A MAN WITH WINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 36, 11 August 1936, Page 3

A MAN WITH WINGS

AMERICAN PIONEER

ADVENTURES IN AIR

A little more than a year ago a young American' professional parachute jumper became tired of just falling through the air for 10,000 feet and then opening his parachute. So, to pass the time away, he began experimenting as he fell. He discovered that by moving his arms and legs he could actually control his headlong dive to earth writes Victor Burnett i a the "Sunday Express." At first thero wasn't much control---just sufficient for him to rise and fall J .;a few inches in long, undulating j swerves. He continued this new and j fascinating game. A few weeks later |he managed to control his dive so much that he could actually swim in the air, by moving his arms, legs, and head in the same way as if he was in the water. This, in turn, gave him another idea. He thought about it for some time, and then decided to put it into practice. He wanted to make himself a. pair of wings. He knew that no man had ever succeeded in flying .vith his own wings before. He also knew there would be great risk. But the temptation .was irresistible. With a friend, he made his first pair of wings. And, to a certain extent, they worked. That young parachute jumper came to Britain recently. His name is Clem Sohn. He is twenty-five years old. He has been doing parachute jumps since he was seventeen. Now, all over the world, he is known as the Birdman. BETWEEN ARMS AND BODY. Sohn is modest and quiet. He smokes a little, drinks a little —"just beer." He has a soft, faintly American accent. And he doesn't experiment blindly. "Some day, some how, all men may be able to do what I'm doing. From those first experiments, when I was doing delayed, jumps, I got the idea for wings—a real flying surface that I could control in the air," he said. "I spoke to a friend. Art Davis, an engineer. Between us we worked out a pair of wings to go between by arms and my body, and a fin to go between my, legs. When they were open they looked like a bat. ■ "Then came the great day. I went up to the 12,000 feet region and jumped. I didn't know what the wings would do. I was in an untried field. And, boy, didn't I know1 it in those first few seconds. "I watched the aeroplane float away above me. Then, gradually I stopped myself tumbling by spreading rriy legs and opening my tail fin. That stopped me turning over and over, and put me in a straight fall. ■ After that, just as slowly,- I spread one wing. The fall began to stop, and I started flying straight, with a slight roll, and bankins movement, owing to 'all the lift being on one side.' Then I_ opened the other wing. • "And I flew. "I must have .been just as surprised as the people below. I found I could fly straight, turn, dive, climb a littleeven loop. As I became more used to that pair of wings I found I could enlarge my scope, found how far" I could go, when I ought to stop. THE DANGER POINTS. "I Jfound some of the dangerous points, too. Looping was dangerous. T don't often do it now, unless I have to. As I reach the top of the loop I lose speed. And losing speed is nearly fatal. The little aeroplane that is me decides to spin.- Over I "go, head downwards, spinning round like a top. As there are no fixed controls it is very difficult to get out of the SP"l' learned on those first trials that you must catch a spin as soon as it starts or it becomes increasingly difficult to pull yourself out. My first spin scared me stiff, and when.l did get out of it I said to myself: 'No spins, Clem; they're too hard. Oh, boy, that's what you've got to keep out of." And I still don't like them. ■ "I still think the biggest scare I ever had was when I tried to do a flick roll" In that you drop one wing,, turn over, and come out the right way up again Well, it isn't really difficult -m a real aerpolane—if you know how. I wanted to find out how with my own v/ings I started all right, dropped one wing, and started to go round That's where the trouble came m. 1 started to revolve so" fast that'F was around and in another before I knew W«HastilyTehecfced it, lost speed, and began to spin faster and faster. My heart was in my mouth. Down I went, down, spinning so fast everything became a blur. I dropped 5000 feet before I could get out of it. "But those first wings taught m& a lot I fooled around with them for some time, and developed some more ideas to make them more efficient. Then I've gone on and oh, always trying out new acts, learning from the drawbacks of the last. l~ INCREASING SPAN. "This is the first time I've used the wings I brought over with me. I want to increase the span of the wings as much as possible. The greater the wing span the more real soaring I can do Every new set has a larger span than the last. One of the disadvantages is the weight I have to carry. The two parachutes-K)ne in case the first doesn't open—weigh 751b alone. I could fly further if I could reduceMhe weight. "One day I hope to have a big wing span to do it. . . "But with a big wing span there is always the danger of a wind carrying away. I have to-be very careful of that. It is an ever-present danger, even with the apparatus I have now. I have to open the wings slowly because of it. . . "What I do now when I leave the machine is to stop the tumbling fall with rhy tail, and turn it into a straight dive.- Then, one after the other, I slowly spread my wings. Then I soar away, turn, come back, turn again until I am down to 1000 feet. "There I judge my position and open my parachute, floating down to the flying field. I turn by slightly letting one wing in and twisting my feet. "The smoke bomb, that shows ihe line of flight, is let off almost as soon as I jump from the aeroplane. The actual flight is like being in another world. There is no sound but the rushing of the wind past my face and the distinct drone of an aeroplane engine. And if I lose speed the wind dies away and there is no sound at all. "If I look up I can see my aeroplane circling in the distance. Below there is a chequered map of fields and houses, with the aerodrome a bright green patch in the middle. Somewhere on that patch there are hundreds ot little black specks, moving like ants. Those specks are the people watching me. "I feel that I'm my own master Every movement of my arms and legs is obeyed and magnified in the swoops and turns of my flight. Somehow, except that I'm conscious of my flight, I feel like the birds of the air. must feel. I "And I think that every one may have wings like mine, and be able to soar from the house-tops. But there is a great deal of experimenting to be done first." E. Johnston and Co., auctioneers, will sell shop, office, and factory fittings on the premises, No. 70 Dixon Street, tomorrow morning, at 10.30.