Evening star., 1909-08-30

| -.r,. Mono 20 p.
/ SOumer ->onc. $500
| BETHENEY AVIATION FIELD,
| RHEIMS. August 30.-A twilight vision
5, of Paulhans graceful monoplane like
! great white bird soaring above the plain,
| SO high that il seemed to rise above the
/ yellow harvest moon just rising above
/ the distant hills. and the feeting golden
f!er. as the Curtiss machine has been
dubbed. sma ashng another worlds record
! in the Prix dc la Ntesse, were yester-
day the closing slories of aviation week.
| The victory Of Glenn H. Curtiss. the
sole American representative in the con-
! tests, coming on the heels of his great
victory in the International cup Satur-
day, gives the United States the lions
share OF the honors of the meeting. The
| Prix de la Vitesse of 20 eco francs
| ts4 o00,. divided into four prizes, was
distributed to the four machines making
| three rounds of the course GO kio
meters, at the greatest speed, the first
| prize being won by Curtiss quite handily,
notwithstanding his penaization.
| Curtss only missed winning the lap
speed contest from Bieriot by a small
! margin. He captured second place in
| that event. which was over the full cir
cult of 10 kilometers, or 621 miles. rails
| ing his total money winnings for the
meeting to 3S.O09 francs, besides the in
| ternational cup, which goes to the Aero
! Club of America. inscribed with his
! name.
AS in Saturdays cup contest an acci-
! dent-the only serious one of the meeting
removed Bleriot. the Americans most
| dangerous competitor, from yesterdays
| three-lap speed contest. Bleriot's escape
from death vas narrow ono. tie had
passed the first turn in the Prix de la
,I,rl
to respond. Tho machine turned com
pletely over three times, landing with
such force that the petrol tank burst,
ard catching fire from the hot motor,
enveloped the machine and pilot in
flames. Before Blerot could extricate
himself he was burned about the face
, and hands. but fortunately not seriously
Latham Only Serious Rival.
With Rlerio, out OF the contest Latham
remained Curtiss only serious rival. The
race was intensely exciting. Latham
| with No. 1s' started only four minutes
ahead Of the American. who gave chase.
| Curtiss overhauled him in every kilo-
| meter, finishing less than 400 nleters be-
| hind the Frenchrnan. The time by laps
| was: Latham S. .41 So, 113S 4-5. 26.;''o 2-5;
Curtiss. 7.59 4-5. 1900 IS. o4.l5 Is
| The committee first posted Lstham's
| time with one twentieth penalzstion, as
27.51 2-5. giving Curtiss the victory. as
| the others who had taken part In the
event had not approached the Americans
speed. Latham. however. refused 10 ac-
| cept defeat and brought out No. 2D.
With this he flew considerably faster. his
time being recorded s.33, 11-c.8,
| 25.1S Is. The time. but not the amount
/ OF Eaiization, was posted and there
was excitement among the Americans, as
/ the penalization. which was only one
| twentieth, would bring the time to
26.3:a: Ia. seven seconds less than that
made by C1lrtiss No Official information
could he obtained beyond the fact that
the judges We're awaiting reports from
! the field commissioner AT $50. after
which no start would be possible.
! Curtiss. however, who said ne had been
obliged thrice to muffie his accelerator: on
| the previous fight on accOun: of pitching,
declared his confidence to do better In
another attempt and decided to try again.
/ Within two minutes his machine was out
and speeding across the line. He flew
| higher than he had ever gone before,
keeping the throttle wide open and MAX
! ing each round at swifter speed than In
any of his previous efforts. The first
| round he covered in 7.49 -; the watches
round, and they were snapped at 23.o9 at
| the finish With his penal. .Zation Cur
| tiss' time stood at 25.4a 2-5 and this gave
| him the race by almost minute margin.
! But when he learned that the second
/ round had been traversed In 7.4S 20. less
| than one second from Bleriots lap record,
| he insisted upon making another effort,
/ but failed TO equal the F'renchman's time
| by four seconds.
The Official Summaries.
Prix de la vitesse-First, Curtiss penal
| ization one-tenth, % minutes 10 20 sec
ands; Latham mo. TO- penalization one
twentieth, 26 minutes 33 15 seconds; third
Tissandier. without penalizatiOn. oS
minutes 80 10 second: fourth, Lefebvre,
without penalization. - minutes; De Lam
| bert. % minutes 2 seconds: Latham, No.
H. ,.one-tHentieth. % minutes II % sec
| onds: Paulhan, 81 minutes 40 4-i seconds;
! Bunau-Varllla, one-twentieth, II minutes
p 4-5 seconds; Sommer. ! hour 10 minutes
| SO seconds.
The Prix de latitude 1OOuO francs. to
| be awarded to the aeroplaniSt attaining
! the highest altitude. was won by Latham
who reached a height of 155 meters (about
4D feet- Farman was second. with 10
meters; Paulhan third. 80 meters, and
| Rougier fourth. 80 meters.
/ The passenger-carryingo contest was won
| by Farnan. With two passengers he
MADE the circuit of the course In 10 min
utes 80 seconds. and with one passenger
| n s. minutes 81 A.. seconds. Iefe,vre
| with one passenger. completed the lap in
II minutes 20 40 seconds.
/ The lap speed contest went to Bleriot
who covered the ten kiometers in min
| utes AZ 4-o seconds. Curtiss was second
with Z minutes is 2-5 seconds. Bunau-
Varilla. with 100 kilometers. won the Prix
Des Mechaniciens. Rougier was second
with 80 kilometers. The dirigible balloon
Col. Renard captured the Prix de
Aeronats. prize of 1O.GU francs, for
the best time In five circuits of the
course 40 klometers. The time was
| hour - minutes 40 seconds.
The Zodiac covered the 80 kilometers in
1 hour % minutes l second.
High in the Air
The altitude and weight t-carrying con-
| tests were the other most interesting
events of the day. Farman, mounting
in great circles, rose until he was three
times as high the flag above the tribune.
He moved back and forth over the heads
! thusiasm Latham's feat was more
ing first TO a height of 200 feet he made
an almost complete tour of the plain.
Then mounting until he reached a height
OF almost 800 feet, ne few high over the
captive balloon, executing graceful circles.
Farman IN the Frix dc Passengers car
ricd two newspaper reporters, one sitting
on the others shoulders His single pas
senge: the Marquis de Polignac
president OF the committee on aviation
Iefebvre carried Herbert Ward. the
sculptor. who was with Stanleys rear
guard in Africa.
Bunau-Narilla's achievement of 100 kiio-
meters attracted much comment. lie Is
only nineteen years Of age and received