He was surprised to find, that, after that first sinking sensation at
the pit of his stomach, he was not afraid. He now felt a glorious
sense 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 rudder
a little more. The aeroplane kept on ascending. Dick looked down. He
did not feel dizzy as he had half expected. Far below him were the
buildings of Kentfield, and the green parade ground. But what were
those things like little ants, crawling over the campus?
Why the cadets, of course! They looked like flies, or specks. Dick
was ready to laugh.
On a level keel they now darted ahead at greater speed as Lieutenant
Larson turned on more gasolene. Then, when Dick had become a little
used to the novel sensation, they showed him how to work the different
levers. The motor was controlled by spark and gasolene exactly as is
an automobile. But there was no water radiator, the engine being an
up-to-date rotating one, and cooling in the air. The use of the
wing-warping devices, by which the alerons, or wing-tips are "warped"
to allow for "banking" in going around a curve, were also explained to
Dick by means of the levers controlling them.
You know that a horse, a bicyclist, or a runner leans in toward the
centre of the circle in making a curve. This is called "banking" and
is done to prevent the centrifugal force of motion from taking one off
in a straight line. The same thing must be done in an airship. That
is, it must be inclined at an angle in making a curve.
And this is accomplished by means of bending down the tips of the
planes, pulling them to the desired position by means of long wires. It
can also he accomplished by small auxiliary planes, called alerons,
placed between the two larger, or main, planes. There is an aleron at
the end of each main wing.
Straight ahead flew the army men and Dick, and then, when the cadet was
more used to it, they went around on a sharp curve. It made the young
millionaire catch his breath, at first, for the airship seemed to tilt
at a dangerous angle. But it was soon righted and straightened out
again.
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 was
the 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 they
separated, neither one gaining much advantage. Back and forth they
went, over the school grounds, and then in circles. Dick was rapidly
acquiring knowledge of how to operate the big biplane.
"We'll go down now!" spoke the captain, though Dick could not hear the
words. The young millionaire made up his mind that he would have a
muffler on his airship, and also more room to move about. He intended
to make rather a long flight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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