Adventure Magazine Cover, June 18, 1921 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

20 feet in the air. With nose pointed skyward it hung for a breathless instant and then, settling slightly, shot over the field. Tex put it in a normal climb and in a minute or two was roosting above the field again, but three thousand feet high. He throttled the motor to cool it after its recent close-to-the- ground efforts and watched the scene below. The field glared almost white in the sun- light, the row of cars on one side looking like a mourning-band along the edge. The serried ranks of toy-like soldiers were straight and motionless and the gleam of their banners in the sunlight could be seen . plainly even from his height in the miracu- lously clear, golden air. El Paso seemed but a stone’s throw from the field and Fort Bliss was but a small settlement as the Fok- ker, even with throttled motor, still carried him higher. The De Havilands had approached the field in four V’s of three ships each, the key- men of each V lined perfectly. They stretched and contracted into various for- mations—from a large single V back to a straight line, then into bombing formation, into a diamond of three-ship Vs. Two-ton ships, going a hundred miles an hour, with no. way to regulate speed quickly but only the choice of diving out of the way if a ship overran—and yet with less than twenty- five feet separating ship from ship—the roaring De Havilands ever held their forma- tion. ‘Tex did not wonder that they hesi- tated to use an unrehearsed pilot, for that precise formation below was a flying mas- terpiece of airwork so accurate, throttle- handling so delicate, that only an expert could appreciate it. Tex, as he waited for his signal to stunt down, was in most excellent fettle. Unless he was badly mistaken, the awkward Mr. Beers would prove to have some interesting suggestions to make when the’Fokker taxied up to the line, and the duel with Dave Fitz- patrick would start.. With a flashing stunt ride in the Fokker before him, and the pos- sibility of Mr. Beers to make life interesting after that, Tex asked no more of the gods for the present. ee He would have been more or less than human if Natalie’s presence below had not lent additional spice to the forthcoming ex- hibition. ‘Tex surveyed the strong, thick- edged wings of his little craft with affec- tionate approbation. Twist and strain that Adventure little bus as he might, it would stand it and the sturdy Mercedes would keep on as long as the gas lasted. Below, the De Havilands swept across the field for the last time, and as the last one cleared the crowd thousands of heads tilted back and the hovering Fokker be- came the center of interest. To ninety- nine non-flyers out of a hundred, aerial acrobatics represent the acme of skill on the pilot’s part; the utmost in grace, for the ship; the most delightfully breathless of thrills for the onlooker. And Tex pro- ceeded to supply the waiting crowd with what they craved. A mere speck against the blue, the Fok- ker went into three successive loops and then without any interval toppled off into a whirling tailspin that brought the little ship down two thousand feet in a few sec- onds. Using the speed of the dive out, it went up and over in another loop, and then fluttered down once more, this time in a falling leaf. Three barrel-rolls, and then a roll and a half that left the little scout on its back. Another loop and four Immel- man turns, all following so closely on one another that to the motionless onlookers the little ship seemed an aerial outlaw striv- ing to shake off its master. The last Immelman brought the Fokker down to three thousand feet. As it flipped over on its back it did not lose speed and dive out again. This time the stick went forward and in a bullet-like dive the Fok- ker shot across the field upside down. It tilted, and twisted downward in the most difficult and daring stunt known to acro- batics—the ‘‘outside”’ or upside-down spiral. In a sweeping circle, with motor cut, it swept earthward, Tex plainly discernible as he hung on his belt, head down. The stunned crowd thought that there was nothing left that could compare with that rush downward, but Tex for the mo- ment was inspired. Ata thousand feet, still upside down, he was over the edge of the field. He pulled back on the stick and in a terrific vertical dive headed downward. The motor was still throttled, but at two hundred miles an houf he literally flashed over the boundary fence and shot along above the ground. Suddenly the ship veered in a terrific skid, compounded of frightful speed and sudden application of full rudder. The ship actually traveled fifty yards, it seemed, sidewise. It veered COMmMICOOC|XS. CONN