Show ia W 1 adventurers club i A death in the air by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter UR featured guest in this thrill corner is marcus thrasher 0 OUR monk of queens village L I 1 N Y mark gets his name on the club roster with an aviation story that is as exciting as it is unusual you know aviators particularly in war time often have am mal mat mascots that they take up in the air with them the mascot might be a pet kitten a dog or even a monkey and after a while the flyer begins to think that his mascot brings him luck and wouldn t think of flying without his live good luck piece I 1 wouldn t be with the b a planes we are getting nowadays surprised if some pilot adopted an elephant as a mascot but I 1 haven t heard about on onra yet have you the lafayette lafaette escadrille that gallant band ot of young americans who flew for france before we came into the world war had a couple of lion ilon cubs named whiskey and boda as mascots captain bill T thaw haw brought them out to the hangar when they were about as big as pekinese puppies and the lions were great pets until they started to grow up whiskey I 1 and soda were fond of chickens and rabbits around I 1 it e a couple of the cubs were perfectly tame and used to run dogs but soon french mess sergeants in that sector began to miss chick ens and rabbits from their supplies the nightly disappearance of the meat was a great mastery until one morning the thieves were caught in the act the pro prowlers ulers were none other than whiskey and soda and when a french soldier tried to take their prey away avay the lions chased him almost all the way into germany 1 I 1 I 1 and soda the cubs now that was the end of whiskey as big as pol ce cc dogs were banished from the front and sentenced to I 1 I 1 fe imprisonment in the paris zoo A year later I 1 visited wh and soda with their old owner bill thaw the lions were now full grown but they hadn haan t forgotten their old friend bill to my horror and to the horror of the spectators and guards walked right up to the cage and putting his hand through the bars began to p t them and the I 1 ons to the amazement of everybody rolled over on their backs and purred like big kit kitt enst bill had tears in his eyes when we left and the two big cats stood on their hind les and etched us through the bars until we ne Ys es appeared in the distance mark didn dian t weep over his uninvited aerial mascot marks story Is about an uninvited mascot he had on his first and only solo flight but I 1 e didn dian it she shel I 1 any tears when he be parted company with his guest not by a darn sight heres how it all happened mark always had been crazy about planes and his greatest ambition was to be a pilot he worked around flying folds felds and studied flying in his hi spare time and looked forward to the day when he could take a solo flight mark alark got his chance when he visited a cousin of his who lived in florida and who fiew his own plane the plane mark says was pretty I 1 i rt A co led rattlesnake writhed up in the cockpit much of a crate but it flew and tints all that was necessary als cousin dian didn t ha have e a hangar but is d to park the plane in a field the way you would a car mark marks s stowaway was a venomous rattlesnake I 1 well sir mark s cousin was a good guy and started giving mark lessons in the air at mark irk caught on fast and finally the day came for his first solo flight mark shook hands with his cousin and climbing into the cockpit was soon off to a good takeoff the plane rose and mark was at last piloting a plane lie ile was nervous he admits because he dlan didn t want to smash up his cousin s plane but I 1 e had no thought of danger to him self until he suddenly felt a sl arp burning sensation in his leg and tin med mediately lately began to feel sick it at his stomach the sick feel ng persisted so strongly that he feared he might fa nt but he never connected it w th the burning sensation in his leg until he felt it aga n th s time it felt as though needles had been driven into the calf of his leg when ulten he be had peael reacted ed an altitude of one thousand feet and felt site safe to do so he glanced down it his throbbing leg to see the cause and what he saw nearly finished him tl TI e hair on his head bead began to rise the plane went into a nose dive and mark fell forward on the controls in a half faint his mascot was a rattles rattlesnakes mark s first solo flight was his last one mark alark sas his sensations were indescribable lie ile has always had a borror 1 arror of snakes and to be trapped in such a perilous position with one of the poisonous reptiles nearly drove him frantic lie he felt like jumping out of the plane from sheer terror but he controlled himself and tried to think he knew now why he was sick the snake had bitten him and the venom from the fangs had gone through his system and nauseated him in a few m he would be unconscious from the poison there were two things he must do get rid of that snake and land the plane planet mark saw the y gi ground aund coming up at him and pulled out of his dive just in time then I 1 ie e off his motor and as he be glided toward a field he griott d his teeth and grabbed tl at snake the feel of the slimy body mark sas was nas horrible but he held on and threw the rattler over the side death and safety were only minutes apart familiar landmarks shot by his neilly dimming eyes the earth seemed to be dancing crazily lie ile felt himself bounced high in the air as the landing gear struck he thought the plane would turn over and crash but he didn dian t care much if it d d he was too s ck to care his head felt like it was bursting and it s throat was torturing him he let go of the controls and closed h a tired byest eyes the next fling mirl mari lei let cillis was a knife cutting into his leg and the doctor gaye gave him first aid ald for snake bite tle tl e treatment the doctor said was just in time and at irk was up again in a couple of weeks but he wasn gasn t up in the air no sir ree that snake bite killed his flying bug and mark chasn t alov flown n since and I 1 don t know as I 1 blame him 6 service |