Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours

en

necks were sensitive receivers for transmitting the throat vibrations that accompany speech. At about six o'clock Alcock discard

h of wind, and my previous observations. The wind varied quite a lot, and several times the nose of the

lips of paper torn from my notebook. The first of th

transmitter was useless: "Wireless gen

og, which shut off the sea completely. My scribbled comment to the pilot at 5:45 was: "I ca

us with a loud, rhythmic chattering, rather like the noise of machine-gun fire at close quarters. With a momentary thought o

n organ pipe. It became first red, then white-hot; and, softened by the heat, it gradually crumpled up. Finally it was blown

e prominent than the normal noise of a Rolls-Royce a?ro-e

to accept it as a minor disaster, unpleasant but irremediable. Very soon my

fortable when I first observed that a little flame, licking outward from the open exhaust, was playing on one of the cross-bracing wires and had

we made it in silence; for, shut off as we were from sea and sky, it was a very lonely affair. At this stage the spreading

h a layer of clouds on the two thousand foot level. Alcock wore no goggles, by the way, an

higher, at five thousand feet. We thus remained cut off from the sun. Still guided only by "dead reckon

on by finding our correct position. At 7:40 I handed Alcock the following note: "If you get above clouds we will get a good fix

then registering t

rking order. No message came for us, however, and the only sign of life was when, at 7:40, I hear

e felt so inclined. It was curious that neither of us felt hungry at any time during the

about 7:30, and, deciding that Alcock must need nourishment, I passed him two sandwiches and some chocolate, and unc

pleasantly, projecting the shadow of the Vickers-Vimy on to the lower layer, over which it d

indicated by "dead reckoning." From this I deduced that the strength of the wind must have increased rather than fallen off, as had been prophesied in the report of the meteorological expert

king between the port wings. I made use of the spirit level, as the

ng note to Alcock: "Through a rather bad patch I have just made our ground speed 140 knot

ht 4,000 feet. Dense clouds below and above. Got one sun observation, which shows that dead reckoning is badly

through them before the stars appeared; and at nine-thirty, when the light was fading, I scribb

ticeably. Between the layers of cloud the daylight, although never very good, had until then been strong en

ce of the compass clear in the dark, all the other fixed instruments being luminous in themselves. For my

d it became more and more difficult to judge how near to or how far from them we were. An entry in my log, made at 10:20,

t still we found clouds above us; and we continued to rise, so as

seen outside the cockpit, except the inner struts, the engines, the red-glowing vapor ejected

t of the moon, the Pole Star, and other

Posi