Air Stories, November 1937 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

AIR STORIES refreshed leader of the morning party came out to play escort, in his turn. It@was work that called for keen vigilance and concentrated attention. Yet as Nobby flew, his attention. was certainly not up to full pitch. He was thinking about many things. And the first, which was Lieutenant ‘‘ Edison ’’ Edwards, made him grin. Even judged by the standards of the Royal Flying Corps, Edison, the inventor, was a ‘‘ lad.’? He had been with the squadron six months now, and had showed himself to be a first-class fighting pilot who could, on occasion, manage a back- seat gun with deadly efficiency. He was, in Nobby’s opinion, one of the most 1 ke- able creatures unhung. Always cheerful, yet always completely serious-minded, the inventive Edison never really seemed to see that anyone was trying to pull his leg. He was intensely hardworking, full of enthusiasm, and had a cold courage beyond question. ‘<T’d make him second-in-command,’’ muttered Nobby to himself as, with a gunner-mechanic in the back seat of his Bristol Fighter, he hauled up to five thousand feet. ‘‘ He’s the man for the job. Couldn’t be better—if only he wouldn’t invent.’’ Truly has it been said that the path of genius is rough and thorny. There had been both rough and thorny passages in the Army career of the inventive Edison. He had designed a patent chair for Nobby’s use in the squadron-office—and it had taken a sergeant and three mechanics fully twenty minutes to dis- entangle their superior officer, who had goodheartedly sat down in it for the purpose of a test. As the harassed Edison pointed out while rescue opera- tions were still in progress, Nobby had sat down too quickly, and without turning the special catch which controlled the chair’s folding up mechanism. It was just the thing for small offices in War- conditions, its inventor said—made so that it could be shut up and put out of the way at a moment’s notice. His superior officer, with both little the same breath ordered the rest of the delighted squadron to put him out of the way by the most painful and lingering methods known to ancient, Chinese torture. ‘‘A second in command must have authority,’?’ mused Nobby to himself. ‘‘No, I’m afraid it’s impossible. The men love him, but he’s always fixing-up comic gadgets and getting himself laughed at. It’s a pity. The time always comes when you’ve got to have real command, and you won’t if the chaps regard you as a courageous but good-natured lunatic 2 Then Major Clarke suddenly gave up meditating on the shortcomings of his in- ventive subordinate, for in the far distance he caught the first faint glints which he recognised as the morning patrol on its return journey. OBBY hauled up still higher, pressed his gun-control to let loose a few shots and make sure that everything was in working order, and instinctively looked up in search of trouble. Then he looked down again in puzzle- ment, for the gun didn’t fire. It didn’t fire for the simple reason that there were no gun-controls where there should have been, inside the spade-grip of the control- stick. Nobby bent down in the cockpit and looked around, swearing softly. He saw an unusual-looking hand-wheel fitted at the side of the office, and gave it an experimental turn. Immediately a Lewis gun, fitted to his top plane, swung round. Its movement, completely un- usual and against all rules and regulations, startled Nobby considerably. For that reason his grip on the small wheel was an uncertain, pulling jerk. The gun fired. Now pointing directly paciwrards. it spattered out a hailing line of about a dozen bullets which came within an ace of removing the back-seat gunner’s head. There was a faint howl from behind, and Nobby let go the control-wheel as though it had suddenly become red-hot. ‘‘Damn that inventive genius !’’ he fingers firmly jammed in a painful gasped beneath his breath. ‘‘ Great position, ordered him to shut up, and in snakes 2 386 COMmNICHOOKXS.COm