Evening star., 1909-07-06
CuRTISS FLIES NEARLY MILE
DISTANCE CUT SHORT BY OBJ
sTRUCTIoN IN HIS COURSE.
Prizes Awarded Him-Baldwin Fits
in Teeth of Stiff Gale and
Drops Phony Bomb.

NEW YORK. July 6.-Glcnn ri. Cur
tiss of Hammondsport, y. Y, flew three
quarters of a mile over tho track at
Morris Park after sunset yesterday in
his bi-plane.
big glider in tow of a motor car
occupied the track where he descended.
On this account the committee of judges
decided to recommend that a prize be
given to him, accepting his word that
he would have flown mile had 1t not
been for the obstacle.
The flight was accomplished at a dis
tance varying from eight to twelve feet
from the ground at speed approaching
twenty miles hour. Three turns were
easily taken and the machine was kept
all the time over the track.
Possible reward for his flight was
prize of 500 for 500 meters. offered by.
Albert c. Triaca of the Aeronautlc So
city, or one Of $3.50. offered by Cortlandt
Field Bishop. president of the society.
for a satisfactory flight in a machine
made wholly in the United States. The
society rules provide that all flights
for prizes must be made between sun
rise and sunset but the committee was
disposed to urge that this rule be
waived in favor of Mr.. Curtiss yester-
day.
Baldwin Defies Gale.
NORWICH. Conn.,, July 6.-Capt.
Thomas S. Baldwin, starting at $50
o clock last evening, made five-mile
flight in the airship which he will use
in the $4,000 Fulton flight contest in
the teeth of a twenty-fiv -five-mile wind.
Capt. Baldwin undertook the flight in
defiance of the wishes and suggestions
of aeronautic enthusiasts who accom-
panied him to Norwich. The craft has
;,,.t xr-ifh n no
which had never been tried while in
flight. 1t weighs only eighty-two pounds,
minus the carbutrettor and the water at
tachment. 1t has an actual push in ex-
cess of twenty horsepower, and is
the lightest and most compact apparatus
ever constructed in the world.
When the ship was brought out from
it's shed on the extreme end of Old Nor
Wich town there were fully 1.NOU persons
present, most of whom had come in au-
tomobiles Among them were Gov.
Weeks of Connecticut and Mayor Lippitt
of Norwich, as we'll as Senator Brande-
gee and Capt. A. w. Butt, aid to Presi-
dent Taft.
In spite of the scudding white clouds
Baldwin gave the order to release the
ship, and she sailed gracefully up into
the air at the rate of about eighteen
miles an hour.
The craft was headed due west and
swept up on an angle of about twenty
five degrees for about a mile The motor
had been muffied and simply emitted a
drumming noise like partridge in flight
until the ship reached a height of about
five hundred feet, when the sound fell
to a soft murmur.
Drops Phony Bomb.
After travelling in this manner for
mile Capt. Baldwin turned the ship
gracefully in it's own length As the Slis-
tening greyhound of the air swiftly but
certainly turned completely around the
multitude was reused to d tremendous
pitch OF enthusiasm, and the ovation
seemed to reach the daring sky sailor
who was floating with the swift current
of wind. He turned his forward planes
up. and the a-aft instantly responded by
shooting obliquey into the ether until
1t locked like mere speck. IT was es-
timated by instruments that this eleva-
ton brought the ship to height of more
than one thousand feet, which is rec
ord in America.
Sailing along like a fleck on the sky
the ship rode steadily with the wind
til it had travelled out over the hills for
about two miles. Then Capt Baldwin
turned the nose of the ship directly into
the stiff breeze and brought her back over
the grounds.
The spectators supposed that he was
about to land. But instead of throwing
down his guide rope the aeronaut brought
the ship Oown to a lower level and made
it perform almost like trained horse 1t
made quick, brdlike darts sidewise up
ward, down and it turned repeatedly in
it's own length.
Finally. indicating a spot where he
wished to throw something, Capt. Bald
win threw overheard shelllike object
1t has been said that person on an air.
ship cannot gauge it's distance nor hit a
spot on the earth with a bomb pro-
jectile. The imitation bomb hit the spot
Indicated within a very few inches.
After being in the air for about twenty