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happily to the crowd then walking jauntily off the field. It didn't take shocked spectators long to realize they'd been sold down the river. They know Linc had shammed the first landing by skimming over the strip about a foot above the ground, then flying over the edge, dropping [[x out]] from [[x out]] sight by losing altitude until the plane disappeared, then coming up again to circle, come in and make the real landing. There is no enthusiasm like that of a 'sold' crowd when they realize they've been given a good natural ribbing, thrill, shock, or scare. Their enthusiasm was deafening.  
Today planes zoom thru the air  at speeds over 600 miles an hour. This speed makes it difficult for me to relate this event and to really set it in the true frame of danger to which it is entitled. Let's dust off the history pages. Today's jets are real powerhouses. In 1912 most motors on the planes were rated at 60 (sixty) horsepower. This was the achieved rating of testing. Mostly they were on the short side of fifty. Today's motor scooters have more zip and snap than that. To ;the underpowering danger, mone must recally that the only maneuverability these planes had, were elevators to go up and down;a wheel for steering and flaps or ailerons enabling us to bank...that is bank to a certain point. The real snapper was the lack of brakes. All of our guesstimating about speed, distance, and wind had to be close to correct or disaster would be staring us right in the eye.  Let us speculate what could have happened to Linc had a gust f wind tipped his plane anywhere along the runway when he was skimming over it just a foot or so above the ground. This sudden kgusting was one of the real hazards of the day since even a slight blow could throw the plane out of balance as easily as a kite flips in the air. In this particular stunt, any tipping would have brought one of the wings in contact with ghe ground. So close to the precipice it would have been easy as pie for Linc and his plane to really disappear into oblivion. Linc wouldn't have had a  politician's chance