The Washington herald., 1908-08-16

Take her in carefully. boys This ship
don't belong. % ne You mustn't dam
age the governments property"
Thus spoke Capt Thomas Baldwin
shortly after dark last night when his
crew started 70 rush into the huge wall
tent al Fort NIyer with The di-.zlbIs.
which had just descended from a two
hour fight II which thirty-three miles or
more had been covered
Understanding Capt BaIdwi1's face
tious remark TO mean that his machine
had met every requirement OF rre War
Department. speciscstious for the final
endurance test. and chat the balloon
would he sold to the government. the
large crowd which followed the ae-ouau-
TO the tent cheered him 20 the echo.
Made Aeronauts Happy.
Capt Baldwin and Engineer Cu-r.zs
were two OF the happiest men ln the
world after the flight They were as
enthusiastic over the rwo-hour voyage as
a child with IT'S first toy. and their 5ub.-
lation knew no bounds As soon as they
Ing men and women crowded TO the side
OF the machine 10 shout words Of praise
or grasp the hands OF two OF Americas
greatest aerorauts- Both the engineer
and pilot were IN the seventh heaven o.
delight
It was most magnificent trip said
Capt Baldwin We sailed on an even
keel almost the entire time. with the ex-
ception Of a few turns 10 the riCaJ or LEFT
90 get out Of air currents did not have
20 move the rudder in the seven fights
to Cherrydsle and back. except 10 start
back over the course There was little
or no pitching. and. although We main
tanned more than - per cent OF the speed
made on Friday evening. at no time did
Nir. Curtiss let the engine out 10 its fun
capacity
y never was in the air two hours be-
fore but the trip this evening did not tire
me in the least The longest I ever was
in the air before this was at Portland.
Greg, when sailed from the exposition
grounds and remained afight one hour
and fifty minutes That's ancient history
though What 7 am proud OF tonight IS
the beautiful behavior OF the ship in those
seven trips 10 CherrydaIa and back 10
Fort Myer- II was beauty voyage and
We got good speed noJwithstandiug the
stif breeze
Plenty of Gasoline.
We only used three parts OF the total
quantity Of gasoline in the tank in the
two hours. and only half Of the lubricat-
ing OIL" said Mr.. Curtiss- The reserve
supply Of gasoline and oil were not touch
&c throughout the trip. We could have
gotten greater speed had I put on more
power. but this would have caused the
balloon TO pitch and buck. so We main
tained an even speed as near as possible
20 keep the bag level in the air Our
highest altitude was probably 500 feet but
the forward steering planes worked so
perfectly they needed little attention.
Now and then I used them TO rise or de- /
scend out OF troublesome air currents
The members Of the board OF test
praised the aeronauts and the dirieibIe. 1
and showed plainly their elation Of the
evenings performance Mai Squier. who /
took the official time for each star. from
Fort Myer 10 Cherrydale. patted Cant.
Baldwin on the back after the dirfgib1a
had been taken into the tent. and re-
marked.
That was a beautiful fight Z IS 2
machine
Maj Squier. when asked when The Of
,ial average speed for the dir.gibIe yyoy1s
be announced. said it would require some
tine to figure It out, and the board prob
ably would not be able 10 compute the
average until Monday morning
A meeting Of the board viii be held in
zen Aliens once Monday morning AZ Q