Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

The-two spectators gazed in awe and wonder, as they realized that some strange and terrible force was work- ing havoc with the fleet. They swept both sea and air with their glasses; there were no boats in sight, and the air above the fleet was-free from planes. Only. a few, low-hanging clouds were visible, and above them the sky was blue and unflecked by-a single object. But, while they continued to gaze in amazement, plane after plane: pitched about, rolled over, then dived down ‘to its doom. Nearly all were down and had been swallowed by the sea when the watchers’ own plane developed motor trouble, and they had to glide down. Being without a radio transmitter, they were unable to report at once the mysterious catastrophe ; and only after many hours’ work on the motor were they enabled to limp into Boston. The whole nation was stunned. Out of a peaceful sky had conie sudden death to more than two.thousand men, and destruction to the stanchest air fleet in the world, Every ship was constructed throughout of metal, and was stipposedly capable of keeping afloat ina rough séa for hours. Yet all had been destroyed in a few minutes, and not even a scrap of wreckage had been left to tell the tale. Uncle Sam’snewest and best-equipped air squadron, which our military-experts had declared invincible, had been annihilated within an hour of our coast. But it seemed that nothing could be done about it. No aircraft had been seen above or below the fleet, before its destruction began. Neither had there been visible a warship ora submarine near to husband other planes; and, even though there had been such an agency bent on the destruction of our planes; how could it have accomplished its purpose so swiftly and completely? Nor could the government, through all its diplomats and agents, located in every capitol on earth, obtain any inkling as to the cause of the disaster, Other gov- ermments and the foreign press were very sympathetic and courteous; but all other nations were as much in the dark as and mystified as we. It-was as though an averiging angel from on high had suddenly appeared and smitten the planes. Soundings were made at the point where the fleet was reported to have gone down; but the depth was too great for the work of divers, so nothing was salvaged to aid in the solution of the mystery. After-a few weeks the wrath and the excitement of our nation began to cool; and, as the weeks merged into months the prominence of the affair faded as life resumed its normal course. The tragic loss of the air squadrons was recorded among the archives of the world’s unsolved riddles. Folks now began to doubt the story of the-Boston aviators. Meanwhile the gov- ernmént was:still secretly probing the mystery while it set diligently to work to repair the loss. : It-was then that the whole country was shocked: by a sudden repetition of the dire tragedy—but this. time over the: Jand. : It was late in the afternoon in mid-November. the sky was overcast and: the earth below was drenched by fog banks swept along by a cold; raw wind. The Sixth Air Squadron, comprising more than one hundred fight- ing plafies, while returhing to the home port at Annapo- lis from maneuvers.in the west, was feeling its way through the fog above the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sud- denly radio messages leaped out of the air with the direful intelligence that it had been attacked without warning by an unseen foe; that the planes, suddenly thrown out of control, were pitching about wildly and 488 AIR WONDER STORIES crashing into the hills. And then, as in the case of Colonel Brandon's ill-fated command, communication with the fleet abruptly ceased. The Air Department at once ordered all available planes to the rescue. Since I happened to be in An- napolis on a motor trip I swung out of the automobile on my crutches (on which I was now able to move a short distance) and made my way over to the flagship of the fleet. : “Want to come with us, Mr. Clare?” inquired Com- mander Benson-genially. T nodded and he helped me into the cabin. We were all too much excited to talk as we shot up through the banks of fog and then darted westward toward the Blue Ridge, Although our speed was great, darkness had fallen by the time we reached the vicinity of the disaster. The dreary blackness of the night was intensified by a cold rain that swept. down from the north. Beside the moan of the storm, the slither of the rain across the wings, and the subdued murmur of the motors there was no other sound. But the fog had lifted and we shot our searchlights into the gloom in search of the foe, Nothing but the flare-illumined hills was visible Then fearfully we set the beams of our-lights earth- ward, hoping against hope-and dreading the revelations we knew. were in store for us. Soon-we located the crumpled wreckage of the squad- ron, strewn over the rocks and scattered about over the bushes and among the trees of the forest. Some planes were impaled on tree-tops, some had crashed against hillsides; and. others lay deep and almost ¢oncealed at the bottom of wooded gulleys. CHAPTER II What the Planes Revealed S we dropped down, seeking a spot on which to A land, it was apparent that_every plane had been destroyed. As: before, the work, of the unseen fiends had been thorough. But here, at least, they had left a:clue. Here no sea had destroyed the evidence. Here-we had something tangible to work upon. We finally Janded on a flat space, near one of the crushed planes. ‘The officers, with Commander Benson in the lead, sprang from the cabin and rushed to the wreck. On my crutches I hobbled after them as fast as I could with the assistance of two of the-crew. And then, standing there huddled together m the rain, we stared dumbfounded and speechless at the ghastly sight our flashlights revealed.. With one glance we saw that all the:-bodies of the plane’s crew were in the cabin; none had-had a chance to jump. Two of the pilots still-sat in their seats; their stiffened hands gripping the controls, their staring-eyes-wide and terrified as though death had come unexpectedly, The remainder of the crew Sat-in-their places or sprawled on the floor. But the most appalling thing about them -was their color; the skin of each was a pale; yellowish blue! We pulled up the sleeves of -one and opened: his shirt front. His whole body was blue! But:we could find no wounds, abrasions or burns of any kind. We saw that all had been killed instantly by some subtle and powerful force. Nor did the planes them- selves show any marks of battle; what damage they had received came as a result of the crash. Commander Benson-sighed and looked around with a bewildered stare. I saw that he, like the rest of us, was: completely mystified. “God !"" he breathed at last. “This is awful! And comicbook S.C oebet, bee ? 1) ¥