| Show lei aj A JL 11 ma or A E M A S IJ S IRI k U R A C Z 09 I 1 M Y r T M BY I 1 FF F F THE INFANCY OP OF THE AIR FA I 1 it was tho the year 1062 IS 62 five thousand foot feet above the hog t of now new york city staunch and sere s a at its aerial anchorage rode the grel gre t pneumatic receiving float of the F flye 1 0 continents australia aerial lino line p n tho the master atri gators room on t ano e float a group of officers were gathor gathered d around old capt martin macmanus roaster master retired the oracle of the una line my word said a young M X A thumbing the leaves of an old history it must havo have been a queer world in those days what days asked captain macmanus tho the days of the land and water era replied the young man ibbe the years just preceding tho the aerial era ive just been readings rea dinga nga reprint of an ancient ma magai gatano lne article the sport of aerial Nayl navigation gation dated 1912 the group of 0 laughed as one man fancy thairl that said one aerial navigation as a 1 I was there at the time said eald captain macmanus macmanua 1 I remember believe me or not as aa you please but I 1 can recall the day when all sailing was looked upon as a sport the captain paused and looked out through the glass wall of the room at a dirty alaska coal carrier drilling her way vay along oa the toot foot level her crow crew staring in bored fashion at the ille city beneath them youre right etwas a queer world in those days and the queerest part of it was that people could find enjoyment ina cut and dried business like this but it was different in those da days 1 ahe you understand lads continued t the captain his ayea on the great belt map of the world on which tiny electric bulbs of many colors moved in accordance with the movements of 0 the lines crafts you see in those boss days people wre were still curious you dont understand what that means since durang overcame gravitation and weve been able to td go everywhere in less ICES than no time weve lost the instinct of curiosity weve seen it all in 1912 the human race was badly afflicted people wanted to see everything they never had seen before for one thing they wanted to seu how tar far a ramn man could fall without breaking his neck what made them look upon aeroplane flying as a sport there was a long time you see me when men actually know whether they could sail the air they were afraid ot of the he air the earth they had bad mastered and the iho water too they had bad no fear of rolling over the ground around at 60 miles an hour in trains and they afraid to go out on the water in boats dut but take them twenty feet up in theair the air with nothing solid under their feet and immediately they began to sigh for home and mother it was lot let me down this Is too far away from the world I 1 was bom on they wem terribly afraid of the gentle air but there was as ive said that instinct of curiosity to drive them on can wo we fly says saya one man to another no says the other why not says the first because were not birds was the answer 1 11 I dont know says tho first lets try it an bed ec then they began to try ahl ah I 1 those elthe the days with the romance in them believe me ae lads you see nothing lire 1118 it in aben uese days people actually could get excited over a flying trip in III the year 1912 or thereabouts the group grunted skeptically what was thoro to get excited about asked a young captain the danger of it said the captain the danger aye bard to believe nowadays but then there really was dauger danger in the prosaic art of sailing balling through tho the air imagine tho the circumstances tan it if youcan if every almo you stepped aboard your boats and started way away a from earth you yogi know whether land on your feet or on your head you bo be more interested in your business than you are well that was the way it was in those old forgotten days 0 ot yore lets try says the adventurous man maji and he went to work and built tho the queerest que creat craft you over ever heard of there are som bome 6 of them antho antique antl que section of tho the aeronautical muse museum um at paris now of cloth and wood imitating tho the wings of the bird and up he goes and down ho be comes 1 I told him he do it said the eke skeptics P after coming home from the funeral its impossible dut but after awhile another man got to thinking about it maybe it cali can be done alter all says bays he and then he goes to work and built ano another therma machino machine and UP uj he went and down he be came and everybody sent flowers and said darn tool too it was a great day for the florists they passed resolutions encouraging the progress of aviation they loved the game well after awhile a more people began to try to satisfy their curiosity about the air and there was moro more business for the florists but after a ti almo 8 somebody I 1 made a machine that M ivo i I ga gave a man about half a thano e to como iowa down right bide aide up after an 4 cc MIR 04 L believe me lads you see nothing in these blase days people actually could get excIted over a flying trip in the year 1912 or there about sill ascent ah then was when the world began to get interested you see before then there had been nothing to arouse the curiosity curlo alty in the fact that a man was attempting to fly everybody know knew what his finish would be there was no novelty in watching what could only end one way vay and that was in the days when the world was young and crazy for no novelty velty but with the coming of the first air machine that gave a man a chance to come cc ma back to earth otherwise than on his head then there was something to feed the curiosity and then was when the excitement grew warm and air ain sailing salling was waa looked upon as a sport yov tot may think from this that people bloodthirsty blood thirsty in those days but on the contrary they had bad traveled far from the days daya of the old roman arena tho romans turned thumbs down dovo if t the ho show was dull but the people of the age of 1919 1912 only fought one another for souvenir pieces of the acro aeroplane plane in which their favorite a vl atar as they called them then had been killed civilization had bad made vast strides the sport of it worked this way soroa financiers under the name of some club would advertise what they called an aviation meet they would offer money prizes for in the daya days when people would do anything for money there would be prizes for the longest flights the fastest flights the highest flights and so on and so forte until there was nothing a man in a flying machine could do that bring him a prize except one thing he ha come down on hla his head it if he did the prize went to somebody relm else I 1 I 1 anar after advertised all these brizen alii and had got go the aviators to gether bether the promoters would hire a field a mile long by half a mile wide and build a grand at stand and around it that would hold a million people more or loss less did they pay people to come and sit for or hours watching a few machines in the air they did not the people paid tor for the privilege lego tho the first day never brought out the biggest crowds people know whether anything worth seeing would happen dut but suppose ono one of tho boys took a tumble or better it halt half a dozen of thern them fell next day tho the police would have to alg fight ht for their lives to keep the fallen g field clear what thoy they called the a space paw where tho the fliers allera landed somo all the gentle and refined people of 0 tho day who had the price would bo be out there waiting for or things thugs to happen the ladies would be there by thousands it was waa before they could vote and they had hadd to find excitement some come way it 1 I hope there arent any of 0 those frightful accidents today one lady would say aay to her friend I 1 so do 1 I 1 says bays the other oh looka theres there ono one of them falling failing now here you dont get in my way I 1 want to see too was your meet a success 1 I says a man to a promoter of the day seven smash ups aastha was the answer we turned them away sport why lads after a suc ceso ful fill flying meet the field hospitals put out the standing room only sign eign those yere were the happy days tor for flop 1101 lots fats and alia doctors you may ask why the promoters ever were able to find men willing to indulge in the sport of flying in those days before durang overthrow overthrew the law of gravitation and made air sailing safer enfer than the crude dangerous danEy roua travel on land or water well lads I 1 can best explain that by a little incident in my own experience I 1 had bad a young friend who became an aviator ile he was a bright young lad and everybody eal cald dho he had a brilliant career before him by brilliant career in those days people meant to haye have reporters bitting on your doorstep waiting for you to get up in the morning and hiding in the bathroom when you went to bed at night it if this happened to you everybody said you were famous and wives asked their husbands why they could ift go and do likewise this young friend of mine tim by name saw that the quickest and tway to become famous was to go up in the air he did lie ho went higher and faster than anybody had gone before and the papers printed his bis pictures all over the front page and he acamo down farther and harder than a any ny man was meant to do and live to tell tho the tale have you any last words to say jim I 1 said bending over his bis hospital cot then jim showed himself a true hero of that age and hla his words explained why men risked their neck in the sport of aviation dont mind me says jim but see that the sunday papers get a picture of the wrecked mach machine ifie did all thela the Inventors take chances by flying their own machines asked one of the audience no replied captain macmanus the wright right brothers they knew too much about the game you ever make any flights fil ilIts yourself captain asked someone captain macmanus shook his bis head bead and winked oh no said he be why im still here copyright by W 0 chapman |
