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72
NEWSREEL MAN
Our stories have lacked news value. For the past month we have been romping around deah ol’ Virginny, but the old state hasn’t kicked in with a decent foot of material since the Winchester Apple Blossom Festival. We were not feeling so forte.
“During dinner time, while perusing the local rag, my eye caught an item that promised an interesting lead. The army had just acquired a new blimp, the article read, and it was to be put in commission at Langley Field. It was further mentioned that the blimp would make its initial flight over Washington. That was enough for us. We checked out of the Robert E. Lee, waved toodle-oo to Lexington, and whipped it out over the Blue Ridges that very night for sleepy little Hampton.
“The next morning, on inquiring at the Operations Office, it was learned that we were none too soon. The flight was to be made that very day. I explained our desires to Captain Springs, the commanding officer of the blimp, and he phoned the War Department, procuring permission for us to go along. The ship was in the hangar at the time, and we went right to work. While I directed a detail in the loading of our equipment aboard the gondola, Bert explained something about movietone sound photography to the captain. The officer was very much interested in the recording lamp, attached to my camera, that transmits the sound impulse to the fihn. He was also impressed by the fact that the only connection between the recording amplifier and the camera is a light gauge, high-tension cable.
“Finally the blimp was loaded. I was set up in the foremost part of the gondola, commanding a full view of the works; Bert Kerry, my partner, was crouched over his amplifier in the extreme end of the body. Our relative positions did not matter, as conversation would have been impossible, what with two Hispano-Suizas re%wing up. A tiny light, actuated by a relay, indicated to my partner just when I would be shooting.
“Captain Springs ordered the field ballast dropped. LTp we went in a long, lazy spiral. Circling the field, the ship climbed to an altitude of about fifteen hundred feet, dipped gracefully as she slid over Fort INIonroe, then pointed her nose northwest, hitting a bee line right up Chesapeake Bay. It was a glorious October day; the visibility was very high ; a strong breeze blew southward.