Adventure Magazine Cover, June 18, 1921 — page 29: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

When Good Fellows Get Together voice, and he turned his head to see a tall, hard-faced man in poorly fitting clothes standing beside him. The man was smiling ingratiatingly. “Peach,” Tex answered. ‘Those boches knew more about building ships than all the Allies put together. This little baby was king of the front for a long while.” “You’re MacDowell, aren’t your” in- quired the man as his cold blue eyes traveled over the stanch little plane. “Uh huh, but you have the advantage of me.” “My name is Beers. Glad to meet yuh.” Tex took his hand and gave his new ac- quaintance a quick appraisal meanwhile. “Heard a lot about you,” continued Beers, whose big hands, tanned face and -uncityfied clothes marked him as an out- door man. ‘That was a good one you pulled off on old Dave Fitzpatrick!” He laughed boisterously and some of the group, which included a few women, joined in. “Entirely unintentional,” Tex told him. Captain Baird approached swiftly in a motor-cycle. “All ready, MacDowell,” yelled the cap- tain as he came up in a cloud of dust. ‘‘Rarin’ to go,” replied Tex, stuffing some cotton in his ears. “The D. H.’s will take off in a minute. Take off right after them and keep the crowd amused. When the formation comes over the field get out of the way and wait till you see them go off north. Then do some more stunts until the formation lands. Understand?”’ Tex nodded and the captain tore away. “Got to get busy,” Tex told Beers, who was still beside him. ‘See you some more.” “Sure!” replied Beers heartily. As the first De Haviland taxied from the line toward the end of the field Tex climbed into the cockpit and the mechanics started the six-cylinder Mercedes. Leaving it at idling speed, MacDowell watched the for- mation planes. In a long line they went to the end of the field and then lined up, noses pointing down the field. They were in per- | fect alignment. Major Walters in number one took off. As soon as his wheels left the ground number two followed, and the others went through the same procedure. Ina few seconds the roar of twelve Liberty motors filled the air with a vast droning hum as the formation, in single file, circled the field. 19 No sooner was the last plane off the ground than Tex was taxiing up the field for the take-off. It was so hot he was flying without coat or helmet, and the sleeves of his O. D. shirt were rolled to the elbow. His eyes sparkled as he waited for the forma- tion to leave the field and get lined up for the exhibition. It had been many months since he had had an opportunity to fly one of the wonderful little German planes and as his eyes took in the crowds he knew he was up to an exhibition that would provide somewhat of a “kick” for the occasion. Pa 8: Jat IN A moment the long line of De | Havilands circled away from the field. Tex gave the sturdy, smooth- running Mercedes the full throttle. Like a bullet the Fokker was on its way, tail high in the air. It looked like a bug beside the great bombers of a moment before. When the wheels left terra firma Tex pushed forward on the stick a little more and forced the plane to stay less than a foot above the ground. As he flashed past the grand stand, where the general and a large party of notables, civilian and military, were sitting, he pulled up in a steep climb- ing turn. Excess speed sent the little ship almost straight up in the air, banking slowly as it shot up until it was actually sideslip- ping upward. It lost speed, hovered on the tip of one wing, and started dropping toward the ground. As it dropped Tex brought his controls to neutral slowly and the ship straightened, tipped the ground with the wheels and shot forward again with re- newed speed. For three minutes the Fokker never got higher than two hundred feet and every few seconds it was scraping the ground. Like a leaf in the wind it hovered, dipped, fluttered downward and always it came level. before the seemingly inevitable crash happened. It was so effortlessly grace- ful that it seemed the ship was a living thing, and the breathless onlookers almost forgot the marvelous judgment of speed. and distance that was responsible for that exhibition. MacDowell’s handling of the Fokker approached perfection as the crowd watched the ship that they could often al- most touch, so close it was. Out of the corner of his eye Tex saw the formation coming toward the field. He dived steeply and then pulled up his ship in a steep zoom that carried it three hundred Clo@@ CN Vp) (© ©