The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-10-05
WRIGHT AEROPLANE
FLIES OVER THE BAY
Circles Around Miss Liberty and
HOVers Over Lusitania.
NEW YORKs AIRsHlp DISPLAY
Three Successful Flights by the Big
BipIane Comprise q Historic
Event Equal to Bleriots Cross
ing the English Channel.

New York City Wilbur Wright
scored first blood in his amicable ri
yalry with Glenn III. Curtiss for CHIEF
honors in the aeroplane flights held
at Governors Island by navigating his
big biplane successfully out over the
bay and around the Statue of Liberty
1t was the first time the goddess had
seen anything except the gulls circle
around her lofty head, and the flight
takes rank with the crossing of thu
English Channel by Bleriot as a his.
toric event in the annals of aeronau-
tics.
Wright made three flights, two in
the morning and one just before sun
down. Curtiss made only one, and
that was so short that 1T amounted to
nothing more tina test of the motor
and the propeller of his machine But
both the aviators were well satisfied
with the results.
From the start the complete mast
cry which Wright exercised over his
machine impressed every one. There
was something heroic in the pose of
this lean, clean-shaven man as he flew
between earth and sky He sat rigid,
his legs braced firmly against the mar
row rail in front, his left hand on the
lever that regulates the forward
planes, his right on the one that does
the. double duty of manipulating the
rudder and adjusting the flexible tips
of the great wings so that the ma
chine balances itself on che curves.
Long, loud whistles of tugs and
steamers told of his triumphant pro-
gress, and in less than five minutes
the machine came in sight again as it
rounded the north end of Governors
Island. AS he neared the starting
point Wright made a graceful semi
circle and came to earth within fifty
feet of the railway from which he
had risen.
Wright's second fight, in which he
went across the bay almost to the
New Jersey shore, and circled the
Statute of Liberty, was more spectac-
ular still. 1t was shortly after 1915
a. M, when he left the ground, and
he showed the precision with which
his machine could be handled by max
ing:a complete circle over the island g
extension that had diameter OF lit
tie more than 100 yards. Meanwhile
AAO W&AO AAoAbo 0tVd01AJ IL q SplI
course, and by the time he was head
ed once more for the water and the
Jersey shore he had gained an alti-
he headed straight away from the
land and in few seconds he was out
over the water.
Tugs, ferryboats and all the traffic
in that part of the bay paused to
watch the unprecedented spectacle.
Wright held a straight course toward
Bedloe's Island and passed the Statue
of Liberty at just about the level of
the goddess head. He continued on
until it seemed to his friends on Gov
ernor's Island as If he reached point
above the Jersey shore, but Wright
said afterward that he swung around
when still over the water.
The Lusitania was outward bound,
and all her passengers were on deck
Just as he scared above them the Luz
sitania opened her whistle in tre-
mendous blast, and Wright said after
ward he distinctly felt his airship
rock and reel in the burst of hot air
that came up with the escaping steam.
She passed within twenty feet of Lib
erty's torch, then headed slightly
northWard and with aegraceful curve
came above Governors Island once
more. just to the south of Fort Will
lam
One more circle over the land and
the machine fioated downward as the
motor was stopped 1t was then that
the crowding of the spectators on the
reservation forced Wright to give sew
eral sharp turns to his rudder just be-
fore landing, and when the machine
struck earth it heeled over so sharply
that the end of one of the planes was
almost buried in the sand.
II was making about fifty miles an
hour on the way back from the Jer-
sey Shore" said Wright after alight-
ing. but on the way out the wind
held me down to about thirty miles.
The trial was a complete success, and
/ am delighted with the way the ma
chine behaved had no trouble
from the addition of the canoe, which
has been lashed to the bottom of the
machine as safeguard against a
landing in the water. The machine
balanced perfectly and the motor
worked without hitch.