KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

SOARING PILOTS REPORT 113
me in the dark lay a ghostly greyish-white level stretch
which I knew to be the dunes, while a darker area beyond
them I recognized the water of the Kurische Haff.
It was impossible to calculate height ; below me I saw
vague human figures in the darkness, and now the time
began to drag. Every moment I expected to find myself
in collision with a sandhill ; the breeze freshened and I
gradually lost all feeling for the position of my machine.
The open seat gave me no help ; I had to do my best by
noting the position of the curved border of the wings,
which were edged with bars of hickory wood that showed
up fairly well against the sky. From time to time Captain
Rohre enabled me to gain some idea of my height by
striking matches, and at last the desired ground lights made
their appearance in the shape of petroleum stable lanterns.
But they were hardly in action a moment before they were
blown out by the ever-freshening breeze, which was now
blowing at a velocity of sixty feet a second. They were
lit again and again till all the available matches were used
up, but only one lantern remained alight. Many were
buried beneath the drifting sand that the wind drove over
the dunes. Magnesium flares were now lit, but their
light was too glaring ; they dazzled me so much that I
could hardly maintain my position in the air. At last
there came fresh and reliable help in the form of electric
pocket torches which had been procured from the village
of Rossitten. Then new boxes of matches and supplies
of petroleum arrived, so that there was enough material
to keep the ground illuminated all through the night.
The valiant members of my aerial police force grew
hourly more accustomed to their work ; I, too, was getting
more used to this night flying. Towards midnight the
full moon looked out now and then through the clouds
which covered the sky, and in its pallid light the sandhills
assumed grotesque shapes. After the moon had finally
withdrawn behind the cloud curtains, the night seemed
as if it would never end. From below the watchers tried
to call up the time to me, but their voices were swallowed
by the wind so that I could not understand a word.
How slowly the time passed ! And then there came yet