Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-27
LATHAM MAKES
WORLD RECORD
WITH AERONEF
FRENCH AVIATOR SHOWS WON
DERFUL MANIPULATION
AERoNAUT AT RHEIMS COVERS
DISTANCE AT GREAT SPEED
MonopIane In Hands of Pilot Safely
Withstands Storm and Mounts
Gracefully to Height of
800 Feet
rBy Associated Press.1


glish channel. by establishing a new
worlds aeronef record, for distance, 154
kilometers, $50 meters or 95.SS miles.
Latham covered Is laps, or 150 kilo-
meters, in two hours 13 minutes sec
onds and the full distance in two hours
is minutes 3-5 seconds, which also
are worlds records. The flight was at
the rate OF about 68 1-2 kilometers an
hour, as compared with SO 1-2 made by
Wright at Lemans and fraction un-
der fifty made by Paulham yesterday
Nothing could have exceeded the beau
ty and impressiYeness of the pro-
longed flight.
In grace of lines no other aeroplane
here compares with Latham's mono
plane. The slightly tilted planes from
the long skiff like body gives it re
semblance, when close, to a winged
canoe, while sailing high up in the air
1t looks from the distance like a man.
math dragon.
For an hour with futtering wings
like a living thing, 1t fought its way
against the storm Of rain and wind at
an average height of $50 feet, mount
ing higher as the wind rose, until dur
ing the worst of the storm, it was up
fully 800 feet.
The contention of the advocates of
the biplane that the monoplane would
be unable to live In a strong breeze,
has been amply refuted.
The fifth day of aviation week was
ushered in with ideal weather condi-
tions. The light airs and overcast sky
brought the flyers out early and before
noon a dozen machines were circling
above the plain.
The program today included the con-
tinuaticn of the trials of the Grand
Prix de la Champagne. the endurance
test: the lap event, the speed test;
race between diriglble balloons and a
landing competition for spherical bal
looms.
Latham in a monoplane was the
first aviator to get away in an effort
to beat Paulham's endurance record Of
yesterday of 253:24 Latham started
flying at great height.
Sommer. Cockburn, Bunau-Varilla-
de la Grange and finally Curtiss, the
American contestants, followed Latham
into the air.
Curtiss' purpose was to improve his
record in the speed lap contest. He
accomplished three rounds in an i'm
pressive manner, but his speed was dis
appointing. His total time was 2S min
utes SO 3-5 seconds.
In the meantime the other flyers, ex-
cept Latham and De la Grange, had
alighted without doing anything.
Machines Forced to Descend
A noteworthy feature was witnessed
when De la Grange, flying low, started
to overtake Latham. who was still
high in the air. There was a pretty
race for four miles, and De la Grange
was overhauling Latham when he was
compelled to descend. Latham, after
covering 43.47 miles was obliged to de-
scend because of trouble with his igni-
ton. Ten minutes later he was in the
air again, racing with another ma
chine.
Curtiss declares that he did not push
his machine this morning, but he
doubts whether he can beat his time
of yesterday.
Bleriot, therefore, will be the winner
on form If he can go the distance.
The Wright managers intend to make
n desperate effort to wrest the endur-
ance prize from Paulham and capture
the height and weight carrying events.
Lefevre, in a Wright machine. with
a tank holding ninety liters OF fuel,
will make a try.
Bleriot made his first Appearance in
the field today carrying passenger
He negotiated trial round in min
utes 3S seconds.
A representative of the Aero club of
italy arrived here today and is maxi
ing arrangements to take the aviators
and their machines on special trains to
Rrescia next Tuesday. He Is particu-
larIy anxious that Curtiss go to Italy,
and probably will offer him special in
ducements.
Fournier Congratulated
Fournier was about with a broken
nose this morning. He received many
congratulations on his narrow escape
of yesterday, when fortunate jump
from his machine that had turned tur-
IL, haIpor to1anUla1 hV
the whirling propeller blades.
Rear Admiral Rogers, U. S. N, was
here today. Accompanied by Com
mander Chaplin, the American naval
attache at Paris, he visited and exam
ined all the machines, and was deeply
interested in the progress made In the
science of aviation.
The official measurement of Paul
hams record fight of yester-
day gives his distance as 13S676 me-
ters (83.07 miles).
In the contest for the international
cup which takes place Saturday, Cur
tiss, the American, and Cockburn, the
English flyer, will compete against
three Frenchmen, Lefebvre, Bleriot and
Latham. The regulations provide that
the racers must start between 10 a.
m. and p. M, and finish not later
that $50 D. m. In case of bad weather,
the contests will be postponed until
Sunday.
Latham's fast time of this morning
gives him a splendid chance in both
the international cup and the speed
contests His time for the first three
rounds was 25 minutes, so 2-5 seconds,
which is minutes, IL seconds less than
the best record by the Wright models.
He covered 4S.47 miles in 1 hour, 81
2-5 seconds. which is a record for
speed.
Flies More Than IA Miles
Latham is competing for the Grand
Prix de la Champagne, the first prize
of which is $4,000. Counting his flight
of this morning, Latham has flown
TODAY more than 144 miles.
Latham broke wing of his machine
in alighting, but he was not injured.
BY his, fight of today he has classi-
fed as first in the Prix de la Cham
pagne.
When Latham started he calculated
he had sufficient gasoline for flight
of three hours. He made the round of
the course fifteen times and after pass
ing the finish mark for thu last time,
had Travelled a distance of four kilo-
meters and S75 meters before landing.
As he passed In front of the tribunes,
Latham was given tremendous oVa-