II01-1954-TOM SWIFT and His Flying Lab by Victor Appleton II

Author:Victor Appleton II [pseud.] [Appleton, Victor II]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Published: 1954-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

14. A BRILLIANT FORMULA

"THE HAIRPIN turn! It's the only thing that will save us!" Tom murmured grimly. The runway was too short for the giant ship!

With a big stone wall looming ahead of him, he applied full left rudder and brake. At the same instant he gave the starboard engines a spurt of power.

In a flash the Sky Queen swung around, so that it faced the other way. It was racing at great speed toward the wall. But now when Tom opened the throttle and gave the engines full power, the terrific thrust of the jets worked as a brake to overcome the momentum of the plane. In a few seconds the ship came to a stop.

No one spoke for some time. Then finally Rip Hulse, putting an arm across Tom's shoulders, said:

"That, my friend, was the greatest piece of flying I have ever seen."

Bud leaned forward. "Pal, it was superb! I thought we were dead ducks."

Mr. Swift added his praise. "If I ever had any doubts about your invention and the way you could fly it, Tom, they're gone now."

"Thanks," said Tom simply, adding, "What about Chow? I hope he's okay."

As they left the cabin to find out, they met the cook. His face was ash white and he was trembling. Seeing the others unharmed seemed to reassure him. As they filed outdoors, he said:

"I'm sure glad to be on this here planet agin." Then his good humor returned and with a grin he added, "Even if it ain't in good ole Texas."

By this time the ground crew, led by Hank, had arrived in one of the crash trucks.

"Thank goodness, you're safe!" Hank cried. "Anybody hurt?"

Tom assured him that none of the passengers had been harmed and the undercarriage had stood up to the strain admirably.

"I want it thoroughly checked, though," Tom said.

He then explained that some of the lifters had burned out.

"We'll need new ones, made of a metal with greater heat resistance. Have you any ideas, Dad?"

"Not on the spur of the moment," Mr. Swift replied, but he promised to give the problem careful thought.

An hour later when Tom went to talk to him, his father said he had not solved the problem as yet, and that he had received an urgent message from Washington, D.C.

"Officials down there seem to think my advice on some problem they have in South America will help keep the Western Hemisphere out of trouble."

Mr. Swift said he knew very little about the situation, but it definitely had to do with the country they now called Bapcho.

"I tried to tell Senator Trumper, who contacted me, that I am a scientist and not a politician, but he insists I come down for a conference, anyway."

"When are you leaving?"

"At once."

"But what about our trip to Verano?" Tom asked.

His father smiled. "I should be back here by the time you have installed new lifters in the Sky Queen. How about trying to invent a new heat-resistant alloy?"

Tom spent the entire next day in the metallurgical

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