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The flying monk! The theme is not inappropriate at this moment, when the newspapers are ringing with the Paris-Rome aviation contest and the achievements of Beaumont, Garros and their colleagues. I have purposely brought his biography with me, to re-peruse on the spot. But let me first explain how I became acquainted with this seventeenth-century pioneer of aviation. It was an odd coincidence.
When he had set up the last nut he replaced the little plug in the tank, produced a can of gasoline from the locker behind the seats, emptied it into his tank and drove at reckless speed for the aviation grounds. He was just in time to see a tiny speck on the edge of the horizon. This, he learned, was the Frenchman's machine. He was told that it carried a passenger.
It was here that Anita loved to walk alone. The only objection to the place was that it gave upon the aviation field a place abhorred by all the women at the fort, from the Colonel's lady down to the company laundresses. Anita always turned her face away from the aviation field when she was walking under the pine trees.
Tom flashed through the air so quickly that his speed was almost incredible. The gage registered one hundred and thirty miles an hour! Down below in the grand stands, and on the aviation field, there were yells of approval of wonder of fear. But Tom and Mr. Damon could not hear them. They only heard the powerful song of the motor.
The guests were a badly-scared lot, for the first few minutes, as they watched the ground receding under them through the transparent plastic nose. Then, when nothing serious seemed to be happening, exhilaration took the place of fear. By the time they set down on the tip of the island, the eight men were confirmed aviation enthusiasts.
"But see here, Frank, that chap is nervy, all right, going up with Puss and standing all this racket. A tenderfoot is generally rattled even with a slow flight. He seems to be holding out." "I've been thinking about that," replied his chum. "And Andy, it looks to me as if that fellow must know something about aviation.
It is written that loving the same cause makes honest friendship; but hating the same people makes alliances so delightful that one can sit up late nights, talking. At the opening of the flying season Carl took her to the Hempstead Plains Aviation Field, and, hearing his explanations, she at last comprehended emotionally that he really was an aviator.
He had an intimate acquaintance with all the different branches of warfare, as well as a keen memory for slang and patois. He nourished but one fond hope in his bosom a hope which in moments of expansion he imparts, if he considers you worthy of his confidence. "In four years I'll volunteer for the aviation corps." "In four years? That's a long way off, my lad.
It was Archdeacon who offered a cup for the first straight flight of 200 metres, which was won by Santos-Dumont, and he also combined with Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe in giving the prize for the first circular flight of a mile, which was won by Henry Farman on January 13th, 1908. A history of the development of aviation in France in these, the strenuous years, would fill volumes in itself.
The Allies foreseeing this brought still more themselves, till the numbers were so immense that when a battle between a score of planes on either side took place no one dared venture the opinion that the limit had been reached not while there was so much room in the air and volunteers for the aviation corps were so plentiful.
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