First Aerial Stowaway
In connection with the trials of NC-1, the first of the type completed, two significant happenings are recorded.
The first concerns the first aerial stowaway. At Rockaway Naval Air-Station arrangements were made to take 50 men for a flight to establish a world’s record; the 50 men were assembled, weighed, and carefully packed in the boat. The flight was successfully made, and upon return to the beach the officer-in-charge counted the men again as they came ashore. He was astonished to find there were 51. An investigation was made at once, which revealed the fact that a mechanic who had been working on the boat before the flight had hidden in the hull for over an hour before the actual departure in order to go on the flight. This man is, no doubt, the world’s first aerial stowaway.
Record of the Flight
The NC-1, 3, and 4 left Rockaway at 10 A. M. on May 8 for Halifax. The NC-4, owing to engine trouble, had to land at sea near Chatham, Mass.; the other two continued on their way, and reached Halifax at 7.55 P. M. (6.55 New York time) on May 8; after waiting until the morning of May 10, the NC-1 and 3 left Halifax at 8.44 A. M. After travelling 38 miles, the NC-3 was forced to return to Halifax due to the cracking of a propeller. The NC-1 arrived at Trepassey Bay on May 10 at 3.41 P. M. The NC-3 arrived at 7.31 P. M.
After being refitted with a new engine the NC-4 left Chatham at 9.25 A. M., Wednesday, May 14, and arrived at Halifax at 2.05 P. M. It left there on Thursday, May 15, at 9.52 A. M., and arrived at Trepassey Bay at 6.37 P. M. (New York time 5.37 P. M.).
On the morning of Friday, May 16, the three flying-boats left Trepassey Bay at 6.05 P. M. It was a clear moonlight night, and as 21 United States destroyers were stationed along the route from North latitude 46-17 to 39-40, the airships were in communication with the fleet all the way over.
Because of a thick fog which obtained near the Azores the NC-4 landed at Horta of the eastern group at 9.20 A. M., just 13 hours and 18 minutes after starting. The NC-1 landed at sea and sank, and the NC-3, which flew out of its course, landed at Ponta Delgada.
Time of NC-4’s Flight to Lisbon
The NC-4 in its flight from Trepassey to Lisbon covered a distance of 2,150 nautical miles in 26.47 hours’ actual flying time, or at an average speed of 80.3 nautical miles. The three seaplanes left Trepassey at sunset on May 16, and the NC-4 reached Lisbon soon after noon on May 27, the eleventh day after its “hop” from Newfoundland. Its record in detail is as follows: