Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-07-08
WRIGHT AERoPLlNE
FLIES OVER The BAY.
Circles Around Miss Liberty and
Hovers Over Ldsltania.
NEW YoRK's AIRsHIP DISPLAY
Three Successful Flights by the Zig
Biplane Comprise a Historic
Event Equal to Bleriot's Cross
ing the English Channel.

New York City. Wilbur Wright
scored first blood in his amicable RI
valry with Glenn H. Curtiss for chief
honors in the aeroplane flights held
at Governors Island by navigating his
big biplane successfully out over the
bay and around the Statue of Liberty.
It was the first time the goddess had
seen anything except the gulls circle
around her lofty head, and the fight
takes rank with the crossing of the
English Channel by Bleriot as a his
toric event in the annals Of
tics.
Wright made three flights, two in
the morning and ne just before sun
down. Curtiss made only one. and
that was so short thatU amounted to
nothing more tina a test of the motor
and the propeller of his machine. But
both the avlators were well satisfied
with the results.
From the start the complete mast
cry which Wright exercised over his
machine impressed every one. There
was something heroic in the pose of
this lean, clean-shaven man as he flew
between earth and sky. He sat rigid,
his legs braced firmly against the mar
row rail in front, his left hand on the
lever that regulates the forward
planes, his right on the one that does
the double duty Of manipulating the
rudder and adjusting the flexible tips
of the great wings so that the ma
chine balances itself on the curves.
Long, loud whistles Of tugs and
steamers told of his triumphant pro-
o-3 ~ 1oo- 410- g.
the machine came in sight again as it
rounded the north end of Governors
Island. AS he neared the starting
point Wright made a graceful semi
circle and came to earth within fifty
feet of the railway from which he
had risen.
Wright's second fight, in which he
went across the bay almost to the
New Jersey shore, and circled the
Statute of Liberty, was more spec1ac-
ular still. 1t was shortly after 1915
a. M, when he left the ground, and
he showed the precision with which
his machine could be handled by max
ing a complete circle over the islands
extension that had a diameter OF lit
tie more than 100 yards. Meanwhile
he was rising steadily ID q spiral
course, and by the time he was head
ed once more for the water and the
Jersey shore he had gainad an aIti-
tude of about 100 feet. Still rising,
he headed straight away from the
land and in a few seconds he was out
over the water.
Tugs, ferryboats and all the traffic
in that part of the b&H paused to
watch the unprecedented spectacle.
Wright held a straight cqrse toward
Bedloe's Island and passe the Statue
Of Liberty at just about hhe level of
the goddess heaI. He fntinued on
until it seemed to his fri4lds on Gov
errors Island as if he redehed a point
above the Jersey shore, but Wright
said afterward that he stung around
when still over the water.
The Lusitania was outward bound,
n all her passengers were on deck.
Just as he scared above them the Lu-
sitania opened her whistle in a ire
mendous blast, and Wright said after
ward he distinctly felt his airship
rock and reel in the burst of hot air
that came up with the esfaping steam.
She passed within twenty feet Of Lib
erty's torch, then headed slightly
northward and with a graceful curve
came above Governors Island once
more, just to the south of Fort Will
lam.
One more circle over the land and
| the machine f1oated downward as the
motor was stopped. 1t was then that
= the crowding of the spectators on the
reservation forced Wright to give sew.
. eral sharp turns to his rudder just be
l fore landing, and when the machine
= struck earth it heeled over so sharply
that the end of one of the planes wa:
v almost buried in the sand.
II was making about fifty miles Al
hour on the way back from the Jer
: sey Shore" said Wright after alight
e ing, "but on the way out the wine
held me down to about thirty miles
r The trial was a complete success, an
I am delighted with the way the ma
chine behaved. / had no troubl
y from the addition of the canoe, which
has been dashed to the bottom of tn
\ machine. as a safeguard against
3 landing in the water. The machin
balanced perfectly and the motto
worked without a hitch"
.a:y*. -
Failure of Dirigibles.
: New York City.-In their attemI
t RI win tho Wor1d's $40 q FultO