A Runaway Monoplane.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 25 September 1914, Page 2

A Runaway Monoplane.

There is a humorous side to life at a flying school. Very quaint and funny things happen sometimes, j One of the most amusing incidents occurred one afternoon in connection with the first free flight made by a pupil who was using a Bleriot monoplane. He was approaching the shed's, having- alighted after a flight and attempted to jump out of his machine and steady it in its run forward by holding its tail. This is sometimes done by expert airmen when they see they have overshot the mark a little in landing and are in danger of colliding with some obstruction. Unfortunately, however, as this pupil scrambled out of his seat and jumped to the ground, his sleeve touched the switch controlling the engine. Previously he had slowed down his engine until it was only just revolving ; but now, by thus accidentally touching the switch he suddenly accelerated it. The result was that j the monoplane gave a jump forward. The young airman's feet j had just touched the'ground, and jhe was preparing to grab the rear part of the monoplane, when the whole machine jerked forward. He lost his hold of the framework. The tail of the machine came forward j and caught his legs, , tripping him lup and sending him rolling over backwards. Unchecked, and with its engine humming round at quite a high speed, the monoplane began to run about the aerodrome, darting this way and that. Mechanics, laughing as they ran forward from the sheds, attempted to catch the machine. Hut it w*as by no means an easy task. A runaway monoplane, swinging here and there, and with its propeller whirling round, is not a nice thing to tackle. The men tried to run behind it, and seize its tail. But it was too quick for them and eluded their grasp. One or two of them did get hold of it, but were unable to check its advance, and after stumbling nlong liehind it a little way had to release their grip. It was such a funny sight that everybody who was present simply roared with laughter. The monoplane looked like a big bird dodging its would-be captors. Hound and round it flopped and jumped with the men streaming and panting after it. At last I joined in the pursuit. The .only thinir Hint seemod possible was to get hold of one of the wings of the machine, and let it whirl round and round in a circle until somebody could reach up near the driver's seat and switch off the engine. Accordingly, I made one or two desperate rushes at the machine. Presently 1 got a good grip of one of the wing tips, and simply held on for all 1 was worth. The monoplane buzzed round and round just like an angry bird ; but i held on and shouted to a mechanic to run in and try to get at the engine switch. This he did, and stopped the engine. With its motive power gone, the monoplane stopped at once-in its mad career-, and stood quiescent. But none of us could do anything at all for some minutes .after. We simply stood and laughed. It was one of the funniest sights 1 have ever seen.—Gra ha me-White in " With the Airmen."