Billings and Cosgrave had leaped onto the running-board of a fast car and were speeding after it, watching it gather momentum for the take-off.
Camera men took hurried pictures and scampered out of the path of the approaching plane.
The end of the runway was getting perilously near when the first sign of lift came. The Skipper was evidently coaxing her into the air, and the first lift was a bit too soon, for she settled back to the ground for a moment, seemed to gather new energy, and then rose surely from the field just as they reached the brink of a little ravine.
They were off!
In the early morning light the plane was hard to follow. It could faintly be seen lifting its way upward.
Other planes, now that the “Dauntless” was up, soared alongside the big ship as it carefully made a turn and headed for the east and the rising sun. The entire group came back over the field at an altitude of about a thousand feet.
The crowd hoped that there would be a last fluttering good-bye from the cockpit, but both men were too busy to do more than glance out.
The flight was on!