“Two Tough Fellows” Aloft for 10 Days

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 768, 14 September 1929, Page 20

“Two Tough Fellows” Aloft for 10 Days

A Long Holiday in the Air ... Endurance Flying is an Exhausting Pastime a3IGH fever in the high air jjj was w'orse than any j other calamity that might fi have befallen two n tough and adventurH ous airmen. Worse than bumpy air or leaking gas tanks. Worse than motor trouble. Violently ill they became—and there are no doctors in the air. One must go down to the ground for them. But that the daring flyers would not do, though strength of mind and body was at low ebb, and they could not see how they could achieve their objective. But they were determined to achieve it, nevertheless. So, in spite of fever and its accompanying dizziness and pains they flew on above the airport i at Culver City, near Los Angeles, Cali- j fornia. While one slept the other managed their craft. And how they j drank! “It seemed as if we drank rivers of water,” Loren Mendell and R. B. Rf inhart wrote in the New York •‘American” after they had set their ' new airplane endurance record in a refuelling flight—a record since ex- j celled, but without sacrificing a par- j tide of the rare picturesqueness which the “two tough hombres ” contributed to the ever-renewed tale of j endurance flying. “Actually,” they j tell us, “each of us did drink about a gallon of water the first day, and we did not eat at all.” But on the third day after their seizure, the weakness i left the tortured bodies of the men. Their spirits rose. Flying their second-hand “crate,” or plane, the j Angeleno, powered with a secondhand motor, they proved that men as well as machines can stand up under terrific strain. Ever goodhumoured, they threw to their friends on the ground a series of facetious j messages that showed their conii- * dence. “Just keep those good chicken dinners coming up to us and we’ll be all right for a long time yet,” said one pencilled note. They did not. come down until they had been aloft for more than 246 hours, more than ten days. And it was jammed controls that ended the flight, rather than physical breakdown or motor failure. The essential facts of this most sensational of all endurance flights, which broke the previous record, a little more than 174 hours, by more than three days, are many. They can best be presented in this tabulated form, as drawn up by the Associated Press: — Hours in Air. —246 hours 43 minutes 2 seconds. Miles F10wn.—19.760 (estimated). Refuelling Contacts.—37. Oasoline Used.—l.oßs gallons. Speed.—Bo miles an hour. Start of Flight.—July 2. End of Flight.—July 12. Ship.—Buhl air sedan, flown 17,000 miles before flight started. Oil Used.—los gallons. Revolutions of M0t0r.—24,453,Q00. The strain involved in a flight such ! as that of the Angeleno can best be I described by the airmen themselves. ! In their signed article in the New ! York “American” Mendell and Rein- \ hart tell graphically of what they endured, including two days of illness. Thus:

j Our legs gave us the greatest trouble, j They became tired and cramped and ached. We kept no regular schedule of time at the stick and hours of sleep. I We did. however, try to accommodate ourselves to the conditions. When one of ns became particularly tired, the other relieved him, regardless of shifts or schedules. Incidentally, in regard to the last point, we found when we became cramped and leg-sore—ancl that was very often—-we could remedy the condition by rubbing our bodies with alcohol vigorously and supplementing this with a thorough towel massage. After this treatment we immediately noticed a remarkable im- j provement In our physical condition. That is how we used up all the bottles j of alcohol we asked for. Yet when this strain was over, every one and everything were found to have stood up well under the test. The Angeleno and her motor were in excellent condition. As for Mendell and Reinhart, let them speak for themselves, resting in hospital beds, as reported by the Associated Press: “I had no trouble landing,” Mendell said. “It was as easy as though I, had just gone up and was coming down, but the tail was so heavy-that ! I had to hold back on the stick with j both hands to bring the ship down j on an even keel. “Say, what are you keeping me in j this bed for? I want to get- out and do things and have a good time. I’m I not tired at all. My legs are a little! weak, and that surprises me, for I j didn’t think they would be.” Mendell looked healthy and invigor- j ated, but Reinhart had a tired ap T | pearance about his face, and he was not hesitant to admit his fatigue. “We’re all right.” Reinhart said, as! he glanced from his bed across to that j of his partner, “but? we wouldn’t like j to see anyone *else try this thing.i It takes a lot of strength.” “I’m pretty tired, I’ll admit,” Rein- ; hart added. “I don’t want to do any- j thing for about a week but sleep. j “I think about that refuelling, that ! the propeller blast did some damage j to that tail. The motor was perfect. j I never saw a motor prettier j anywhere or any place.” Six months and two days before I

the flight of the Angeleno, the first of the great refuelled flights was completed at Los Angeles by the army monoplane Question Mark, which flew what was then an unheard-of-time of 150 hours 40 minutes 15 seconds. Si?? men were aboard the Question Mark, which for the first time demonstrated the possibilities of refuelling in the air. Aviators have been setting time records since the first days of flying. In 1906, Santos-Dumont flew for 21 j seconds in France. Two years later, Henri Far-man, in the same country, stretched that to 3 minutes 39 seconds. Later that year, Wilbur Wright also flying in France, became the first aviator to measure his flight by hours, staying up for 2 iiours 20 minutes and 23 seconds. In 1912, Fourny, in France, flew 13 hours 17 minutes and 57 seconds. In 1920. Boussoutrot and Bernard, j French aviators,, became the first human beings to fly more than a day without touching ground, staying aloft 24 hours'l9 minutes 7 seconds. In 1921, Stinson and Bertraud extended this to 26 hours.lS minutes 35 seconds at Mineola, Long Island. In 1921. Coupet and Droiihjn, in France, flew 37 hours 59 minutes 10 seconds. In 1924. Drouhin and Landry, in France, stayed in the air for 45 hours 11 minutes and 59 seconds. In 1927, Acosta and Chamberlin pushed the record over the two days’ limit, flying for 51 hours 11- minutes and 25 seconds at Mineola. Long Island. and Edzard, in Germany, flew for 52 hours 22 minutes and 31 seconds. In 1'928, Halcleman and Stinson, at Jacksonville, Florida, made the record of 53 hours 36 minutes 41 seconds, which stood until refuelled flights became the vogue. Since then the laurels have passed to the flyers of the Question Mark, Fort Worth, City of Cleveland and Angeleno.