CHAPTER VII
A QUEER LANDING
"Now don't get nervous," said Captain Grantly to Dick, with a grimsmile, as the young millionaire took his seat in the place provided forthe third occupant of the biplane.
"Well, I'll try my best," answered Dick, smiling ruefully. "Am I to doanything?"
"Not a thing," Captain Grantly assured him. "Just sit still; that'sall."
Dick rather wished he could have gone in the other machine, for he hadno liking for the surly lieutenant with the captain. But Dick had beenassigned to this craft, and military rules prevailed at Kentfield. Youdid as you were told without question.
Dick took his place, and watched with interest the operations ofCaptain Grantly and his lieutenant. Whatever one thought of thelatter, personally, it must be admitted that he knew his business whenit came to airships. In some matters even his superior officer,Captain Grantley, deferred to the judgment of Larson.
"You won't have to do a thing," went on the lieutenant to Dick. "Justsit still, and, above all, no matter what happens, don't touch any ofthe wheels or levers."
"No, that might wreck us," added the captain.
"We'll manipulate the machine, at the same time telling you, andshowing you, how to do it. In time you will run it yourself, with uslooking on, and I believe it is the intention of Colonel Masterly tohave you cadets finally operate a machine on your own responsibility."
"I hope I may learn to do so," spoke Dick, "for I'm going to have acraft of my own."
"Are you indeed?" asked the captain, interestedly. "It's rather anexpensive pleasure--not like automobiling."
"Well, luckily or not, I happen to have plenty of money," said Dick."I'm going to have quite a large machine built."
Was it fancy, or did Lieutenant Larson look at Dick with peculiarmeaning in his rather shifty eyes. Dick, however, was too muchoccupied in the coming flight to pay much attention to this.
"If you're going to have a machine, perhaps you're going to have a tryfor the twenty thousand dollar prize," suggested Captain Grantly, as hetested the gasolene and spark levers, and looked at severalturn-buckles which tightened the guy wires.
"Well, I have about decided to," answered Dick, looking over at theother aircraft, in which Paul Drew was to make an ascent.
"Jove! I wish I had that chance!" exclaimed Larson. "I'm sure, with mymercury balancer I could--"
"There you go again!" cried Captain Grantly. "I tell you your idea isall wrong about that balancer! Wing warping is the only proper way."
"But that isn't automatic, and what is needed is an automatic balanceror equilibrizer," insisted the lieutenant.
"Well, we won't discuss it now," went on the captain. "Are you allready, Mr. Hamilton?"
"All ready, yes, sir."
The captain and Lieutenant Larson took their places, one on either sideof Dick. Some of the orderlies at the Academy had been detailed toassist in the start, holding back on the biplane until the engine hadattained the necessary speed.
There was an arrangement whereby the machine could be held in leash, asit were, by a rope, and when the necessary pressure developed from thepropeller blades, the rope could be loosed from the aviator's seat.But that attachment was not in use at Kentfield then.
The powerful motor hummed and throbbed, for a muffler was temporarilydispensed with on account of its weight. Every unnecessary ouncecounts on an airship, as it is needful to carry as much oil andgasolene as possible, and the weight given over to a muffler could bemore advantageously applied to gasolene, on the smaller craft.
Faster and faster whirled the big blades, cutting through the air. Thecaptain kept his eyes on a balance scale, by which was registered thepull of the propellers.
"That's enough!" he cried. "Let her go!"
Dick felt the machine move slowly forward on the rubber tired bicyclewheels over the grassy starting ground, gradually acquiring speedbefore it would mount upward into the air.
Perhaps a word of explanation about airships may not be out of place.Those of you who know the principle on which they work, or who haveseen them, may skip this part if you wish.
The main difference between a balloon and an aeroplane, is that theballoon is lighter than air, being filled with a very light gas, whichcauses it to rise.
An aeroplane is heavier than air, and, in order to keep suspended, mustbe constantly in motion. The moment it stops moving forward it beginsto fall downward.
There are several kinds of airships, but the principle ones aremonoplanes and biplanes. Mono means one, and monoplane has but one setof "wings," being built much after the fashion of a bird.
A biplane, as the name indicates, consists of two sets of planes, oneabove the other. There are some triplanes, but they have not been verysuccessful, and there are some freak aeroplanes built with as many aseight sets.
If you will scale a sheet of tin, or a thin, flat stone, or even aslate from a roof, into the air, you will have the simplest form of anaeroplane. The stone, or tin, is heavier than the amount of air itdisplaces, but it stays up for a comparatively long time because it isin motion. The moment the impulse you have given it by throwing fails,then it begins to fall.
The engine, or motor, aboard an aeroplane keeps it constantly inmotion, and it glides along through the air, resting on the atmosphere,by means of the planes or wings.
If you will take a clam shell, and, holding it with the concave sidetoward the ground, scale it into the air, you will see it graduallymount upward. If you hold the convex side toward the ground and throwit, you will see the clam shell curve downward.
That is the principle on which airships mount upward and descend whilein motion. In a biplane there is either a forward or rear deflectingrudder, as well as one for steering from side to side. The latter worksan the same principle as does the rudder of a boat in the water. Ifthis rudder is bent to the right, the craft goes to the right, becauseof the pressure of air or water on the rudder twisted in thatdirection. And if the rudder is deflected to the left, the head of thecraft takes that direction.
Just as the curve of a clam shell helps it to mount upward, so thecurve of the elevating or depressing rudder on an airship helps it togo up or down. If the rudder is inclined upward the aeroplane shootstoward the clouds. When the rudder is parallel to the plane of theearth's surface, the airship flies in a straight line. When the rudderis tilted downward, down goes the craft.
I hope I have not wearied you with this description, but it was,perhaps, needful, to enable those who have never seen an aeroplane tounderstand the working principle. One point more. A gasolene motor,very powerful, is used to whirl the wooden propeller blades that shovethe airship through the air, as the propeller of a motor-boat shovesthat craft through the water.
Faster and faster across the grassy ground went the biplane containingDick Hamilton and the army officers. It was necessary to get this"running start" to acquire enough momentum so that the craft wouldrise, just as a heavy bird has sometimes to run along the ground a fewsteps before its wings will take it up.
"Here we go!" suddenly exclaimed the captain, and as he raised theelevating rudder the big craft slowly mounted on a slant.
Dick caught his breath sharply as he felt himself leaving the earth. Hehad once gone up in a captive balloon at a fair, but then the earthseemed sinking away beneath him. This time it seemed that he wasleaving the earth behind.
Higher and higher they went, and Dick could feel the strong wind in hisface. His eyes were protected by goggles, made of celluloid to avoidaccidents from broken glass in case of a fall, and on his head he worea heavy leather helmet, not unlike those used by football players. Hewas strapped to his seat, as were the others, in case the machineshould turn turtle. The straps would then prevent them from fallingout, and give them a chance to right the craft.
For this can be done, and now some aviators practice plying upside downto get used to doing it in case they have to by some accidental shiftof the wind.
Some of them can turn complete somersaults, though thisis mostly done in monoplanes, and seldom in a biplane, which is muchmore stable in the air.
"Feel all right?" asked Captain Grantly of Dick. He asked this, butDick could not hear a word, on account of the great noise of the motor.But he could read the officer's lip motions.
"Yes, I'm all right," the young millionaire nodded back.
He was surprised to find, that, after that first sinking sensation atthe pit of his stomach, he was not afraid. He now felt a glorioussense of elation and delight.
He was actually flying, or the next thing to it.
"We'll go a little higher," said the captain, as he elevated the ruddera little more. The aeroplane kept on ascending. Dick looked down. Hedid not feel dizzy as he had half expected. Far below him were thebuildings of Kentfield, and the green parade ground. But what werethose things like little ants, crawling over the campus?
Why the cadets, of course! They looked like flies, or specks. Dickwas ready to laugh.
On a level keel they now darted ahead at greater speed as LieutenantLarson turned on more gasolene. Then, when Dick had become a littleused to the novel sensation, they showed him how to work the differentlevers. The motor was controlled by spark and gasolene exactly as isan automobile. But there was no water radiator, the engine being anup-to-date rotating one, and cooling in the air. The use of thewing-warping devices, by which the alerons, or wing-tips are "warped"to allow for "banking" in going around a curve, were also explained toDick by means of the levers controlling them.
You know that a horse, a bicyclist, or a runner leans in toward thecentre of the circle in making a curve. This is called "banking" andis done to prevent the centrifugal force of motion from taking one offin a straight line. The same thing must be done in an airship. Thatis, it must be inclined at an angle in making a curve.
And this is accomplished by means of bending down the tips of theplanes, pulling them to the desired position by means of long wires. Itcan also he accomplished by small auxiliary planes, called alerons,placed between the two larger, or main, planes. There is an aleron atthe end of each main wing.
Straight ahead flew the army men and Dick, and then, when the cadet wasmore used to it, they went around on a sharp curve. It made the youngmillionaire catch his breath, at first, for the airship seemed to tiltat a dangerous angle. But it was soon righted and straightened outagain.
Suddenly a shadow seemed to pass over Dick's head. He looked up,thinking it was a dark cloud, low down, but, to his surprise, it wasthe other army craft flying above them.
"A race!" thought Dick, and he wondered how his chum Paul was faring.
There was an impromptu race between the two aircraft, and then theyseparated, neither one gaining much advantage. Back and forth theywent, over the school grounds, and then in circles. Dick was rapidlyacquiring knowledge of how to operate the big biplane.
"We'll go down now!" spoke the captain, though Dick could not hear thewords. The young millionaire made up his mind that he would have amuffler on his airship, and also more room to move about. He intendedto make rather a long flight.
The deflecting rudder was tilted downward, and the descent began. Theywere some distance out from the Kentfield grounds now, but were headedfor them on a long slant. Dick wondered if they would reach them.
At a nod from the captain, Lieutenant Larson reached up and shut offthe motor. The sudden silence was startling.
Dick understood what was to be done. They were to glide, or as it iscalled "volplane" (pronounced vol-pla-nay, with the accent on the lastsyllable) to the ground.
"I hope we make it safely," mused Dick. But it did not look as thoughthey had been near enough the landing place when the motor was cut off.Dick saw the two army men glance rather apprehensively at one another.Was something wrong?
Dick was sure of it a moment later when, as Captain Grantly pulled thelever of the deflecting rudder toward him, there was a snapping,breaking sound.
"Lost control!" cried the captain. "Wire snapped! Look out,everybody!"
Dick wanted to jump, but he knew that would be rash, as they were stillsome distance above the ground.
"Can't you guide her?" asked Larson.
"No! We've got to land the best we can!" was the answer.
They were right over a little farm now, and seemed to be headeddirectly for a small, low building.
"Something is going to smash!" thought Dick grimly.
The next moment the airship had come down on the roof of the low farmbuilding, crashing right through it, and a second later Dick and hiscompanions found themselves in the midst of a squealing lot of pigs,that fairly rushed over them.