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Show IMPRESSIONS OF TRIP OUTLINED BY MAYNARD AT END OF BIG RACE Airplane Safe as Brooklyn Bridge, He Says; Derby Shows Air Fleet Could Shift Over United States in Three Days. MINEOLA, X. Y., Oct. 18. "From the standpoint of pleasure," said Lieutenant Maynard In oo interviow after landing, I describing hi8 round trip, "wo had quite a bit of it, flying over a number of states and getting into touch with people in different .parts of the country. "Our hardships were scattered over the continent. The first day was not so bad. We were tired out at night; very tired when we reached Chicago on the way to San Francisco. The Aoro club had sleeping quarters for us on the field. They offered to take us into town, but it would have taken us a couple of hours to get back in the morning, so we decided to stay on the field. We didn't get much sleep. We had straw pillows and straw mattresses, and it was not very comfortable. "Next morning we started out and encountered the roughest weather of the trip. We finally got to Omaha and the weather got better. The wind was against us, but we finally made Cheyenne. Chey-enne. We were delighted at the amount of ground we had covered at that time. "It was freezing cold at Cheyenne. We were ready to start before sunup next morning. Four minutes before the sun appeared we Btarted our motor. We were pouring water into the radiator, and some of it fell into the overflow pipes and froze. "The temperature was about 20 degrees. de-grees. We had to thaw the pipes out, and in so doing we thought we had blown the radiator to pieces. We took it off, brought it to town and had it repaired, got it back and were ready to leave by 12:30. "We got to Salduro that night at sunset. Likes Utah Town. "The peoplo there gave us a great reception. We got away shortly after sunrise next morning and made San Francisco at 1:12. Tno enthusiasm was manifested by the great number of people peo-ple that turned out, the congratulations that were freely extended to us and the numerous invitations to receptions that wo received. "The control stop commanders were unprepared for our coming. Before starting the trip, we thought that the ! Rockies would be the worst part for j us. As a matter of fact, they were not at all bad. Over the Rockies, 500 feet above them, we found we could i glide to a safe landing place in any 1 valley. I "When wo got near Reno we had trouble in finding the field. Smoke hung over the city and made it difficult diffi-cult to see. Going out of Reno, we had to climb straight up. "Going from Reno to Sacramento was the most beautiful and most dangerous dan-gerous part of the trip. The mountains were covered with trees and snow. There was hardly room enough to drive an oxcart through. We crossed the mountains at an altitude of about 13,000 feet. "We had trouble in finding San Francisco because of the heavy fog which hung over the city, and were half wav across trip hav befnro wp rlght behind a snowstorm. From Green j River to Rawlins the weather was threatening and from Rawlins to t'hey- enne we encountered severe snowstorms. We were lucky to get by. We went through no Btorms. but managed to go around all of them. At one time we saw two snowstorms ahead, with a streak of light between them. Once a big snowpeak loomed right ahead of us. We pulled up the machine and cleared the top of the mountain by about 130 feet. It was near the spot where Lieutenant Wales was killed. Snowy Field Difficult. j "We made record time from Rawlins to Chcj'enne nnd landed at Sidney that ; might, finding the field covered with Isnow, I don't believe I could have j ifound it if I had not been there before. We left the next morning while it was : snowing, but wo flew out of the storm. ! "At North Platto we met ten or eleven westbound fliers held there by ; the storm. When we were flying from j St. Paul to Omaha tho motor quit without with-out warning 2000 foet in the air, but ' we landed without, difficulty. The first thing we did was to jump out and laugh. I Wo thought we were through; that we I wore out of tho flight. TSe control j commander informed us that tho ma- j chino of Captain Francis had como j down disabled also about ten miles from , where we were at Wuhoo. Wo wired ; to Washington for permission to use the j motor and proceeded to take it out without wraiting for the answer. . "I got a mechanic, who was living there, and we took tho motor out of the machine, the people of Wahoo sup-pbying sup-pbying fall and tackle to help us. After Af-ter the machine had teen workixi on all night we got away the next morning morn-ing at sunrise. The field was only about 400 yards square but the take-off gavo us little trouble. We reached Omaha before anyone was at the landing land-ing field. "We found rough weather after passing pass-ing Des Moines. At Rock Island we met Billy Sunday, Mrs. Sunday and Herman Her-man Rodeheaver. We had pictures taken tak-en together and Billy autographed one of them: 'He leads; others follow.' Crosses Lake Michigan. "From Rock Island to Chicago was the roughest country over which we had to fly during the entire round trip. From Chicago we flew over Lake Michigan Mich-igan on our. way to Bryan, Ohio, to save time. "Last night in Cleveland we got the first good night's sleep we had since starting the return trip. Speaking of motors, I think the Liberty Lib-erty motor is unsurpassed. When 1 landed at Wahoo, Neb., it was the first time that I had been forced down in more than a hundred hours of flying with that motor. "I believe that landing fields should be established all over the country. At Battle Mountain, a town of 500, the people constructed a flying field in ten days at a cost of $10,000. "What the flight has brought out concerning the aerial defense of the country shows that it would be possible pos-sible for a squadron of fighting machines ma-chines to cross from coast to coast in three days. If I did not have to ntop at each control station I think I could have made the trip in two and a half days, flying from daylight to dark. It would be' very easy to shift a fleet of battle planes from coast to coast within three days. This is one of tho most significant things in connection with the race." 'Speaking of accidents he said: "In any kind of a machine there is always danger that the pilot may wreck it. As long as he keeps his head there is only one thing that can cause an accident, that is motor trouble. The airplane is built just as safe as the Brooklyn bridge. The personal element has something to do with the flying of a plane. In time it will be as easy to be a pilot as it is to be a chauffeur. You ask me whether it was worth the could see the shore. We lost about ten minutes trying to find the city, but had a wonderful reception when we arrived. It seemed as though the whole city was out to welcome us. Preaches on Sunday. "I hated to leave there. I talked in a couple of churches last Sunday and had all kinds of invitations I could not accept and was rather disappointed to have to go away. ' I was invited to lunch by the king of Belgium. He was late and I did not have time to wait. I invited him to ride, and he informed me his stay was so short he would not have time. "We had three days in San Francisco, Fran-cisco, and got away about 1:20 in the afternoon on Tuesday. We found Battle Bat-tle Mountain, Nev., about the most enthusiastic en-thusiastic town in the west. "Battle Mountain is the home town of Captain Lowell H. Smith. The whole place turned out at the scEbolhouse that night and they gave a dinner and dance in our honor. 1 did not dance. They presented us with a golden nugget and three arrowheads. W took Trixie, the dog, along for company." Sergeant Klein interrupted the lieutenant lieu-tenant here to remark that during the flight "Trixie kept me company and helped to keep me warm." He said the dog was unusually cold in the mornings, morn-ings, but kept her nose out into the wind most of the time and seemed to enjoy the trip. "We left Battle Mountain about sunrise next morning. We had Bkir"ed Green River going west and stopped there on our way back. We got there trouble. I got a lot ot experience that I would not have gotten otherwise, and I also enjoyed it. Flight Lessons Many. "It is unquestionable that this flight has demonstrated the commercial possibilities possi-bilities of aircraft. It is hardly fair to draw a comparison between this race and commercial flying. I know that after twenty-five hours of flying one 's engine would need attention. I believe the time will come when we can have planes with several motors so arranged that repairs can be made in flight. "The present plane is a development of military activity and everything has been sacrificed for speed. The commercial com-mercial plane does not need as much speed but more ability to maneuver. "I am going back to the ministry after getting out of the army. I in-tencled in-tencled to get out this fall but could not get quarters in time at the Wake Forest college, Wake Forest, N. C, where I have two years to put in before be-fore being graduated. I expect to quit about Christmas time. I would fly after af-ter 1 quit the army if I could afford it. "Before leaving the army I have a way to make a new trip across the country. coun-try. I am going to make a one-stop flight from here to California, making a stop at Dallas, Texas. "I picked Sergeant Klein as my mechanic me-chanic because of his ability. I consider con-sider him the best mechanic in the field." Sergeant W.. E. Klein, who lives in Harrisburg, Pa., and is 27 years old, j has been in the army air service sinco March 30, 1917. He made this comment com-ment at the end of the eventful flight: "I would not want to fly with any- I one except with Lieutenant Maynard. He is a natural-born flier and the greatest great-est in the air service today. He seems to have a natural instinct for direction i also. I would not mind making the ! trip again after a rest of a week or so. " j |