Shortly afterwards, he had a feeling of suffocation, and gradually grow weaker. He pressed the release lever to open the cover of the cockpit, but it did not function.
He next tried the zip-cord in order to get his head clear of the helmet, but could not find it. Meanwhile, he_was getting steadily weaker.
Then, Swain declared, he thought the only thing to do was to cut open the clestrold Window of lis helmet with a knife, was extremely iMcult owing to his exhaustion, but, with a final effort, he managed to thrust in his knife, enabling an inrush of fresh alr.
Immediately he felt a lot better. He was able to see the instruments, and discovered that he was running short of petrol. He, therefore, quick-
Swain was unaware he had broken the record when he came down from cord the height attained, but they were so complicated that they hed to be sent to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington for the result to be worked out.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.