MAN WITH WINGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22431, 29 May 1936, Page 8

MAN WITH WINGS

LEAP FROM AEROPLANE! j . DIVING AND GLIDING fp thrills for great crowd|| [from oub own correspondent] " "if ,LONDON, May 9 " Thousands of people at Hanworth | aerodrome the other day saw a maifci jump from an aeroplane 10,000 feet-' from the ground and then fly under his own power, using only a pair of I wings strapped to his body. An American, Mr. Clem Sohn, aged 25, thrilled I the huge crowd from the moment lie I left the aeroplane, with a smoke bomb j showing his course, until a minute and a-ha'f later he landed safely on the ground. The last 3000 feet were negotiated with a parachute. The performance -was certainly not • what the majority of the people had expected. They had looked for an exhibition of flapping wings—the equivalent in the air of swimming in water I —and what they saw was a series of dives broken by brief periods of gliding flight. Modesty of Performer Fully extended these wings repre- f B ented an area of about 30 square feet. Since the weight of the man and his ' apparatus, including tw*o parachute#, was about 2401b., the wing loading was 81b. to the square foot, or about three times as much as that of the bes'i . sailplanes, which stall at about' 22 miles an hour. Fairly high speed was there-| fore necessary to generate enough lift to interrupt the effect of gravity; and lift so obtained was quickly lost from lack of forward speed, when the descent was turned into gliding flight. Between each gliding manoeuvre flying speed had to be. recovered by the resumption of the headlong dive and nice judgment wr.s needed to resume the dive before the wings should stall. Mr. Sohn will not admit that there is anything perilous in the feat. He is a modest young American who evidently dislikes talking, and particularly about himself. His speech before he went up was a model of brevity, consisting of very little more than "How do, folks? I'm jes' goin' to do my flight." Without more ado he crossed to his aeroplane and was soon being taken up. The climb proved a lengthy process, the aeroplane leaving the aerodrome and then ascending until it was out of sight. ,■' Since no one had ever seen Mr. Sohn fly before, there were all manner of false alarms, the hundreds of little boys on the ground yelling themselves hoarse and crying, "There he is!" whenever the wing of the aeroplane was touched by the sun. Incredible Speed Mr. Sohn suddenly was seen falling at an incredible speed. He had a smoke bomb attached to his legs, and as soon as he was free of the machine he exploded it. This clearly marked his position, and he came falling, leaving behind him a trail of smoke. The doomed man that Mr. Sohn appeared to be seemed to drop at least 2000 feet before the fall was suddenly checked and the airman turned to his left and then upwards, in a movement of infinite grace. In his own .country, he is called the "birdman," and in that movement, at once easy and leisurely he showed how he had got his reputation. But the excitement was not over, for hardly had Mr. Sohn completed hi* movement that he was once more falling with the same swift sureness. For the second time he checked his fall, and for the third time began to drop i with terrific speed until, coming within | 1000 feet of the ground, he opened his I parachute and dropped gently on to the middle of the aerodrome. The crowd could be restrained no longer. They ran in a huge disorderly body to the centre, there to acclaim Mr. Sohn until even that silent gentleman was moved as far as to pr»t out. "Say, folks. I say, folks."