Air pilots -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories; Reporters and reporting -- Juvenile fiction
The wireless man turned to his printer and began to pound out the
message on the keyboard. But the machine on which he was writing, though
it somewhat resembled a typewriter, was not a typewriter at all, but an
electric printing or teletype machine, which reproduced the message on
similar machines at Bellefonte and Hadley Field and other stations as
fast as it was written. In no time, therefore, these two Air Mail
stations and the caretakers at various landing fields, knew that Jimmy
was flying east in the fog. Thus as Jimmy passed over Mercer and Clarion
and other points on the airway in western Pennsylvania his progress was
promptly reported to his friend, the chief forecaster.
But long before Jimmy reached the “graveyard of airplanes” he himself
was aware that Beverly Graham was making a special effort in his behalf.
When he was only a short distance out of Cleveland he heard the hourly
weather broadcast from the Cleveland radio man. Jimmy listened intently,
though there was little they could tell him about the weather that he
did not already know. The usual, stereotyped broadcast contained no
reference to the wind. That was the one thing Jimmy wanted to know
about. A moment later he heard the Cleveland radio man saying: “Mr.
Donnelly, in the New York _Morning Press_ plane, will please note that
the wind has shifted slightly from west to southwest and has increased
to twenty-five miles an hour. He will also please listen carefully for a
message when he passes over Bellefonte.”
“Good old Beverly,” said Jimmy. “He never forgets a friend. He didn’t
want me to fly tonight, but now that I am up in the air he’s doing all
he can for me. I wonder what he has instructed Bellefonte to do. I’ll
thank him at once.”
When Jimmy’s plane was built it had been equipped with a radio receiving
set. But about two weeks before he was ordered to Cleveland, Jimmy had
succeeded in having a sending set installed in the plane, thus bringing
his ship right up to date. Not even all the mail planes had sending sets
as yet, though some of them did.
Jimmy picked up his instrument, put the mouthpiece to his lips, and sent
this message into the air: “Jimmy Donnelly, of the _Morning Press_,
speaking. Cleveland weather forecast received. Also special notice as to
force and direction of the wind. Will get into touch with Bellefonte as
I go over. Thanks very much for help. I shall need all I can get.”
He replaced the mouthpiece and settled back in his seat. A quick glance
at his instrument board assured him that all was working well. He looked
at his clock and tried to figure out his position. Suddenly he became
aware that the buzzing in his ears had altered. No longer did he hear
the regular “dah, dah, dah, dah, dah,” which told him he was directly on
the air line. Instead Jimmy heard the signal “dot dah, dot dah, dot dah,
dot dah, dot dah.” He knew he was to the left of the course.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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