TO END OF HEAVEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17156, 5 October 1926, Page 12

TO END OF HEAVEN

FLYER WHO BROKE WORLD'S RECORD. SENS ATIOnFdESCRIBF. D. TERRIFIC DESIRE TO SLEEP. (By Jean Callizo.) PARIS, Aug. 28. My record has been verified, and it is now"certain that iu my altitude test on Monday 1 reached a height higher than anv ever attained before by a flyer—a height of 12,442 metres, about 40,820 ft, 376" metres higher than any previous record. 1 began my flight on Monday because the Government Meteorological Bureau advised me that atmospheric, conditions were ideal for my attempt, 1 felt in iiiarvel'vous physical •condition, and 1 realised that the day 1 had prepared for for a year had come. 1 only decided to fly at the last minute, because until then' I was afraid of the clouds, but at 2000 metres I saw a hole in the clouds towards the east and headed toward it. This closed as I approached, but I then saw another hole to the north and at 4000 metres 1 was in fair weather. 1 could no longer distinguish cities from 'country, only the rivers appeared like silver threads. At 10,000 metres they too disappeared, and the entire earth appeared dull colored, concave and saucer-like. A little further mist blotted out everything. Experience had taught me to use my oxygen mask beyond metres —about that height, I breathed pure oxygen just as my 450 horse-power Dietrich motor did. It is always sunnj up there, but very cold, my last observation of my thermometer showed the mercury at £0 degrees below zero centigrade, 158 degrees below zero fa lirenheit. I couldn't eee how mudt colder it got because the mercury sunk out of sight below the armature holding the thermometer. I was 11,500 meters up when I last saw the mercury. Although I wore four pairs of gloves, paper silk wool, and a leather and fleece combination my fingers were numbed. My feet were in paper socks covered with boots lined with lambs' wool. I wore paper underclothes and three woollen sweaters. However, the intense cold 'caused sharp pains in the frontal sinus, and the back of my neck ached furiously a<> if a great load were resting there, 'causing me to stick my head forward like a turtle. 1 kept my eyeballs from freezing with wool-edged goggles, however, my eyes felt heavy and 1 had a consuming desire to sleep. Up there one lias a feeling exactly the reverse of that of a diver deep under, water. The pressure inside me was greater than the atmospheric pressure outside. I felt myself puffed out and deformed. Nevertheless 1 was always conscious and 1 saw the queer deep dark blueness of a cloudless and mistless sky, a far deeper blue than that seen from the earth's surface. 1 constantly watched the writing of the barograph. I could feel the. tightening of the contracting metal parts of the plane. When the barograph read close to 12,800 metres I knew that despite any inaccuracies that might be checked on it, I had broken the record. 1 might possibly have gone higher but I was ' uncomfortable enough where 1 was. My ears buzzed and rang and my lungs, face and head seemed to be bursting. Gliding down into a constantly denser atmosphere my sleepiness left me and 1, became excited, some- ' what as one does in the early stages -of intoxication. I can't sleep properly yet, and I feel everything mixed up "inside me. Over the air field I was compelled to hang a long time at 500 metres. It was necessary to readjust the entire perspective, confused by the physical effects "f the altitude, otherwise 1 might have crashed. Mounting to the end of Heaven is not an easy job.