25 YEARS AN AIRMAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 December 1934, Page 10

25 YEARS AN AIRMAN

SCHNEIDER PILOTS’ MISFORTUNE “Wings,” by H. C. Biard, is reviewed by George Fyfess the London “Daily Telegraph” as follows: — In 1910, “when all: aeronauts were branded as cranks,”* young man of IS went vito:':'Hendon ’’aerodrome to learn td fiyJ He had been enrolled as member of the school, but, as nothing further happened, he inquired whether his machine was ready. The works manager, mistakenly assuming that the pupil was a> flying man of experience whose new was ready for delivery l ,. replied, “They ate, just shoving 'liePppt.” Wlfeieupop'the pupil, who had not received tlie" slightest training, got into the aeroplane and flew.it round the ; ae:cdrome.'‘ Miraculously he landed again without accident, to meet a very irate owner. A day or two later the ’.upi! had' been appointed an instructor.

„7 hat was the manner in which Captain H. C. Bia.i;d. introduced himself to aviation, arid’-in liis: book he describes the mapy 1 interesting' things that have happened to him since. This .s-'a. bock that ban* confidently-be recommended. Captain Biard has proved himself tp,„.be.not pnly a great -test, pilot -but -an-author, who,, in an. effortless way, indulges in that humorous and" expressive description' which is a characteristic of any Air Force mess.- ■: r-; '■ - • ■ .• •

■ Incidentally',- he'has' a- passage -about the difficulties famous pilots have experienced in work that-will surprise most readers: “One Schneider. pilot: Us now living on the. ’dole;- a-.-Schneider pilot -who was in one- of the Trophy races, with me is scraping, up-a living in a,; Midland town a-s .test -he-- can, uiiable to find a flying- job," although he is a niagnificeii't pilot; another once worldfamous flyer is a baker’s •rou.ndsm'an; another is driving ; a’ ’bus. One-went to America a year,or two ago and disappeared; yet another is a temporary clerk at a couple of .pounds a week.” .When lie 1 tells you casually from practical experience’-, that crashing in a fast machine is rather like accompanying a specially lively bomb to earth;, or when lie says' a slow deliberate'machine lie’had taken into a race.“looked .a r bit like, the -Brighton Queen leaving the pier,”. the right sensation is vividly conveyed. The book is like that throughout.

CRASH AT 250 M.P.H. Little stories of flying adventure in the past quarter rof a century are numerous, and 'seine are thrilling. One deals with Captain Biard’s crash into .the sea bn The racing machine S 4 when lie was travelling at about 250 hiilds per hour;’ another tells of the big “amphibian” he was piloting with several important people on board when “Aly observer came running up tjgbt-lipped. holding out a piece of paper on which' was; written the words, ‘Right wing- ’crumpling up.’ Fibm my seat inside the vast body I dqiild not sec thOi w’ing, but nbw, to my car attuned to catch any falfce note in the hundred sounds that come frorri a machine Tn flight, there began a low crackling and snapping from the huge metallic wing. We. got down in eight minutes . . . but to this. day I can’t tell, you why.” r And here, amongj' many more adventures, is oPe of German macliiiie

which Captain Biard had caused to fall in flames. The pilot was in a hopeless .position: “He stuck gamely to his machine until we got dowtf to about 4,000 ft, aud then the flames got too hot for him to bear. So he stood up, climbed on to the wing of his craft—l was then but a short distance away—smiled and waved cheerily to me. and jumped off, turning slowly head over heels in tho air as he fell to certain death. War is a funny thing, isn’t it?”