bank close .to earth. As an American acrobatic flyer vyho was serving in the British army on the Flanders front explained to a New York Herald man at the beginning of the last Belgian-British drive: •‘lt's as easy as falling off a log.” He was dwelling romantically on the beauties of flying around in a cloud bank. "Every once in a while,” he ex-

plained, “when you are 15,000 or 18,000 feet up, you will run into a great pile of fleecy clouds that turn the whole world into a fairyland., r lt lies before you, a great ball of downy, sparkling mist. It looks almost real enough for you to step right out of your machine and walk around. Some of these cloud banks stretch for miles, like a great white world. There are mountains, chasms, rivers, lakes and canyons running all through them. Zoom Over the Top. “Just as you come to the great cloud you suddenly pull back the old joy stick and’ zoom down the other side, perhaps into a lake —that is, it looks like a lake. Then you come to a succession of hills or mountains and you go zooming up and ' then down like a big roller coaster.

“Then you will run into a great break in the clouds just like a canyon. The white, fleecy banks rise to the right and left of you for hundreds of feet, with the pure blue sky over you an<& more white, glistening clouds under you. For mile after mile you will follow around in these high walls, just as clearly defined as the walls of the Grand canyon. Sometimes you travel straight away for miles; then you will come to a sharp angular turn and shoot around it in a vertical turn. It is all like a dream and no artist ever painted a more alluring fantasy in white and blue. “Sometimes the canyon will close in front of you and you dive straight into the clouds or you may be going around. Often you will follow around until you lose all sense of direction or balance. You think you will dive down toward earth and see where you are. You push over the joy stick, but the old bus does not answer —just keeps on going and becoming more cranky every moment. Then you know you are flying upside down or perhaps with your body almost horizontal. There is just one thing to do—let go of the joy stick and the old bus will tumble out of the clouds. You may come out finding your head straight down toward the earth, or horizontal with it. Then it is an easy matter to flatten out and travel on. Traveling Upside Down. “You do not realize you are upside down because you are fast in the machine and the motor is roaring tremendously and pulling hard right uncer you. There is no danger when falling out of the "clouds—after your first tumble. It is the first that always makes ft man wonder what has happened to his machine, but as soon as he is out in the clear he realizes what has occurred and he never forgets it, with the result that he is prepared for the situation again at any time. •JAH danger in this situation has been practically eliminated now, for they are making machines stronger and stronger every day, and A they seem tQ be able to stand almost any shock or test to which you can subject them."