The Detroit times., 1909-12-29
is. THIS AVIATOR
HOAX|NG. NATION
BY HIS SECRECY?
New Englanders Think Wallace E.
Tillinghast, Expert Mechanical
Engineer, Has Wonderful Air
ship-Flights Concealed.
Young Inventor Says He Has Gone
Faster Than 120 Miles an Hour
In His Strange Craft.

Nentor, has made the greatest airship
The strange moving lights seen by
thousands OF persons In New England
were made by his airship. Tillinghast
| says Yet he Is unwilling to exhibit II
by daylight. and has given only fiimsy
excuses for his secrecy. Why does ril-
hnghast hesitate TO show his invention
TO the public2 And why did he sup
press news OF his great test IL. as he
says. he really flew from Boston TO
New York In less than five hours?
he's an interesting chap. and our wor-
cester correspondent has written the
| Following story giving some new facts
| about him and his machine.)
| WORCESTER, Mass. Dec. 29.-The
claims made for his new airship by
inventor Wallace f. Tillinghast are
no more startling than the airship's
design. There isn't an airship any
where like II.
Il can fly as no one has ever flown
before" he said TO The Times CORE
spondent here. MY airship will make
l20 miles an hour. II can be stopped
In midair, and Is as safe--even safer
than an auto. When | get good and
ready | will show 1t to the world"
The fact that not once, but several
seen strange moving lights In the sky,
seems TO bear out what Tillinghast
says. But even his closest friends do
not know why he has kept his wonder
iul invention such secret.
Who Is Tillinghast? Does his rec
ord indicate that he would perpetrate
hoax on the world OF aeronautics?
Decidedly IL does not. He is Chi
cago Tech" school graduate, an ex-
pert mechanical and electrical en-
gineer. He has seen service with the
Northern Pacific railroad, the West
inghouse concern and Allen & Redd
OF Providence. While at the last
named place Tillinghast invented
heat regulator for steam and hot water
systems, which Is making him a for
tune. He patented IL and manufac-
tures 1t at a good-sized factory here.
In all his previous inventions and
work he has had no secrets. Why does
he shelter HIS aeroplane SO cunningly?
The one remarkable feature about
the machine Is the way Ii keeps itself
right side up in any kind OF a wind.
I 1t has two giant "feelers" like an In
sect's antennae. These are of rigid
frames OF steel. 35 feet long. and at
the end of each Is a box kite. No
matter how the wind blows, these kites
right themselves and the machine to
which they are attached. They can
be raised or lowered. When there is
no opposing wind, they are lifted TO
an angle Of 45 degrees.
IF | am taking night flights over
Boston and New England that's my
business! said Tillinghast. II will
not say that I am or that I am not,
have gone faster than 120 miles an
hour. can go faster again. | have
had this machine perfected long
enough to take more than $50 flights.
And where some OF those flights took
me will surprise lot OF people when
get ready to talk"
One of the wonderful features OF the
machine Is its car Bleriot and La
than have their seats above the rigid
spread of wings. Tillinghast sits be-
low his plane, in little cubbyhole
protected by an automobile wind
shield. Inside is his wonderful en-
gine. He has made application TO
patent 1t. he says. II is lighter than
that of the Wright brothers and far
more powerful. 1t generates enough
electricity for his front searchlight
and a red tail-light which will serve
to warn aviators OF the future, who
may be on his trail. OF the peril Of
collision.
That his claims are well-founded--
well, you don't know what to believe.
There is an airship. That's sure. Thou
sands have seen II. Here In New Eng
land they believe in Tillinghast.