Читать книгу H. G. Hawker, airman: his life and work онлайн

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“Excitement reached fever-heat between two and three o’clock, the strain of watching the two machines circle round hour after hour becoming intense. It was not even like a motor race, where one can see fairly early in the run who is likely to be the winner. In this conflict, speed did not even count, and the contest might terminate any second by either running out of fuel or by an engine stoppage. Little work was done in the sheds, and every few minutes mechanics would appear at the various doors to find and call out to their mates that both machines were still up.

“‘Raynham’s down!’ The cry spread across the ground at about 3.10 p.m., and a frantic rush was made to the front of the sheds, and sure enough he was just on the point of touching. He terminated his flight at 3.11½ p.m. exactly, having been in the air 7 hours 31½ minutes—truly a splendid performance. We all rushed across the ground, and Fred May, of the Green Engine Co., jumped into his car and came tearing up to the spot. Raynham climbed out, looking somewhat tired, but apparently none the worse for the 7½ hours’ toil. He said that the oil had run out, and though he had held on as long as he could, the engine had been dropping in revolutions for the last half-hour, and he did not want to risk it seizing up altogether.