First at its Maximum
Angle, staggering along tail-down and just maintaining
horizontal flight; then a dive at far over flying speed, finishing
with a perfect loop; then sharp turns with attendant
vertical ``banks'' and then a wonderful switchback flight,
speeding down at a hundred and fifty miles an hour with
short, exhilarating ascents at the rate of two thousand feet
a minute!
All the parts are now working well together. Such
wires as were before in undue tension have secured relief
by slightly elongating their loops, and each one is now doing
its bit, and all are sharing the burden of work together.
The Struts and the Spars, which felt so awkward at first,
have bedded themselves in their sockets, and are taking
the compression stresses uncomplainingly.
The Control Cables of twisted wire, a bit tight before,
have slightly lengthened by perhaps the eighth of an inch,
and, the Controls instantly responding to the delicate touch
of the Pilot, the Aeroplane, at the will of its Master, darts
this way and that way, dives, loops, spirals, and at last, in
one long, magnificent glide, lands gently in front of its shed.
``Well, what result?'' calls the Flight-Commander to
the Pilot.
``A hundred miles an hour and a thousand feet a minute,''
he briefly replies.
``And a very good result too,'' says the Aeroplane, complacently,
as he is carefully wheeled into his shed.
That is the way Aeroplanes speak to those who love them
and understand them.
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