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

33 страница из 69

“There was a rush for the spot where the machine was, and the next five minutes were occupied in cheering, congratulating, shaking hands and patting backs. Hawker climbed out of his seat, having been exactly 8 hours 23 minutes in the air, but he looked easily capable of undergoing the same trial again.

“Relating his experience, Hawker said: ‘When I got away first at about 9.15 I thought the new magneto had been timed incorrectly, because the engine was only turning at 1,600, and would hardly carry the load; before I had done a circuit, however, I discovered it was only a case of getting the engine warm, this taking a particularly long time, because we had fitted two radiators where there only used to be one, even in the summer, and I was carrying nearly six gallons of water all told. This I found afterwards to be really too much, because towards the end I tried to warm my hand on the water-pipe which runs from the bottom of the radiators and found it too cold to touch.

“‘Within five minutes of the start the engine was turning round at just over 2,000 revolutions per minute, and I realised that if I wanted to economise I must throttle down a little. This I did, and ran along steadily at about 1,800 revolutions. I was extremely worried to think that we had let Raynham get such a lead, but there was no hope for it, so I settled down to a long, slow job, determined to stick to it to the end.