FORCED DOWN-CAPTURED BEHIND THE LINES-A PRISONER OF WAR-ESCAPE-SIX DAYS OF TERROR.

Many were the bullets that had whizzed past me during the years of the war up to this stage. it required great nerve to disregard these dangers and to expose oneself to them day after day, month after month, and year after year, without losing one's peace of mind or becoming unduly reckless. But my nerves had not given way, and so far I had come through. In order to withstand everything it was necessary to formulate definite principles, and to live up to them. First of all I had tried to picture all the possibilities that might happen. There was the possibility of being wounded; I had already been wounded twice and was well acquainted with this way of being knocked out. Naturally there was the further possibility that I might sustain wounds which would have a life-long effect. But I felt that come what might, life for me under all conditions would seem worth living.

PEACE AT LAST-PERILS OF NIGHT FLYING-THE CHALLENGE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC-MEETING HUENEFELD--PREPARATIONS

After my successful escape from imprisonment I returned again to aviation. At Boeblingen I was given planes to fly of every possible type. 'The one I like most was the Fokker D7, with which I enjoyed looping about in the air for half hours at a time. During this time I met with a small airplane accident.

I was flying with my Police Flying Echelon, which had just been formed, in my first propaganda flight over our Swabian capital, Stuttgart. Even at the take-off it seemed to me as if something were out of order with my fuel system.

ARRIVAL IN IRELAND-GHOSTS OF THE OCEAN-

THE TAKE-OFF AT DAWN-THE LAST FAREWELL-ENDLESS WATER-A MOMENT OF ANXIETY-"GOD IS WITH US."

The weather following our arrival in Ireland was so incredibly bad, that in spite of all our eagerness we were unable to take off. Owing to the long heavy rains, the soil on the Baldonnel aerodome had become softened to such an extent, that we could not consider taking off with a heavily loaded plane unless a concrete or wooden runway had been at our disposal. The construction of such a runway would undoubtedly have taken weeks, so it was better to wait for the kind sun to do the whole job in two or three days with the heat of its rays.

DODGING THE SLEET-AN ANGRY WIND-MOUNTAINS OF CLOUDS-THE INFERNO OF THE SEA -A BATTLE IN THE DARKNESS.

The weather during the noon hours became even sunnier than before. Beautiful light clouds were hanging in the fresh sunny air. The endless water stretched in front of us, as still as if it were a small inland lake. The course of the wind, marked by the foam bubbles, veered in the meantime all the way round from South-East to North-West. The streaks of foam came wrigling against us like long snakes. Out of the thick cumulus clouds which hung in the sunshine white streaks of rain fell down to the sea. But we were able easily to fly around these local patches of rain. Sometimes the warm rays of the sun would shine into the cockpit at my side, while the other side of the plane would be hit by cold air currents from the showers of rain and sleet which pelted down upon the ocean at that side. We always skimmed, as it were, the edges of these patches in which snow and ice lashed the waves. Woe to the pilot who at night, without noticing it, gets into these dangerous snow and hail storms. Whether he would be lost, or whether there existed a way of fighting through these barricades to victory, I did not yet know. But knowing that the threatening moonless night was coming, these thoughts pressed heavily upon my heart.

AN ETERNITY OF NIGHT-FLYING BY THE STARS-LAND OR WATER?-BLEAK WILDERNESS-ONE HOUR OF FUEL-THE "STEAMER" IN THE ICE -LANDING AT GREENLY ISLAND.

For five hours nothing but night—I could not even see the fog. My flashlight beams every now and then, lit up the compass. My eyes were tired and sore. But happy hopes filled me. We still had gasoline for many more hours, and could correct an error in our course in the morning. I sometimes closed my burning eyes and fought the attacks of tiredness.

We climbed slowly. I did not want to give the Bremen too much gas, and I observed carefully my thermometer. It dropped, and registered 2 degrees above freezing point. This meant that we did not have to fear that ice would collect on the plane. We hoped now to be over land, but no light could be seen in the sea of clouds. The tired eyes saw mirages. Lights seemed to flash up here and there.

TO MURRAY BAY WITH BALCHEN-CRUEL BEAUTY -CIVILIZATION'S GREETING-OVER QUEBEC AND MONTREAL-THE FLIGHT DOWN THE HUDSON-NEW YORK!

On April 26 the weather cleared after the southeast storm of the previous day which had broken the ice close to the coast. In the morning we had at first quite a thick ground fog, but this was not very high, and in all probability would move off soon. Therefore we had to postpone our take-off which was originally set for 5 o'clock.

But towards 7 A.M. the fog had cleared entirely. It was flying weather. We were just intending to start the engines when Balchen, the relief pilot who had come to take us back to civilization returned after once more ascending the hill in order to observe from there the weather conditions. He informed us that from the direction in which we intended to fly, bad weather with drifting snow was approaching. So once more we had to postpone the take-off. Soon afterwards it began to snow heavily, and we were glad we had not started. Later, we all climbed again the height of Long Point, and established there that weather conditions were improving. The snowstorm had stopped, and on the Eastern horizon clear sunshine shimmered through.