Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-09-01
laTHAiA HOLDS RECORD
Aviator ,kOWs His
Competitors How to Fly
He Descended Only When His Case.
Iene Tank Was Empty-No Other
Aeroplane Compares With His
i'm Lines of Grace.
i'm Lines of Grace.

Betheny Aviation Field, Rheims,
August 26.-Hubert Latham, the
French aviator, today took glorious
revenge for the hard luck which he
experienced in his recent attempts TO
cross the English Channel, and his in
defatigabIe but hitherto unsuccessful.
efforts to accomplish some notable
achievement during the present meet
ing, by establishing a new worlds rec
ord for distance, 154 kilometres, 600
metres, or 95.SS miles. Latham COW
red fifteen laps, OF $50 kilometres IN
two hours IS minutes 9 seconds, and
the full distance in two hours - Min
utes 9 3-5 seconds, (which also are
worlds records. the flight being at the
rate of about 68 IL kilometres an
hour, as compared with So IL made
by Wright at LeMans, and a fraction
under SO made by Paulham yester-
day.
Except for the one-lap speed
made by Bleriot and Curtlss this
week, and Paulham's time records in
the air, Latham now holds e rec
ord for distance and speed. Like Paul
lam. he only descended when the gas
tttu. tank was empty.
Nothing could have exceeded the
beauty and impressiveness Of hte pro-
lcnged flight. In grace Of lines, no
other aeroplane here compares with
Latham's monoplane. The slightly
tilted planes from the long skiffff-like
body give it a resemblance, when
close, to a winged canoe, while sail
ing high up in the air it looks from
a distance like a mammoth dragon
fly. For an hour, with futtering
wings, like a living thing it fought
it's way against the storm of WIND and
rain at an everage height Of $50 feet,
mounting higher as the wind rose, I'M
til during the worst Of the storm it
was up fully 800 feet. The contention
of the advocates of the biplane that
the monop1ane would be unable to live
in a strong breeze has been amply re-
futed.
Latham, earlier in the day, with
Number 49," another aeroplane of
the same type, made a flight of more
than 70 kilometres and after he had
finished in the afternoon Count de
Lambert covered n hundred and
sixteen kilometres C72.03 miles, in
commanding fashion.
Three flights, therefore, in a single
Glenn H. Curtiss, the American,
had two practice spins, but although
his machine behaved splendidly, its
speed was disappointing. An accident
which Bleriot suffered about dusk
may improve Curtiss' chances for the
alight in front of the tribune with a
passenger aboard his big S0-horsepow-
err machine, Bleriot crashed into a
fence, the wings and propeller being
broken. He narrowly missed killing
several of the spectators. Whether Or
not the motor. was injured has not
beer definitely determined. If so
Curtiss' most dangerous rival has
been put at a disadvantage, Is BleriCt
intended to use the wrecked machine
in the international event; he quail
fed with another.
Rougier also, while giving an exhi-I
bition, landed among a crowd lunch
il g on the grass and slightly injured
two women and a man. BlerioI in
sists that his accident was not due to
recklessness, with which he was
charged by the crowd. He asserts
that a squadron of dragons was NOV
toward the fence, compelling him to
hoose between landing among the
lorses or into the barrier.