The Brighton Boys in Transatlantic Flight

by James R. Driscoll

Two or three twists had to be given to the turnbuckles on practically every flying, landing, drift and bracing wire on the plane, and this of itself is no simple matter if every wire is to be subjected to its proper relative tension in order that an extra stress or strain may be so distributed that it will not warp some part out of position.

But the worst damage, and the one which required the longest time to thoroughly repair was to the upper right wing, where a camber rib had snapped and one jagged end pierced the "dope"-treated canvas covering.

Big Jack, the best mechanic of the crew, took personal charge of this repair, but it required the aid of the others. The covering had first to be loosened from the tail edge, and, making this opening no larger than was absolutely necessary, the fractured camber rib sawed off between the two stringers on either side of the break. The two remaining stationary pieces of the camber—that between the leading edge and the main spar, and the other between the rear spar and the trailing edge, were left in as false ribs, but between either of these spars and the center stringer struts had to be placed and fastened, and first fashioning to proper length and size from the little extra material carried for repairs, and afterward fixing them rigidly in place, was a task to try the ability and patience of the best mechanic.

This job alone required four hours of their precious time, and then the canvas had to be warped back taut and fastened again at the trailing edge, with the specially prepared glue, which took two more hours to knit the repair tight.

While the glue was setting they found a crack in the canvas of the lower left wing, which, while not so difficult of repair, nevertheless required attention before they could renew the trip; and it was these and a dozen other more trivial things that detained them, though they worked with a haste born of disappointment.

For Don's observations had brought tragically disconcerting results. They found themselves, according to his computations, at almost the exact spot which they had passed at eight o'clock the preceding evening. They were, therefore, some sixteen hours behind schedule time, and would, for a second time, have to traverse the distance between their present point and that at which the storm had overtaken them on the preceding night.

There was no use in being pessimistic about it, however, for it was nothing that could have been prevented, and they had reason to be thankful that they had escaped with their lives and without injury.

"Well," said Andy Flures finally, for Andy always could be depended upon to come forward with something sane and logical, even intensely practical, when things looked gloomiest, "I don't know how you fellows feel about it, but my stomach is whispering to me that if there isn't something forthcoming in the food line pretty soon there's going to be certain and painful rebellion. My suggestion is that we take ten minutes or so before we start to feed up against any other emergencies which may arise. All in favor please say 'eats.'"