Air Story

Major Gorden Reel, former New York State Highway Commissioner and an officer in the Air Service Reserve, last week told the New York Exchange Club a tale of the air. Told he:

"A certain instructor, irritated at the cautious progress and boasting manner of his flying pupil, decided to test the old swimming hole belief. They took off on an instruction flight in a machine with dual controls, one for the instructor and the other for the student.

"After they had been up a while, the instructor unhooked his control stick, showed it to the student, and threw it overboard with a great flourish and a malicious grin.

"The student, apparently hastening to assent to what seemed to be an implied order, unhooked his control stick, hurled it over, and grinned back.

"The instructor's imprecations were lost in the roar of the motor, but he lost no time in adjusting his belt and parachute. He climbed out and dropped.

"No sooner had he disappeared than the student pulled out from under his suit a duplicate control stick, which his fellow-students had advised him to take on his trip. He adjusted it carefully and came slowly down to earth, circling about the descending instructor with his right thumb pressed against his nose and his four fingers extended upward and outward, and with the smile still shining on his face."