1: Eddie Allen Lands On Clouds
1554 Words
1: Eddie Allen Lands On Clouds
We are sitting around the table, Jack Northrop, Ken Jay, Eddie Allen and myself. Yes, swapping yarns. None boasting or particularly trying to outdo the other. Just gabbing about flying and close calls.
Jack pipes up: “Eddie, how about the time you had to land out of a barrel roll when you were testing our Beta?”
Now Eddie is a reticent type of fellow, and not inclined to talk very much about his experiences unless it is to discuss some technical point concerning an airplane in which he is interested. I doubt if there is any finer test pilot in all the world than Eddie Allen. He is a real technician, a most excellent pilot, and he possesses a cool analytical nerve that always overcomes every dangerous spot he has been in.
“Come on, Eddie, loosen up,” I add.
“Well,” slowly and deliberately Eddie begins, “You know that little Beta was a nice little airplane. I was making tests on it for the Department of Commerce. We had gone through everything but a series of tailspin tests, which we were on when that incident which you mention, Jack, happened.”
We all pull our chairs closer and lean forward. We had all seen the thing happen months before, but Eddie had never given us his personal story of the inside of some of his troubles battling with that ship in the skies. It looks as though he is going to talk now, and we are all attention.
Eddie Allen speaking:
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THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE inspector wanted to cut the travel of the ailerons during the tests, so he had the mechanics install stoppers on both the ailerons of the Beta to prevent them from going beyond a certain set degree of travel. When the ship was ready, I took her up.
Not knowing just how these restricting lugs were going to act, I thought it best to take the ship up good and high; so I climbed up to 10,000 feet, and kicked it into a spin. Everything seemed to be all right. First, I spun to the right and then to the left. After a series of these spins and the recording of the data I wanted to report, I still wasn’t exactly satisfied with the results, so I regained the lost altitude, resolving to try some more experiments. I wanted to be a little more rough now with the controls to see what would happen.
Reaching 10,000 feet again, I threw the little ship violently into a spin again, and in doing so I accidently forced the stick so hard to the right that I passed by the aileron stop lugs, and there they were jammed tight! With all the strength I could muster I tried to get the ailerons back, but now, since they had gone by the stoppers, they wouldn’t come back to normal. It was like pushing a door shut with the catch locking it. The ailerons were locked and there was nothing I could do to remedy the situation.
I didn’t want to jump because I wanted to save the ship. There was no doubt that I was in a terrible predicament, but I wanted to experiment. I still had plenty of altitude which ensured safety for the moment.
Pushing open the throttle, I found that by giving full opposite rudder, all the opposite aileron I could squeeze, and by pulling up on the nose, I could fly straight for a brief moment. Then the violent tugging of the locked ailerons would be more than I could muster strength to hold, and the ship would go into a barrel roll.
Well, I would then let the ship roll around the skies until my arms were rested, and then I would try to see how long I could fly straight. You see, I began to consider the possibility of being able to come down near the ground and perhaps hold the ship level long enough to be able to land safely.
I needed some more altitude, so I proceeded to climb in a series of barrel rolls. Around and around I rolled, and up, up, up I climbed until I had reached my original altitude again. Several times more I tried to hold the ship on a straight level course. There was no doubt that the duration of time my strength would hold out against these locked gyrations was very limited, and at such an altitude I couldn’t judge whether I could attempt a landing or not. I didn’t dare come down near the ground to be making any such tests. One false move near the ground and it would be all over for me.
I spied some good-looking cumulus clouds while rolling around up there. I picked out the one that most resembled a landing field, and resolved to practice some landings from these rolls on this nice flat cloud.
It may sound funny, all this about barrel rolling, to you fellows, but it was serious to me! I was nearly exhausted from the frequent endeavors to hold the ship level and straight. Several times I thought I would have to jump and let her go, but then, as I said before, it was such a nice little ship and I wanted to save her if it was at all possible.
I maneuvered into position to land on the cloud by rolling over to it. I came into land, going ’round and ’round. The first time, I cut my motor too soon and found that it had been aiding me a great deal to hold the ship level. I undershot the cloud terribly on the first attempt and fell into a spin before I even got to the edge of it.
Back up I went to try another one. The next time I did a little better by using my motor. Yes, I could land on the cloud out of a barrel roll, but it was obvious to me that the landing was being made over a hundred miles an hour, and I was now worried. I was afraid that I could never come down to the ground and make such a fast landing under those circumstances. I would have to practice more on the cloud and get my landing speed down to a lower figure. I made about eight or ten more of these attempts, and finally felt that I was ready to make the try for earth.
Even though ready and anxious to get out of this mess, I couldn’t come down yet, because I had too much gasoline in the tanks. I wanted to land with the very minimum of fuel, so that if I crashed there would be less danger of explosion and fire. So, I had to barrel roll around the heavens for another hour. Boys, I was certainly getting tired of these gyrations, but I just let her go, sat there and took it, relaxing as much as I could in order to have all the strength possible when I made the real landing.
As I came down toward the ground, rolling and rolling, I wondered if it were worthwhile or not. I was scared, and I sort of wanted to bail out. Then I got to thinking that after all, I was testing the job and it was up to me to do my best to get it back to earth safely. I did feel there was better than a fifty-fifty chance of doing it all right, but there could be no practicing on this real landing. It had to be made on the first trial, for better or worse!
I maneuvered just as I had done so many times for the cloud, and came rolling in. At a hundred feet, the big test had to come, and I straightened her out, holding that stick over to the left with both hands and my knees to keep level until the Beta set down.
It seemed that I would never get near enough to that ground and my strength was about all gone. I would have to let loose in a minute. Then I cut the motor and gave one final tug to hold her a wee bit longer. Fellows, I was exhausted. As I was beginning to let go and as she began her roll, she set down. Naturally, the ship hit first on one wheel and then the other, oscillating back and forth, and in addition bouncing up and down. For a minute, I thought I would go over on my back. I cut the switch and braced myself. But as you all know, she didn’t. With the exception of the landing being very fast and bouncy and taking up all of the field, everything was all right.
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WE ARE ALL SILENT. Maybe Eddie will talk more; but we are disappointed. He crawls back into his shell, and while we are discussing other matters, you can see in those bright eyes of his that perhaps he is sorry he has given out so much. I cannot say that this was his greatest thrill or worst experience, but I am inclined to believe it must have made a formidable impression upon him, or he would never have ventured to narrate so much. I do know this; the experience ranks as one of the most harrowing I have heard.
Wright brothers first powered, controlled, and sustained flight
- Writer
