Great Wind

From Cologne in the Rhineland a huge German air liner droned up and away to London at 90 miles an hour. As it flew, roaring mightily, over the English Channel, passengers looked down at a plodding tug, a pudgy craft capable of perhaps eight miles per hour.

Slowly the tug drew ahead of the air liner, for a great wind was blowing from England at almost 90 miles per hour. The plane was speeding like an arrow through the wind and yet was standing still while the tugboat crept forward. At a touch of the pilot's controls the air liner soared up to quiet air, sped on toward London, left the tug behind.

Throughout England this great wind, so easily overcome by the airplane, blew down 150 telephone lines, blew up floods from several rivers, blew a steeplejack off the spire of St. Helen's Church, London, killing him instantly, injured 300 persons, killed 19 beside the poor steeplejack.