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

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“Hawker had evidently had his eye glued to the clock which he carried on board, for now his tail was up high again, the machine sped away full of life, and the time also slipped by much faster now that the face of the watch was not being scrutinised so carefully. Another half hour passed and darkness began to close in. It had been arranged that a huge petrol fire should be lit when it was time for Hawker to come down, an hour after sunset being 5.48 p.m. It was, however, quite dark at 5.20, and a difficult problem arose in the minds of those on the ground. It was naturally wished to make the flight as long as possible, and therefore to light the bonfire then would have been to bring him down unnecessarily early; on the other hand, complete darkness might quite possibly cause him to lose himself. A better arrangement would have been to light one fire half an hour before the specified finish, another one a quarter of an hour later, and a third when the time was up, leaving the whole three for him to land by.