Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 1945-01-25, Page 3Love at By Charles Spalding and Otis Carney CHAPTER XI 13are.ed from the Navy'V•7 pro gram because he lacked two years of college math, Lester Dowd tries enlist in. the Coast Guard but is turned down because of a "facial iquirtt". The doctor refuses even to "xamine him. Commander Whitman, In old friend of the family, endea- ears to get a waiver for Lester so ean join Ve7, but after weeks of Vaiting Lester learns they still in- ist •on two years of college matk, le is euccessful in joining the V-5 qeval Aviation and is sent to Ana - ostia Naval Base. After .1r -taking lis first .solo flight he gets a three - lay furlough and visits his folks in Jhicago. The furlotigh ' ended, he eaves for Corpus Christi, where le soon gets acquainted with. ervice-type aircraft, another fea- ure of basic training. He tries to ;co aloft but the brakes are locked nd he does not know how to 1 -e - ease them. He is summoned before he hoard to explain. The beard tiles to continue his flight training. 5uld tell 1 had no scientific bent -hatsoever. If any additional evi- enee were necessary, I remember fr. Glossup, back at Anacostia, was mired to shout at me, "There is at a mechanical gene in your entire alce-up!" I believe there was one in the ginning, but it collapsed early in Fe when Father kept bringing me !,eus Chemical Sets" to play with. ike ,many forward -thinking men believed science might yet save 4 and he was determined I should tow about it. Sometimes he ought home two sets a week. obody- in the household dared row the things out for fear they ight 'go off". Consequently they led up untouched in my room itil one rainy afternoon I turned .the compounds in desperation r amusement. I decided to coa- ct some green ink, the young Edi- n's equivalent of baking -powder scuits. There were four separate periments, but each ono turned 1-- brown, made a stain, and ith this behind me, I anticipat- the difficulties of the instrument squadron, a technical hell if there was ,ever one. The work was pure science from the top of the bottle. Stated in broad terms, the aim a the instrument squadron was to teach a mechanical method of over- coming • obstacles of' night flying and bad weather and alse show one how,to handle a radio Tanga. Every- bedy had trouble with the course; but I died a little. I left a dubious record behind, however. Nobody has 'Yet approached the cock-eyed aplendor of my first attempt in the Link trainer. Most of the training took place on the ground in an electrically operat- .ed apparatus that resembled a stub- by fuselage mounted bn springs. In- side it was the duplicate of a cock- pit and instrument panel'eomPlete with' eompasses, artificial horizon, rate of climb, altimeter, and air- speed indicator. Such was the Link trainer. ' There -was just MITI enough for the pilotwho squeezed himself Inside arid pulled a lid down ever him. When the instruc- tor, who sat at the control table, .1 turned on the power, actual condi- ±ions of instrument flight were re- produced. The pfoblern, •of course, was to keep the trainer in a nor- mal attitude solely by reference to a batch of gadgets. The instructors for this Laputan business were taken front the en- listed personnel—fine, kind-hearted men for the most part. Among them, however, were scattered, a few asps. The title of instructor raised the sailor to temporary au- thority over the cadets who as com- missioned afficeis would soon crack the whip themselvea. The opportu- nity was too good to te missed. I won't way that Machinist's Mate Briggs, to whom. 1 was assigned, abused the 'privilege. Rather he lived on it. His welcoming blast was, "In peacetime you couldn't get into the Navy." 1 muttered something about go- ing fishing in peacetime and ar- auadeg him, to explain the Marti: ments to me. Briggs knew the trainer inside out. He carefully went over everything, -occasionally dropping •a remark that clarified his posttion in regard to cadets. "I know you ain't listening," he said in a _sarcastic voke'''' "It's to "I'm listening" I said. "Don't look like 'you're listenin' to am," he said sullenly. "I am." "You're all alike. You don't want to learn. I stand here and talk my bloody heart out, and I never found a _cadet yet who listened. jeez, , when r think how the calyouber of officers has dropped lately, 3won- der if we'll pull throUgh, Well, it ain't for rate to quentien, rm just a sailor takin'e,orders, dein' -any job, PR go on talkin', knoWin' damn well You ain't payin' the slightest atten- tion." It took some trine to get through the lecture. Before we finished, Briggs arrived at the conclusion theta I was "just like the rest of 'em. Got nothing but Sammy Kaye on your mind." "I'm' not very mechanical," 1 said. "Brother, you better get mechan- ical,e he eitorted, preparing to start ne on the familiarization hap. I climbed uncertainly into the trainer, put the earphoneson, and pulledthe hood down. rt was hot inside. One dim light illuminated the instrumeat panel, Briggs called over the radio, "Are yo'u talrn?" He insisted that his pu- pils keep calm. "I'm -calm," I said, fighting down the hysterical feeling that seizes me when.pillows are clamped playfully over /fly head. "You don't sound ealm," said Briggs, and before I was quite ready he turned on the electricity. "Hey!" I shouted. "Keep calm, in there," called Briggs. "Remember the standard climb is five hundred feet a min- ute. Watch your instruments. I looked at the instruments. They seemed to be watching me. "C'mon, take off," called Briggs impatiently. I heaved back on the sticknd jammed the throttle all the way forward. At this the instruments, which had been twitching in ex- citement, went hog wild. The whole panel went into a sort of Disney dance. Tthe altimeter spun around dizzily. The rate of climb soared. "You're climbing straight up all over the place," called Briggs in . Some Facts . from the 58th ANNUAL REPORT . . . . 313,221 MANUFACTURERS LIFE POLICIES, .. including 28,409 new policies added during the year, are providing security for people in all walks of life. These policies are for an average amount of $2,523 each, giving total protection of $790,161,509., . EACH OF THESE POLICIES has a share in a fund of $264,909,571—the assets under administration to guarantee their, fulfilment. FOR . THOUSANDS OF BENEFICIARIES and policyholders, Manufacturers Life cheques lifted pressing financial burdens during 1944. Every working day $48,816 was disbursed by the Com- . pany for a total of $14,889,029. Beneficiaries of . deceased policyowners received $5,497,656 and living policyowners, $9,391,373. SINCE INCORPORATION 114* 1887 the Manu- facturers Life has paid a total of $303,689,216 to its policyowners and their beneficiaries. . , . . ' THE MANUFACTURERS LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY Branch Office, -.506-8 Bell Bldg. Lonclon,E. M. MacLeod — Representative Howard C. Graham C. L. IL Branch Manager. Clinton, Ontario. 1 URS, IAN.15th 1945 1' = i7";"•xerree-- " "..ae ieA4 ,ftgre% M parviott,, RE YOU, TOO, be FOR HYDRO RURAL SERVICE?. 1f so, you can be sure thcd is itlytito worlcing in your direction as fastPas possible. Actually, in.1944, The Hydro•Electric ower Commof rural ission of Ontario constructed 10 times as many miles , 943. • In 1943, approximately 40 miles of rural ninCS asthere were In 1944, there were approximately 4.2 miles of lines co rural lines constructed. Consumers added in 1943 numbered 2025. Consumers added in 1944 numbered V.62.1 •• Wartime shortages of manpower and materials prevented even greater expansion in 1944; as an example, some 1200 Hydro employees ate in the armed forces or on loan to the Goverdment for special tsch-• Iliad work • . . many rdaterials needed in the co0-. eduction of Hydro lines, ore also required In the manu- facture of NNW weapons . . . your c Hydro is doing its best under the existing conditions to provide electricity There are now al3out 8000 applicGtions for ne o essential services. services 151 50011 result of h have•13een approved that wilk connected as soon as possible. However, thbe are will probably be further delays because of the acute shortages of manpower and materials' as eea wartime conditions. If the Hydro lines sm undy ul slow in getting to your farm, p understand that the Commission whileyou. ,honalcapped is none the less doing its utmost to serve serkoetee. alarm. When nothing else worked I beat both fists on the panel, remember- ing the classic cure for faulty ra- dios. It seemed to prick the in- struments on to even madder rev- els, "Straighten out!" bawled Briggs, who had never seen anything like this before. It was out of any hands. I sat helpless, fascinated by the 'flitting, spinning mechanical ballet, All this time the air speed was being gov- erned according to certain inexor- able laws. It fell back and back and back until the trainer lost fly- ing speed, and the entire cast plunged violently into a theoretical spin. Now all the instruments fran- ticelly reversed themselves. The artificial horizon moment ray came out of hiding, zipped across the glass, arid went out of sight below. The altimeter drunkenly peeled off feet by the thousands while the rate of climb dropped as if it had been shot. The compass reeled ecstat- ically, gay to the very end, and the air speed so recently shrunk to forty m.p.h. was now fast at two hundred and 'fifty. "You better recover," called Briggs weakly. "According to the altimeter you are now eight hun- dred feet above the earth's sur- face?' Coincident with that crushing an- nouncement the light on the instru- ment panel went out, leaving me in complete darkness. For a minute I hung peacefully suspended and undisturbed between two worlds. Then for no reason an image of the helLfire-and-brimstone sign that stood for years on a familiar road at home issued up where the instru- ment panel had been. 3 opened and closed my eyes. It was piteh-black, but the image of that sigestayed and grew brighter and larger until the red painted anessage filled the entire cockpit. THE WORLD IS 001VIING TO AN END. ARE YOU READY? - The letters flowed fihnily over Inc I felt a giddy detachment. It didn't matter any more. The flight that was not a flight didn't matter, and the crash that was not a crash didn't matter. According to science I was whirling eight hundred feet underground, but what the hell! If you don't understand your .enviion- anent, go - beyond it. I picked up the microphone and ealled to Briggs in a low, pulsing voice; "The world is coming to an end. Are you ready?" 1'11 be damned!" said Briggs" "Tell Buck and Wilma" wept ..011111Mis aolggiarg4, -,,COMMIS8,10N bF on. "Buck who?" cued Briggs, com, ing face to face with his first alba- tross. "Buck Rogers in the twenty-fifth century," I blared. Briggs quickly snapped off the power and let me out. I -started to apologize for my poor showing, but then I thought better ef it I walked off without a word. Briggs just stood and stared. What he had wit- nessed would never be spoken of with Lindbergh's' crossing, or Mate- lia's feats, but he was well aware it had a significance of its own, He never mentioned it again as long as I was there. When I got to the point where I could keep the instrumentunder thumb, Briggs took a deep- breath and proceeded to explain the basic principles of the radio range. Ile was ankle-deep itt the subject when he stopped, pushed his sailor cap back on his head, and said bellig- erently. "Somehow I get the im- pression you're workin' against me." "That's funny," I said. I had not understood a word of what he was saying, "Teachin' this stuff to you is like hollerin' tip a pipe," he said. Be wanted to get angry. "All the ca- dets is ox dumb, but 1 can beat that by just sayin' the same thing sixty times over, They're goin' be officers, y' know, so they get it by the sixtieth time, but with you it's like biowin' up a balloon with a hole in it. What's wrong with you?" he asked in despair. "Come on, just once more," I coaxed, Finally it came to arm that a radio range may be considered as the compass field divided into four quad- rants and two of which are N. You have to believe this because you can't see it. It ia all done by radio, and anything done by radio you have to take on blind faith. The A quadrants are designated by the Morse signal dit dah, and the N quadrants by the signal dah dit. The volume of the signals increases as you fly toward the centre of the range, so 'that you can tell in which quadrant you are, The center of the range is ealledi the cone of at as where everybody wants to be; at least that is where everybody on a'radie range wants to be. You tveuldn't be seen dead. there otherwise. To prevent a dis- orderly stampede of aircraft to the cone of silence from which point you let down to land, much compli- cated procedure has been set up. I don't like to think • about it. It minds ns e of the time our cook married a Mormon. Besides this while you are locat- ing yourself on the range you're in communication with the radio tow- er. This conversation is carried on along' highly conventional lines. "F'rinstance," said Briggs, "aft- er you've received my message, you acknowledge it by eaying, "Wil- co." That finishes everything." "I say 'Wilco'?" 3 asked incredu- lously. "Yeah. Used to have to say 'Roger,' but they changed it." "What was the matter with 'Rog- er'?" I asked, failing to see quite what motivated the revolution. "I don't knew. Just one of them things," said Briggs, accustomed to impermanence. "There was a big &eke -up -Mat winter." • I was never taken behind the scene, but I imagine that when Rog- er went, he dragged a lot of big' names down with him. The day I had my radio eheck I was particularly alert. Even the most complex features of the range stood out -clearly in any mind. It was the insight that comes once M a lifetime. Briggs gave .me an easy problem, and I sailed through the first part, "Corpus Christi radio from Navy one -twenty. . I have orientated my- self in the southern N quadrant and am proceeding to intersect rem western beam, with an inbound head- ing of two hundred forty-eight de- grees. 1request the use of that beam. Go ahead." "Navy from Corpus Christi radio. Permission granted. Go ahead." "Wilco." "Atta boy," called Briggs, who was pretty anxious to get me off Iris hands. "Keep it up. The graph looks great." On .his table was a recorder which traced the problem on paper. The-. paper was then handed in and marked. I . was doing beautifully when a ,sudden jar threw the train- er completely off its ,course. The stick whipped over to one side. jerked, but it was frozen. With a howl I tore open the lid and looked angrily for the oppressive influence. Resting- against the wing, quietly admiring the room, 'was a dark and handsome .South American elficer, mustache and all. He had appar- ently just arrived and was com- pletely engrossed by the ingetnlitY of 'the Northern; -Hemisphere. Many South Americans went through the station as part of the Good -Will Pro- gram. I never knew what ,his gov- ernment told him, but I had my orders., "Amigo!" 1 cried warmly, hold - ng out both arms, Before he could VI••••••*1001110•1•11,1•31.1•1100 ;reply, I slammed down the hood and called to Briggs en the radio. "Corpus Christi radia from Navy' one -twenty. get that gaucho off zny wing, Briggs, before the whole prob- lem is wrecked!" "Navy front Corpus Christi radio. You know what Summer Welles. said," moaned Briggs. "Wilco," 1 bawled, jamming up the hood again. This time the South American saw ane burst through the hatch. "You moss coom to my country,* he said with a toothy grin. We can supplement each other's economy, amigo." "No liable ingles," said Menuet. grinning from ear to ear. "There must be Pan-American solidarity, amigo ,rile." I jumped. fromthe 'trainer. "We have roobah," said Manuel.. "We have dinero." "Amigo!" cried Manuel. "Amigo moi," I said, going to. Brigg's desk. The problem was scratched and blotched, 3 could not possibly pass. "Sorry," said Briggs sadly. "Forget it. We're just interna-. tional pawns." Manuel grinned incomprehenaive- ly. "Come 'along, Manuel," 1 urged' fraternally. Briggs, who was crushing my . paper, looked up at this and said in a way that was bound to ensure better inter -American relations, "Manuel is a pen in the •." "Wilco," I said. "Amigo, you moos corm to my country," the South American called over his shoulder, and we walked away together like Good Neighbors. (TO BE CONTINUED) Juvenile Hockey Schedule, Clinton at Goderech, Jan 25 Seaforth at IThcetee, Jan 26 Goderich 'at Seaforth, Jan 80. Clinton at Exeter, Jan 30 OLD VIRGINIA PIPE TOBACCO - It's a real pipe smoker's toIacco