There was scarcely room for him to squeeze through in the space between the top of the tank and the under side of the wing.
The chocks were withdrawn, and they went bumping out across the field to the far side and turned into the wind. Then, as the engine opened up, Kiwi felt the tail lift, they went rolling across the ground and, with a last gentle bump, were in the air.
Kiwi looked out to see the ground apparently falling away from him, and the hangars, houses and fields took on a toy-like appearance. He was now accustomed to this sensation, but he would always remember his first flight and how odd it had seemed to have the ground slip away from beneath him in this strange manner. He remembered the queer feeling he had had when they made their first turn. It seemed as though they were perfectly stationary, and that the whole earth had suddenly started to tilt up until it stood on edge.
Kiwi remembered, too, his first experience in clouds. The clouds were not very high, and he had motioned to Dad to go up through them. As they started up they were soon surrounded by a fog so dense that even the wing-tips faded from sight. They had flown on for what seemed to him an endless time, when Dad shook his head, motioned that the clouds were too thick, and started down.
Wires screamed with the vibration, and Kiwi kept a sharp lookout over the side for the first appearance of the ground. Surely they must see it soon! Then, with a sudden start, he looked over his shoulder to find the earth apparently above him. It took him some seconds to convince himself that this was really the ground in such an unusual place. There above him was this uncanny earth, with the trees lining the tiny roads, half hiding the toy-like houses.
Dad had afterwards explained to him that in trying to get up through the clouds he had lost all sense of direction; that when he had shut off his engine and pointed the plane to what he thought was down, they had fallen sideways rather than straight down, which accounted for the earth appearing in this unexpected quarter.
However, on this first flight in the new machine, he had no such experience; for they had taken off in a straight line and climbed to nearly a thousand feet before any turn was made. Also, being completely inclosed in his little compartment, he felt much more secure. He peered out of the windows, first on one side and then on the other. As they came back over the field, he looked down to see several figures rushing about and another plane taking off.
Dad headed out toward the ocean. It was Kiwi’s first view of the Atlantic, which extended far off toward the misty horizon, dotted here and there with busy ships going about their errands. A long trail of smoke marked a big liner heading for the port of New York. Its decks and life-boats showed dazzling white against the dark blue of the water.
Then Dad turned and they headed back toward the field. Suddenly, almost from nowhere, there appeared to Kiwi a plane with silver wings and blue body—the plane that he had noticed taking off a short time before. It came close and tried to fly level with them. Kiwi, fascinated, watched the pilot as he waved to them. He continued to wave, and then pointed to the side of his machine.