Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1909-07-31
Makes Ten-Mile Trip at Forty-two
Mile Rate.
AVERAGE HEIGHT IS 200 FEET
At Times He Attains Altitude of
Nearly 500 Feet.
PRESIDENT IS A SPECTATOR
He Sends Message of Warm COngratu-
Iation to Successful AirshiD
Inventors-LRrEe Crowd
Gets wiIdIy Excited.

WASHINGTON. July SO.-Orville Wright
this evening attained the zenith of hard
earned success In ten mile cross-coun-
try flight, in the famous aeroplane built
by himself and his elder brother Wilbur,
accompanied by Lieutenant Benjamin d.
FOULS, an intrepid officer of the army
signal corps, he not only surpassed the
speed requirements Of his contract with
the government, but accomplished the
most difficult and daring flight ever plan
ned for a heavier than-air flying machine.
incidentally, he broke all speed records
over a measured course and established
beyonn tspute the practicability of the
aeroplane in time of peace and in time
Of war.
Wrlght's speed was more than fortytwo
miles an hour He made the ten mile flight
in IA minutes and AZ seconds, including
the more than twenty seconds required for
the turn beyond the line at Shutter Hill,
the soathern end of the course He at
anted a height in crossing the Valley OF
Four Mile Run, Of nearly 500 feet and the
average altitude of his practically level
course was about 200 feet.
Taft Sees Final Flight.
President Taft, who has become an en-
thusiastic spectator Of the aeroplane trials,
although two years ago. when secretary of
war, he is said TO have expressed to army
officers profound skepticism as to the ac-
complishment of such feat as that Of
which today he witnessed the completion
arrived upon the parade ground at Fort
Myer just in time to see the areoplane
land and to participate in the wild demon
stration which welcomed the triumphant
avlators. He sent Colonel Treat, COM
manding officer of the artillery at Fort
Myer to bear his congratulations to the
victors.
A terrific wind and rain storm early in
the AFTERNOON seemed providentially pro-
vided to clear and quiet the atmospheric
conditions in preparation OF the flight
which was delayed only by the failure Of
the army field telegraph line to Shutter
Hill, depended upon for communication be-
tween the two ends of the course. 1t was
still out of commission when Orville
Wright, seizing the moment of the best
weather conditions he had yet had for the
speed test. had the machine placed on the
starting rail and gave the motor a final
test.
The engine worked perfectly, and the
crowd seemed to realize that an epoch
pressed forward against the lines which
held them back, breathless and eagerly
watching every movement of the aviator
and his machine. The signal corps men
hoisted the great weight in the starting
derrick, which gives the machine its initial
impulse. Miss Katherine Wright, the avi-
ator's devoted sister, excited and anxious,
was one Of a group which crowded so
close to the machine as the crucial mo-
ment drew near that Wilbur was COM
PEELED to ask them to step back.
Takes Passenger Aboard.
Lieutenant FOULS. wiry and brown, in
his khaki uniform, climbed into the pas
senger seat beside the motor Wilbur
Wright and Charley Taylor the wrights'
mechanical ok their places at the propel-
lors. Orville turned on the sparker of the
The motor picked up the impetus and
orville turned on full speed. For the first
time the propellors of the aeroplane were
whirring at their maximum capacity.
The smooth and even song of the engine
aroused the crowd to excited cheering
Wilbur rok his place at the right tip OF
| the planes and Orville clambored into his
seat beside FOULS. He gripped the levers
and nodding to his brother slipped tn,
cable which released the starting weight
The aeroplane shot down the track, ros,
I before it reached the end and skinned ove
the surface OF the ground for 100 feet o.
more.
AS II drawn up by invisible powers, tn,
white winged man-bird rose higher an,
higher, reached the end Of the field, turned
at a slight angle and came about, facinl
the madly cheering multitude.
Spectators Wildly Excited.
Hats and handkerchiefs were waving
automobile horns were footing some over
wrought spectators even wept, as the grea
white creature turned again southwark a
the starting tower. and everybody in tn,
crowd seemed intent upon giving It and il
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