Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

THE BLUE DEMON By the Author of “The Air Terror” <G7a Y plane wasa complete success. Having won @ for our nationa sweeping victory and thus ga ta] catised its adoption by the United States ese} | was intensely pratified. Jealously guard- ing the salient features of its construction,.and. swear- ing every air official and pilot to secrecy, the govern- ment sought to maintain its monopoly of the invention. Although I wast still horribly crippled in body by my fall in the hour of victory, I could endure the hardships of my new life in the knowledge that I had helped save my country. Only one cloud shadowed: my happiness, and that was the disappearance of my old friend, Lon Grand, the man who had made my success possible. Our late enemies had resumed dip- lomatic intercourse with us, and the whole world was again at peace. And then, with the stunning suddenness of a thunderclap from a ‘blue sky, came new rumblings of disturbance to our security. My good friend, Colonel Brandon, who had been promoted to the com- mand of the First Corps of our air squadrons, was lost at sea with eyery ship of his fleet, which. comprised three hundred of the largest and swiftest aircraft in the service! The first tidings of the disaster came by radio to the Air Depart- ment at Washington. It came with shocking brevity. “Weare attacked—half the fleet is down,” was the brief and startling message which came at once from a score of ships on this beautiful summer day. Then there was only silence—profound and mysterious. In vain the radio operators throughout the country tried to pick up further details. Every ship on the sea and in the air, within a radius of five hundred miles, was besieged by frantic appeals for definite news of the tragedy. But none had seen the air. fleet, -Colonel Brandon had reported his-position but two hours be- fore, being then twenty miles due east of Minot Ledge light and going into for- mation for the monthly LOWELL HOWARD MORROW could be found; it had completely disappeared. Yet, since all were seaplanes, it seemed incredible that all could be forced down and leave no trace tupon the sea. One by one, the scout planes returned to their home base. Messages came from all over sea and land that the fleet had not been sighted after that last report to the Air Department. The mystery deepened. Many theories weré advanced, only to be rejected as unten- able. How could-a great ait fleet in the broad glare of day, in perfect flying: weather and during times of peace and security, suddenly disappear and leave hot a trace? Yet that seeming impossi- bility had ‘happened. Besides. the frenzied message to the Air Depart- ment, there remained: not the slight- est token to denote that a major calamity had occurred. All through the night the search went on, and the perplexity and. curi- osity of the nation grew. ‘apace. Everybody knew that it was clearly impossible for a large air fleet, over either land or sea, to be obliterated within the space of a few minutes. The thing was unprecedented and be- yond the pale of reason. So great was the excitement of the people that countless thousands_remained awake, and by every known means of com- tounication importuned the authori- ties for news of the fleet. Yet there was no news to give, A Strange Tale a Rae early the next morning a privately-owned seaplane crept disabled into the harbor at Boston. Its owner, a well-known. business man, and his wife, told a weird and unbelievable story. It seems that they had been cruising at a high altitude at noon the pre- vious day. ‘Their position was a hundred miles east- north-east of Strawberry Point, aud through their glasses they saw Colonel Brandon's ships circle out over the sea and. begin their maneuvers.~ Although the. atr cruisers were several miles distant, the ait was clear; and the movements could be seen plainly, Sud- coast-defence maneuvers. Then came the sudden message, and_ silence! But for the fact that Colonel Brandon’s com- mand failed to answer even their code signals, the Air Department _ would have been inclined to treat the matter as a huge hoax or the miscar- riage of air messages. Swift scouting planes were dispatched from Boston, and the sea for hundreds of leagues around the First Air Corps’ last known posi- tion was searched in vain. | Not a clue, not even a scrap of the great air fleet O doubt, you have enjoyed “The Air Terror.” If you did, then this pres- ent effort by the same author will prove an enjoyable continuation of Mr. Morrow’s ideas. This author has a way to keep you guessing, and to keep your excitement at a high pitch at all times. You are not permitted to relax for @ single second while he spins his tale. Incidentally, Mr. Morrow has evolved a num- ber of brand new ideas which, sooner of later, will be used for warfare, It is becoming recog- nized that it may be-much easier in combat to cripple the engine of the enemy’s plane than to attempt to puncture tt with bullets. Aerial warfare of the future may well be fought over great areas and some long-distance method of bringing down an enemy may have to be evolved. Mr. Morrow's methods of working this out are ingenious, to say the least. None of cheer can be termed impossible or even improb- able, 48? denly the watchers saw a score or more of the planes, scattered here and there among the - fleet, break from ‘the lines, gyrate strangely, then bank and dive into the sea. At once the forma- tion was broken; many planes now began to dart about in confusion, and they saw others falling out of control. For :an instant the flagship seemingly attempted to rally them and restore the line. It was in vain, Rapidly the planes were falling; but there was no battle—no foe of any de- scription was in sight. comicbooks.com . V2... dee ad oer