Famous Flyers Part 11

"Well, this was the ocean that the Lindberghs were going to cross. And they crossed it. On Friday, August 14th, they started out. They were the first to cross by that route, blazing a new aviation trail. For half an hour there was silence. Then the St. Paul Naval station in the Pribiloffs made the first radio contact. Anne Lindbergh signaled that everything was all right, the weather was good, and the flying fine.

Every half hour the station sent out signals, and gave directions, because up north there, so near the magnetic pole, a regular compa.s.s is thrown way off.

"St. Lawrence Island was the first land in their path; then from St.

Lawrence to Cape Naverin the route was over water again, about 250 miles. Finally the radio operator got the message that they'd sighted Cape Naverin, and that everything was O. K. They got to Karagin Island early in the morning. And that means they flew over 1,000 miles in less than 11 hours. Which is some flying over that treacherous route.

"The Lindys stayed at the Island for just a little while to rest up, and then took off for the southern end of the Kamchatkan Peninsula, for Petro-Petro-" Bob paused, embarra.s.sed. "Say, what's the name of that place at the southern end?" he asked.

Bill felt called upon to answer. "Petropavlovsk," he said.

Bob tried it. "Petro-Petro-what?"

"Petropavlovsk," repeated Bill.

They all tried it then, with varying degrees of success. Finally Bob got it. "Petropavlovsk," he said proudly, and was able to go on with his story. "It was an easy flight, and they made it in about four hours. But Nemuro was next.

"Nemuro's on the tip of Hokkaido Island, and to reach it the Lindberghs had to fly across the Kurile Islands, the worst fog trap in the world.

There's a warm j.a.panese ocean current that flows up here and hits the cold arctic blasts, so that there are sudden fogs that you can't possibly see through. And besides, there are volcanic peaks that stick their peaks up but of the water. Some are dead and some are alive, but they're all pretty bad news for an airplane if it happens to come in contact with one of them.

"The start was pretty good. The sky was clear, and the visibility good.

But they should have known better than to trust such luck. They'd been out about 500 miles when a thick blanket of fog came up from nowhere and wrapped them around. A minute before they'd been able to see Muroton Bay, but when they turned back, it had disappeared. There were two things for them to do, and neither one pleasant. They could either fly on in the fog, and risk hitting a peak or losing their course, or land in the water. This was hardly better than going on, because the currents are very dangerous around there, and their plane might easily be capsized. But they decided that it was better to land. They landed on the sheltered side of a place called Ketoi Island, and put their radio to work sending out an S.O.S.

"It didn't take long for somebody to get to them. The j.a.panese government ordered two s.h.i.+ps to Ketoi to help them. One was the s.h.i.+mus.h.i.+ru, and it stood by all night, while the Lindberghs spent the night doubled up in the c.o.c.kpit of their plane. They stood by because of the danger. You see, the island is pretty wild, and is inhabited by Hairy Ainus, who live in caves. They're white people, and they're supposed to have lived all over j.a.pan once, but they're not very pleasant to have around, especially if you're unprotected. But with the j.a.panese s.h.i.+p standing by, the Lindberghs were safe.

"In the morning the s.h.i.+p towed the Lockheed Sirius to Muroton Bay, and while it was sort of quiet, Lindy fixed up a wet spark plug and they were s.h.i.+p-shape again, and raring to go. But the fog wouldn't lift.

Finally it seemed to lift, and they started off.

"When they got to the island of Iturup a thick fog came up from nowhere and cut off their visibility again. Then a radio message told them that the safest place to land was at Shana, so at Shana they landed. And at Shana they stayed, too, grounded by the fog. But finally the fog lifted, and they were able to get to Nemuro.

"Tokyo next. And Tokyo was glad to see them! There were over 30,000 people at the airport when they landed. The Lindys were just as popular as ever, and just as much the good will amba.s.sadors as ever. They were taken all over Tokyo, ate with chopsticks, lived through a little earthquake, and did as the j.a.panese did generally.

"Lindbergh told the j.a.panese people what he had set out to do, and that he hoped that there'd be a regular airplane route between j.a.pan and the United States. He said that he thought the route would be from the north, too, but a little south of the one that he and Anne had taken.

"j.a.pan liked the Lindberghs, but they had to leave, bound for China.

That was in September. j.a.pan and China hadn't decided yet to go to war, but things were pretty bad in China, anyway. The Yangtze Kiang and the Hwai river had overflowed and flooded hundreds of villages and cities.

Together they'd covered about 1,000 square miles of land, so you can imagine in what sort of condition China was then. Everything that goes with flood had come to China too, including starvation and disease. The Relief Committee was doing all that it could to help the inland people, but it couldn't do much, because there was no way of communicating with them, and of finding out who needed aid, and what towns had been flooded.

"As soon as Lindy landed in Nanking, he volunteered to help the Chinese government by making surveys of the flooded land. The government accepted his offer, and Lindy flew over the country, making reports of districts that were under water. He found a lot of places that no one knew about, and did wonderful work. At one place he landed on the water in a village that was completely covered. He had a doctor and medical supplies with him, but the poor Chinese thought that he had brought food. They paddled over to the plane, grabbed the supplies and tore them to shreds, looking for something to eat. Lindy and the doctors took off as soon as they possibly could. As a result of this, Lindy advised that all supplies should be brought by armed guards, and that food was the most urgent need at the moment. Because of the good work that he did, the President of China gave Lindy another medal to add to his collection, the Chinese Aviation Medal.

"In October the Lindbergh's trip was suddenly cut short, in the first place, by an accident that might have proved pretty serious. The Colonel, Anne, and a doctor were setting out for a survey of the Tungting Lake district, and were to take off in the Yangtze. But just as they were about to leave the water the current caught one of the wings, and it crumpled up. The plane turned over, and threw them all into the river. They were all weighed down by their heavy suits, and could easily have drowned, but they were pulled out of the water. The Lockheed was pulled up on board a British carrier, and Anne and Lindy decided to go to Shanghai with it and wait while it was being repaired.

"While they were on board the Hermes, the aircraft carrier, they got word that Dwight Morrow, Anne's father, had died. This meant that their trip was over, since they had to get back to the United States as quickly as possible. They took a steamer to Vancouver, and then flew across the country to Maine."

"From then on the Lindberghs dropped out of the news, because they wanted to. And they didn't figure in the news again until that terrible day when their baby was kidnapped. That was on March 1st, you remember.

But in spite of everything that's happened, Lindy is carrying on, and so is Anne Lindbergh. They're still the country's most loved couple.

"Lindy's still working hard at aviation, and trying to make the world aviation conscious. That's what he says his aim is, and that's what he makes his trips for. He wants people to get so used to airplanes that they'll ride in them just like they ride in automobiles, without thinking twice about it. He hasn't had any serious accidents, because he's always careful that everything's in perfect order before he starts on a flight. That's part of his program. He wants to make people see that if you're cautious enough, flying isn't dangerous.

"I think that Lindy's succeeded in what he's tried to do. The world, and especially the United States was never more interested in aviation than in the year that Lindy flew across the Atlantic. That made them sit up and take notice. 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.

"And besides that, he's as modest as they come. Of course, that's an old story. Everybody knows that. But it still strikes me as pretty marvelous that a man can make a big success when he's only 25, and then go on as though nothing had happened, sticking to his work, only working harder than ever. If anybody gets my vote, it's Lindy, even if he was running for President, and I was old enough to vote." Bob stopped. "Well," he said then, "I guess that's the end of my story."

It was pretty late. The moon had gone down, and the garden was dark, with the four men making four mounds of deeper black where they sat.

Suddenly a light in the house switched on, sending out a stream of light that picked out Bob, his hair tousled, his eyes blinking in the sudden glare.

Hal started. "It must be late," he said anxiously. "I'd better be getting on. The night air-I shouldn't have stayed so long."

The screen door of the house slammed, and a figure approached, then down the garden walk, strangely burdened.

"Hang around," said Captain Bill, starting up. "This is going to be interesting." He hurried down the path and met Bob's mother, whose strange burden turned out to be a tray with gla.s.ses and a covered dish.

He took the tray from her. "You can't go now," he called to Hal. "Look what we've got." He set the tray down, and lifted the napkin from the plate. "Home baked cookies," he said, and took one. "You should have joined our group sooner," he said to his sister, between bites.

"Because I brought cookies, I suppose, if for no other reason," she said with a laugh.

"Why, Meg, you know that you'd be welcome even without cookies. You should have been here to hear your son and my nephew tell a grand story in a grand way."

Bob felt himself blus.h.i.+ng in the dark. Praise from Bill was rare and much sought after. "Aw," he said, "it wasn't anything."

"It was a good yarn," said Bill, emphatically.

"If it was a good yarn, then he's your nephew, all right," said Mrs.

Martin. "There was never anybody like you for yarning. And good ones, too."

Captain Bill laughed, and took another cookie. "If I can tell stories the way you bake cookies-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Hal had been standing nervously at the edge of the group, waiting for a chance to break in. Now he broke in, chance or no chance. "I've got to go, really I do," he said. "My mother will be worried. Thanks a lot for everything. Goodnight." He broke into a run, and disappeared into the darkness.

Captain Bill looked after him. "Say, what's the matter with Hal? What was his hurry?"

Bob was a little embarra.s.sed. 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."

"That's why I turned out so well, isn't it, Mother?" said Bob.

His mother laughed. "Oh, I don't know about you. You must be the exception that proves the rule."

Bill spoke suddenly. "There ought to be something done about Hal," he said. "I like that boy. He's got the stuff there, but he needs something to bring it out. How about it, Bob?"

"I think so, Bill," said Bob, pleased that Captain Bill had seen so much in his friend. "I've been trying to help Hal, and I think that he's getting much better than he was, don't you, Mother?"

"I have noticed an improvement," said Mrs. Martin.

"There'll be more before I go home," said Captain Bill.

"Don't hog the cookies," said Pat, making his first, but most important contribution to the conversation. But Pat, though he had said nothing, had thought a lot.