The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-18
CONQUEST OF THE AIR

been blown down several times. ths
army dirigible and other balloons are
being shipped to- Omaha, whence the
aeronauticai detachment OF five officsrs
ana seventeen men OF the signal corps
are being transferred for practice.
The American navy has no airshipx.
although experts say 1t should have sew
eral aeroplsnss for scouting. Lack OF
tunds explains the situation In this
case also. An effort will be made 10
provide one next year. Special artil-
Iery mounted on automobiles has been
putt abroad to pursue and destroy
military aircraft and AN artificial fog
is planned to hinder their operations.
Numerous records in fight have been
made and broken during the past few
months. Wilbur Wright few contin-
uousiy for two hours and twenty-one
minutes and attained height of $50
feet. The longest trip Of the kind W a.
made by the German Gross" which
left Berlin carrying four passengers
ana returned to the starting point ar
ter covering 176 miles IN thirteen
hours. Point to point balloon racs.
have been held at North Adams, Mass,
TO Henry Farnam, the Scotchman, be-
longs the honor of having made the
nrst cross-country aeroplane digit He
travelled seventeen miles on this trim
az speed OF fifty-ope miles an hour, In
france. Hieriot. the Frenchman, in
mis- monopiane, not long ago, few an
equal distance across the country. The
American. Captain Cody, recently per
tected an aeroplane for the British
army. The Aerial Navigation Com
pany has been Incorporated to do a
freight and passenger business be-
tween Boston and New York.
A new code Of laws governing the
highway of the air is recognized me-
cessity. Aeronautics has become SO
popular at Los Angeles that the au-
thorities propose to invoke the law
against baloonists, forbidding the DUNN
Ing OF rubbish on another's premises
this course being deemed necessary be.
cause OF so much ballast being thrown
overheard onto private property. Leo
stevens favors governmental control OF
aviation and system of licensing
aeronauts. An International congress
on aeronantics to determine the rights
OF nations In the air they breathe is
Europe is ahead Of America in en-
couraging the air navigator. The old
worlo mas onered ss6000o in prizes not
70 mention Germany's prize OF $500, 600
Tor twenty-four-hour journey. The
nrst international aviation races will
pc held in France for the valuable
James Gordon Bennett cur and IS 900
In cash prizes. In this country the re.
s~n. hauonaI championship race from
indianapolis will be succeeded In the
Iaii by q great "air carnival" al st.
Louis and series of aeronauticaI con-
tests in connection with the Fulton
Hudson celebration at New York.
the conquest Of the air Is already a
fact. Aeronautics has Progressed fur
tner In the past year than in any pre-
vious decade. The aeroplane and the
dirigible are being operated in nearly
every civilized country. It took CEN
turtles to evolve the Lusitania; the To-
comotiye was the result of many long
years OF development. The autornobile
has been perfected In ten years. 1t
looks as though aerial flight would
reach something like full development
in less time.
Copyright, 1909. by Frederic u.
Haskin.)
Tomorrow-rraining the Boay.