The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04
TRAINING SCHOOL
 FOR THE AIRSH|P Flying Machines SuppIant the
 Horse on Race Track AT FAMOUS MORRIS PARK
Now Known as Aviation Grounds of Aeronautic Society-Informatio
 Models and Machinery Col
 Iected for Experimenters.

New York. October s.-The navigation of the air has at last become an actual problem in the science of transportation Like every other development in this field the airship has had to go through a period in which it has been regarded merely as a scientific and expensive toy, attainable only by the rich. The locomotive was looked on in this manner at first, and the bicycle and the automobile have suc- eessively passed through the same stage. Naturally the airship. particularly the heavier than air variety. through which the final solution of the problem of aerial navigation is expected. has had to pass through the same stages. For various reasons it has had a more difficult course than any of its predecessors. Its develop ment has been looked upon as being in the hands of a few men, and wealth has been regarded as an absolute requisite.
 Now all this is changed, for within the past few weeks New York has not only made experimentation in air navigation possible for persons of small means, but has also seen the incorporation of an aerial travel company which plans to carry passengers through the air above the streets of the city just as other means of transportation now do on the ground. Indeed it is now even claimed that some not distant future date will see the pave ments of various city thoroughfares col ored in different tones in order that aerial navigators may be able to distinguish easily places in which they may land. Of course all this may sound visionary. Actually, however, it is not There is nothing more impossible about it than there was in connection with the phono- graph or the telephone. And in addition to this the general development of this practical side of flying is now for the first time under way and in this city. Up to now this has been in the hands , of a few men, In this country, and in- deed throughout the world, interest has been largely centered in the Wright aero- planes, the famous June Buzz of the Hammondsport group of experiments and abroad in the machines of Farman, Della grange and a few others. All these are i men of means or backing. All of them have had the advantage of experiment station grounds offered by various govern ments and the Incentive of rich cash | offers.
 But now the development of flying has for the first time been made possible for the man of small means. Within few months this city has seen the organiza- ton of the Aeronautic society, made up of
 
 aeronautics, which has for its purpose the furnishing of testing grounds, tool sheds, and all the necessary parapher- nalia for experiments in the navigation of the air by heavier than air machines. At the grounds of the society any man who thinks he has anything to contribute to the solution of the problem of aerial flight will have the best facilities and all assistance in trying out his ideas, and the millionaire experimenter will have no advantage over the wage-earner.
 oNthing could exemplify better than the organization of the Aeronautie so- ciety, not only that there is an important future for air navigation, but the belief | that as a practical problem 1t will be solved by practical investigators and not by persons of wealth, who merely re- gard flying as offering a possibility of a new and expensive sensation.
 The land which has been leased by the society which to conduct experiments Is none other than the old Morris park rack track, in this city, in former years the scene of many an exciting contest be- tween turf favorites.- Here with a clear air track, the first of its kind in the world, measuring more than two miles, airships, the latest development in trans portation will supplant the horse. In the club house now devoted to the work
 
 every conceivable kind of air machines and models of all kinds of aerial con- struction from kites to dirigible balloons have supplanted the portraits of famous equine racers. Already at this first prac- tical air park in the world more than a dozen machines are completed or in the course of construction, and in connection with the whole project nothing is more significant of the practical future of the airship than the fact that most of the experimenters are men of small means wage-earners, mechanics and the like. It was primarily to give an opportunity to such men as these that the Aeronautic society was organized.
 Perhaps the most interesting of the various flying machines now being tested at the new aviation grounds is the heli- copter of W. R. Kimball. Except for Maxms dirigible it is the most eXpen- sive and the most beautifully constructed airship in the world. It's motor is a marvel Weighing only 125 pounds it nevertheless develops 50 horsepower by