FLINT STONE FOR FLYING MEN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 93, 1 April 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

FLINT STONE FOR FLYING MEN.

♦ The “hangar of disaster" at Dover has ’•ecr nulled down. Small wonder, for what flying man, however little touched bv superstlion. would dare to use i building with such a record P Mr. Rolls. for whom it was originally hnilt- wns k*M«**l at Bournemouth; Mr. yecil Grace, who started from it, vanished in the cold Xorrh Sea: Mr. Grahame White, who used the same hangar daring the De Forest Competi.ion, fell and narrowly escaped disaster- Mr. Colmcre and Mr. Wickam. who also housed their machines there, both mot. with accidents. The terrible risks incurred bv the nangator of Hie air naturally tend to make him superstitious, and many a firing man secretly carries some ttiinv charm which he believes «ill guard him against accidents. M Santos Dumont, for instance, would never go up without a bracelet which lie wore on his left wrist. It consisted of a narrow golden chain wound three times round the wrist, and terminating in a medallion of the ’ * r S*"- It was given Iw him by the late Bom Pedro of Brazil. In the chalk quarries on the South Downs there are sometimes found small flakes of flint with a hole in the centre. For some reason (these are looked upon as valuable amulets. In early days of motoring drivers in great road •aces used to wear them, and several aviators continue the practice. The flint imH. lie hung around the neck with a piece of green silk thread. And, above all. tlie stone’s ring-like shape must be natural. An artificially bored flint has no value as a mascot.