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then we would have come down sideways and crashed.  Then he turned and pointed at one of the propellers and said, "You see it was only slightly splintered."

I looked at him in utter amazement and said, "Yeah, but what about that cylinder of your motor conking out?  That had to bother you didn't it?"

He nonchalantly replied, "Oh, did that happened too?"

It was a long walk back to the hangars and during that time I made up my mind that the next pilot I was foolish enough to go up with would have to be a certified aerodynamics engineer.

Like any group wiether it be rodeo performers or exhibition fliers we invented little 'in-the-house-games' to amuse ourselves.  Let me explain..these were little games that outsiders knew nothing about but on which pilots would gamble or merely do for amusement.  The fellows who flew the Wright planes invented a game.  It was an acid test of the nerves of the paggenger pilot.  The Wrights from the very first built two-seaters as compared to the single seaters on the field.  So when I say 'passenger pilots' I meant just that.  Two pilots would go aloft...on handling the plane the other as passenger.  For kicks one the pilot flying the plane would put it through whatever maneuvers it was capable of doing.  The idea was to make the passenger pilot so nervous that he would instinctively or automatically reach out to grab the nearby strut of the plane.  This move was a loser. Always small bets were placed on results.   This game was usually reserved for Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  It not only was fun for the pilots but it was an added fillip for the visiting crowds.

One Saturday afternoon, George Beatty invited me aloft for a little game.  The usual bet was down.  We took off.  When we were about two hundred feet in the air, George proceeded to put that little Wright plane through every wiggle in the book.  To tell the truth I was scared but I ground my teeth and sat quietly.  This was most discouraging to George 

Transcription Notes:
Reviewed - removed the [[sic]]s