Jack Wright

“ But anybody who has navigated a plane by dead reckoning knows that it was a feat that called for great skill.
“Nobody was prouder of what Byrd and Bennett had done than the men who had worked so hard to make the trip a success, and who had stayed behind at Spitzbergen, without glory or reward except in knowing that they had been a necessary feature in the success of that journey. The whistle of the Chantier blew a shrill whistle of welcome. The men ran to greet Byrd and Bennett, and carried them in triumph on their shoulders. ”

“ His first impulse was to pull up on the stick, in order to bring up the tail. Then some glint of reason came through his terror, and he remembered Pat’s warning that this was the last thing he should do to pull himself up. But what had Pat said? He couldn’t remember. Then suddenly it came to him. Push forward on your stick! With an effort he made himself push forward. The Marianne gave a convulsive shudder. But the action had taken her out of her spin. With a feeling of unutterable relief Hal felt her come out of her spin and go into a glide. He looked over the side of the plane. ”

“ He handled his plane like a toy, doing rolls, tail spins, and every kind of stunt imaginable. But the most exciting thing that he did, and it usually isn’t an exciting thing at all, was landing his plane. He could land on a dime, and as lightly as a feather. That’s really piloting, isn’t it, Bill?”
“You bet,” said the Captain. He was sprawled out on his back, enjoying his after dinner rest. “A landing will show you your flyer’s ability every time. Provided, of course, that he has a fairly decent landing field. Did I ever tell you the story that Hawks tells in his autobiography? ”

“ And perhaps—well, Hal could not dare to hope—perhaps she would approve more of his going on a trip with these men if she knew how splendid they were. But then Hal shuddered. They were going to fly to the mountains. And he was never going to fly in a plane again. He felt that he would rather do anything in the world than put himself in a position again where he might experience the awful horror of feeling himself going into a nose dive.
They let Hal off at his home. When Bob and the Captain were alone, Bob asked why Bill had thought of inviting Hal’s mother to hear his story that night. ”

“ Opinion was in favor of a single-motored plane for a cross-Atlantic flight, since a single-motored plane would have a greater cruising range; offer less resistance in the air; and be less complicated to handle than a multi-motored craft. But Byrd held out for the tri-motor, the same type of plane as the Josephine Ford, which had carried him over the Pole. There was this to say for it: if one motor stopped, the other two would still function; and it might be the solution to the problem of what kind of plane would cross the Atlantic in the future, when planes ran on regular schedule. ”

“ Of course, she is interested in the progress of aviation. Everybody who flies has this interest at heart—but the love of adventure is uppermost in her mind when she makes her record flights.
“It was that that sent her across the Atlantic, through storms and sleet and fog, with no thought of turning back, in spite of decided defects in her motor that threatened to land her in the middle of the ocean and send her to certain death. ”

“ Have you ever built a plane? A model, I mean?”
“Have I? Dozens. One of them flew, too. You’ve got to come up to my workshop and see them,” said Hal eagerly. “I read every new book that comes out. I think that airplanes are the greatest thing out.”
“You’ve got to see my models, too. I made a Spirit of St. Louis the year that Lindy flew across the Atlantic. Of course it isn’t as good as my later ones. Say, we’re going to have a swell time, aren’t we?” At that moment Bob knew that he and Hal were going to be good friends. ”

“ The United States was way behind Europe in air service, but since it perked up and got interested in what could be done, why, its been getting ahead by leaps and bounds.
“And we mustn’t forget that the most important thing about Lindy is that he was born with wings. He wasn’t made a flyer, he just was one. I’ve seen him give an exhibition, when we went to see the air races, and golly, you could tell his plane from anybody else’s in the world. He handles it so easily, and takes it off like a thistle and brings it down like a feather. A plane’s just part of him. ”

“ Although I don’t much fancy the riding on cushions, in a fancy plane. When I fly, I want to fly. But if you let me do the piloting, I’ll make the best of that.” Pat always decided things that way, but nobody resented his high-hand manner, since he looked, and was, the sort of man who could make good on any job he undertook. “Well, Bob, my lad,” he said, turning to the boy, “how about going up? It’s the first step in learning to fly. And don’t think that it’s going to be like cabin flying. You’ll notice the difference when you get up. ”

“ But Dick Byrd stayed modest through all of it. In the first place, he never gets fussed. He isn’t a southern gentleman for nothing. And in the second place, he realized that the shouting wasn’t so much for him as it was for the thing that he did. He had brought the United States the honor of sending the first men over the Pole. And the United States was applauding the deed, not himself. But he seems to have forgotten that if it hadn’t been for his years of planning, striving and struggling the deed never would have been accomplished. ”

“ The new planes are great to fly. You two are going to have a grand time. I’d rather fly than travel any other way. But I don’t think that it would be quite the thing to suggest to my wife now that I would rather fly to Europe with her than take the boat. So old Hank will be a land animal this time. Or rather, a water animal, instead of a bird.”
“A sort of—fish?” laughed Bill.
“Shut up, you,” said Hank. “Now, listen, how about that offer of my cabin and my plane for your vacation? It’ll be a grand trip, and I guarantee that you’ll like the cabin on the mountain. ”

“ He hated to talk disloyally about his friend, but he felt that Bill ought to know. “I guess he’s afraid to be out so late alone. You see, Hal’s pretty much of a baby yet. He’s afraid of a lot of things he oughtn’t to be afraid of, and he’s always afraid that his mother’s worrying about him.”
“I think that it’s his mother’s fault,” said Mrs. Martin. “She’s pampered him and spoiled him until he can’t do a thing or think for himself. She just didn’t know that the best way to rear a boy is to give him plenty to eat and a place to sleep and let him take care of himself.” ”

“ And besides, there was the fact that crossing the Atlantic would make people sit up and take notice that flying wasn’t as dangerous as they thought. If a man could fly all that distance in a plane, maybe planes weren’t the death traps that some people had an idea they were. Lindy must have been thinking of this when he first decided that he’d like to try for the Orteig prize. Because everything that he’s done since his flight has been to get people interested in aviation. ”

“ Dozens of lives had been lost in unsuccessful trans-oceanic flights—the lives of young men full of the love of adventure, who made hasty plans, or no plans at all for spanning the ocean—who had no qualifications except a great ambition to see them through the great grind that was before them. Byrd wanted to show all fool-hardy young flyers that care, care, and more care was needed in their preparations. He had to prove to the United States, too, that if care were exercised in these flights, they were not necessarily dangerous. ”

“ Byrd’s a leader. No matter where he has come in contact with men, he has won their love and respect, and has got more work out of them by his kindness and gentleness than anybody else could have by slave-driving. They worked for Byrd because they liked to, not because they had to. He imbued them with his spirit of adventure, so that every man of them was determined that his expedition should be successful, and that Byrd should be the first man to fly across the Pole.
“One of the hardest jobs of all was packing down the snow into a hard, smooth runway for taking off. ”

“ Dick Byrd was never a robust man. He had the physical handicap of a bad ankle to overcome, and his general build has always been slight. He is not the huge, strapping hero of story-book fame; he was the little Napoleon with a great determination that outweighed any physical weakness. A man doesn’t have to be big to get places. A little fellow, if he wants to badly enough, can accomplish a lot.
“And Dick Byrd certainly wanted badly to go to the Pole. Even when he was a kid in school, it was his ambition to be the first man to reach the North Pole. ”

“ The flight had taken in all just twelve seconds, but the Wrights had flown.
“I suppose you’ve seen pictures of that first plane. It wasn’t much more than a box in shape, a biplane, with no cockpit at all, just the wings held together by struts, and a seat in the center for the pilot. A man had to be tough to fly one of those planes. The wonder is that any of them escaped with their lives. They had to sit up there exposed to all the elements, and pilot the clumsy planes. And yet they grew into skilful and expert pilots, and could loop the loop and figure eight in them! ”

“ Pat had gone over to the plane to look it over. “It seems all right,” he said, turning off the motor that he had tested. “But there must have been a bit of dirt in the line leading from the gas tank. You had a lucky escape, lad. It was quick thinking that you did up there. I’m proud of you.”
But Captain Bill saw that Hal was in no mood for praise. He knew, too, that the best cure for the boy was to take him right up again into the air, so that he would have no time to develop a phobia against going up. ”

“ Old Hank never was that fat. Never had an ounce of fat on him. All skin and bone. But you never can tell, eh, boys?”
“You’ll be getting there yourself, some day, be careful,” laughed Bob.
John Headlund, delighted to see Captain Bill, jumped up from his desk, and pumped his hands up and own. “If it isn’t the Captain! Man, it’s great to see you again!” Headlund and Bill had flown together in France, and although they had kept in touch with each other a few years after they had returned to America, the press of business had kept them apart, and they had not seen each other for years. ”

“ He just went ahead and flew it.”
“It wasn’t as easy as all that,” quietly remarked Hal.
Bob turned to him. “Of course not. Lindy had planned every move that he was going to make. He was prepared for anything. That’s why he’s always so successful. He has his plans all laid before he ever takes off. He’s got all the courage in the world, but he’s not reckless.”
“Put that under your hat, my lad. It’s a good lesson to know by heart when you’re going into the flying game.”
“You bet,” said Bob. “Gee, it needed a lot of courage for him to make that take-off. ”

“ She has even his modest nature, and the ability to win the hearts of everybody with whom she comes in contact.
“The solo flight wasn’t Amelia Earhart’s first trip across the ocean by plane. You remember her first flight, when she went as a passenger on the Stultz-Gordon flight in 1928. She’s the first person now who has ever crossed the ocean twice through the air. Amelia is a real pioneer—she must have adventure and excitement in life—that’s why she gave up social service work, and made flying her profession. ”

“ Finally Pat snorted. Bob and the others jumped.
“Hi, what’s the idea. Is there a story being told, or isn’t there a story being told? Get on with you.”
“It’s no fault of mine, Patrick,” said Bob, looking meaningly at the Captain, who appeared as innocent as a lamb. “I’m always being rudely interrupted. But I’ll go on. Where was I?”
“The Lindbergh lad was at Curtiss Field, waiting this long time to be off,” said Pat.
“Oh, yes. Well, when he got word that the weather was O.K., he got his sandwiches, his canteens of water, and started off on the greatest flight in aviation history. ”

“ There were new fields to conquer. How about flying the Atlantic? He’d always wanted to fly the Atlantic. Anything that was all adventure appealed to him. So when they hoisted anchor at Spitzbergen after the flight across the Pole Byrd said to his companion Bennett, ‘Now we can fly the Atlantic.’
“The plan to fly the ocean had its origin in the same motives that the North Pole flight had. Byrd wanted to make America aviation conscious; and he wanted to make American aviators conscious of the benefits of careful planning. ”

“ Hal had quite recovered from his afternoon’s experience; Pat had succeeded in getting the Marianne into perfect shape; Bill looked forward to his evening’s plans with relish; and Bob was happy just on general principles, anticipating a great evening, and because he was usually happy. Mrs. Gregg, who often became lonely by herself, was glad of being in such pleasant company.
They went into the garden after dinner, and the Captain, after filling up his ever-present pipe, began his story.
“Well,” he said, “there’s only one way to begin the story of anybody’s life. ”

“ The people in the United States were getting just a little weary of going up in airplanes just for the fun of the thing—they were getting too common. But—there were people down in Mexico who had never seen a plane, much less flown in one, so down to Mexico went Hawks. He gave. Mexico plenty of thrills, and Mexico gave him some, too. The country was unsettled at the time, upset with revolutions. Hawks got a job flying a diplomat from Mexico City to his ranch, because they’d be safer in the air than going by automobile through the mountains. ”