Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
I
circled
my
home
field
once
or
twice
just
to
warm
her
up
,
and
then
with
a
wave
to
Perkins
and
the
others
,
I
flattened
out
my
planes
and
put
her
on
her
highest
.
She
skimmed
like
a
swallow
down
wind
for
eight
or
ten
miles
until
I
turned
her
nose
up
a
little
and
she
began
to
climb
in
a
great
spiral
for
the
cloud
-
bank
above
me
.
It
’
s
all
-
important
to
rise
slowly
and
adapt
yourself
to
the
pressure
as
you
go
.
"
It
was
a
close
,
warm
day
for
an
English
September
,
and
there
was
the
hush
and
heaviness
of
impending
rain
.
Now
and
then
there
came
sudden
puffs
of
wind
from
the
south
-
west
—
one
of
them
so
gusty
and
unexpected
that
it
caught
me
napping
and
turned
me
half
-
round
for
an
instant
.
I
remember
the
time
when
gusts
and
whirls
and
air
-
pockets
used
to
be
things
of
danger
—
before
we
learned
to
put
an
overmastering
power
into
our
engines
.
Just
as
I
reached
the
cloud
-
banks
,
with
the
altimeter
marking
three
thousand
,
down
came
the
rain
.
My
word
,
how
it
poured
!
It
drummed
upon
my
wings
and
lashed
against
my
face
,
blurring
my
glasses
so
that
I
could
hardly
see
.
I
got
down
on
to
a
low
speed
,
for
it
was
painful
to
travel
against
it
.
As
I
got
higher
it
became
hail
,
and
I
had
to
turn
tail
to
it
.
One
of
my
cylinders
was
out
of
action
—
a
dirty
plug
,
I
should
imagine
,
but
still
I
was
rising
steadily
with
plenty
of
power
.
After
a
bit
the
trouble
passed
,
whatever
it
was
,
and
I
heard
the
full
,
deep
-
throated
purr
—
the
ten
singing
as
one
.
That
’
s
where
the
beauty
of
our
modern
silencers
comes
in
.
We
can
at
last
control
our
engines
by
ear
.
How
they
squeal
and
squeak
and
sob
when
they
are
in
trouble
!
All
those
cries
for
help
were
wasted
in
the
old
days
,
when
every
sound
was
swallowed
up
by
the
monstrous
racket
of
the
machine
.
If
only
the
early
aviators
could
come
back
to
see
the
beauty
and
perfection
of
the
mechanism
which
have
been
bought
at
the
cost
of
their
lives
!
"
About
nine
-
thirty
I
was
nearing
the
clouds
.
Down
below
me
,
all
blurred
and
shadowed
with
rain
,
lay
the
vast
expanse
of
Salisbury
Plain
.
Half
a
dozen
flying
machines
were
doing
hackwork
at
the
thousand
-
foot
level
,
looking
like
little
black
swallows
against
the
green
background
.
I
dare
say
they
were
wondering
what
I
was
doing
up
in
cloud
-
land
.
Suddenly
a
grey
curtain
drew
across
beneath
me
and
the
wet
folds
of
vapours
were
swirling
round
my
face
.
It
was
clammily
cold
and
miserable
.
But
I
was
above
the
hail
-
storm
,
and
that
was
something
gained
.
The
cloud
was
as
dark
and
thick
as
a
London
fog
.
In
my
anxiety
to
get
clear
,
I
cocked
her
nose
up
until
the
automatic
alarm
-
bell
rang
,
and
I
actually
began
to
slide
backwards
.
My
sopped
and
dripping
wings
had
made
me
heavier
than
I
thought
,
but
presently
I
was
in
lighter
cloud
,
and
soon
had
cleared
the
first
layer
.
There
was
a
second
—
opal
-
coloured
and
fleecy
—
at
a
great
height
above
my
head
,
a
white
,
unbroken
ceiling
above
,
and
a
dark
,
unbroken
floor
below
,
with
the
monoplane
labouring
upwards
upon
a
vast
spiral
between
them
.
It
is
deadly
lonely
in
these
cloud
-
spaces
.
Once
a
great
flight
of
some
small
water
-
birds
went
past
me
,
flying
very
fast
to
the
westwards
.
The
quick
whir
of
their
wings
and
their
musical
cry
were
cheery
to
my
ear
.
I
fancy
that
they
were
teal
,
but
I
am
a
wretched
zoologist
.
Now
that
we
humans
have
become
birds
we
must
really
learn
to
know
our
brethren
by
sight
.
"
The
wind
down
beneath
me
whirled
and
swayed
the
broad
cloud
-
plain
.
Once
a
great
eddy
formed
in
it
,
a
whirlpool
of
vapour
,
and
through
it
,
as
down
a
funnel
,
I
caught
sight
of
the
distant
world
.
A
large
white
biplane
was
passing
at
a
vast
depth
beneath
me
.
I
fancy
it
was
the
morning
mail
service
betwixt
Bristol
and
London
.
Then
the
drift
swirled
inwards
again
and
the
great
solitude
was
unbroken
.
"
Just
after
ten
I
touched
the
lower
edge
of
the
upper
cloud
-
stratum
.
It
consisted
of
fine
diaphanous
vapour
drifting
swiftly
from
the
westwards
.
The
wind
had
been
steadily
rising
all
this
time
and
it
was
now
blowing
a
sharp
breeze
—
twenty
-
eight
an
hour
by
my
gauge
.
Already
it
was
very
cold
,
though
my
altimeter
only
marked
nine
thousand
.
The
engines
were
working
beautifully
,
and
we
went
droning
steadily
upwards
.
The
cloud
-
bank
was
thicker
than
I
had
expected
,
but
at
last
it
thinned
out
into
a
golden
mist
before
me
,
and
then
in
an
instant
I
had
shot
out
from
it
,
and
there
was
an
unclouded
sky
and
a
brilliant
sun
above
my
head
—
all
blue
and
gold
above
,
all
shining
silver
below
,
one
vast
,
glimmering
plain
as
far
as
my
eyes
could
reach
.
It
was
a
quarter
past
ten
o
’
clock
,
and
the
barograph
needle
pointed
to
twelve
thousand
eight
hundred
.
Up
I
went
and
up
,
my
ears
concentrated
upon
the
deep
purring
of
my
motor
,
my
eyes
busy
always
with
the
watch
,
the
revolution
indicator
,
the
petrol
lever
,
and
the
oil
pump
.
No
wonder
aviators
are
said
to
be
a
fearless
race
.
With
so
many
things
to
think
of
there
is
no
time
to
trouble
about
oneself
.
About
this
time
I
noted
how
unreliable
is
the
compass
when
above
a
certain
height
from
earth
.
At
fifteen
thousand
feet
mine
was
pointing
east
and
a
point
south
.
The
sun
and
the
wind
gave
me
my
true
bearings
.
"
I
had
hoped
to
reach
an
eternal
stillness
in
these
high
altitudes
,
but
with
every
thousand
feet
of
ascent
the
gale
grew
stronger
.
My
machine
groaned
and
trembled
in
every
joint
and
rivet
as
she
faced
it
,
and
swept
away
like
a
sheet
of
paper
when
I
banked
her
on
the
turn
,
skimming
down
wind
at
a
greater
pace
,
perhaps
,
than
ever
mortal
man
has
moved
.
Yet
I
had
always
to
turn
again
and
tack
up
in
the
wind
’
s
eye
,
for
it
was
not
merely
a
height
record
that
I
was
after
.
By
all
my
calculations
it
was
above
little
Wiltshire
that
my
air
-
jungle
lay
,
and
all
my
labour
might
be
lost
if
I
struck
the
outer
layers
at
some
farther
point
.
"
When
I
reached
the
nineteen
-
thousand
-
foot
level
,
which
was
about
midday
,
the
wind
was
so
severe
that
I
looked
with
some
anxiety
to
the
stays
of
my
wings
,
expecting
momentarily
to
see
them
snap
or
slacken
.
I
even
cast
loose
the
parachute
behind
me
,
and
fastened
its
hook
into
the
ring
of
my
leathern
belt
,
so
as
to
be
ready
for
the
worst
.
Now
was
the
time
when
a
bit
of
scamped
work
by
the
mechanic
is
paid
for
by
the
life
of
the
aeronaut
.
But
she
held
together
bravely
.
Every
cord
and
strut
was
humming
and
vibrating
like
so
many
harp
-
strings
,
but
it
was
glorious
to
see
how
,
for
all
the
beating
and
the
buffeting
,
she
was
still
the
conqueror
of
Nature
and
the
mistress
of
the
sky
.
