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Soaring (not WAR...ing) in 1940's    Page 10   Hattie Meyers Junkin

We now had our terminology... Cumulus, cirro-cumulus (mackeral sky to groundlings) cululo-nimbus, and then the physical. Part of this important eye-tests. I remember the depth perception test, pulling two objects on strings from a distance in a long channel. They should be axactly [[exactly]] opposite each other to pass. After three tries, the instrctor [[instructor]] laughed said, "I had you do it three times because you did it perfect the first time and wanted to be sure it wasn't luck."

1931, late July and early August our glider was on the trailer headed for Elmira, N.Y. the second National Glider Meet. En route, the kids knew what we were pulling, but the adults were real Norman Rockwell stuff. "Paw" would stop right in the middle of scratching, picking his nose while veranda rocking; "Maw" would drop the hose wetting Paw instead of flushing the porch. Cameras hadn't caught up with their eventual "spin-offs" so this camera "nut" ended up with blurs. A group of kids arrived soon after we did, tired and sleepy so that picture was even good enough for the reporters.

The glider pilots went thru their preliminary glide to the airport. Launching was all via shock cord. Trailers better built than 1930 as were the fittings on the gliders. The town was even more cordial, if possible than the year before. Luncheons, parties, dances. The good times are in pioneering.. a group untied in thought and deed.

The Army had come around to believing in gliders so they were represented. I kept taking with my Eastman movie camera, most flights. Two Army pilots were badly injured and on that "lost" film I had it all. Structural failure.. Bowlus wings came off, etc. Educational.

At our little light house keeping arrangement, the "landlord" had an epileptic fit, first I ever saw. Should I go home? 36 bad hours.