Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-08-05
WR|CHTS' SUCCESS
GAIN FOR ARMY
SERVICE SOON TO HAVE FLYING
MACHINE OF PROVED
MERIT.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOL FOR
TRAINING OF AVIATORS
NEXT.
COVE RN M EMIT

Washington, Aug. 1.-THE Wright
aeroplane having met every test re-
quirement fixed by the government,
the army soon will find itself in pos
session of a flying machine for pur-
poses of offense and defense. A
school of instruction is to be estab-
lished, with the Wright brothers as
teachers, and with Lieutenants Frank
P. Lahm and Benjamin D. Foulois as
the first pupils.
The government will pay the
Wrights $4,000 for the machine
which made the recent flight with
Lieutenant FOulios as a passenger,
and $4,000 additional will be given
because the average rate of speed ex-
ceeded forty miles an hour.
Brave Dangers in Experiments.
Lieutenants Lahm and Foulois have
been particularly active in aeronau-
tics of all kinds for some years.
Their work at times has been danger
Gus in the extreme, but they met
with soldier courage every require
ment of the service. The dangers at
tachlng to the field OF their endeavor
have not all been passed.
After the Wrights nave given full
instructions to the two signal corps
officers and they have learned how to
manipulate the mechanism of the
aeroplane and to make flights on their
own account, the officers will become
teachers with the other members of
the signal service as pupils.
The enlisted Men of the corps also
Will be instructed, and it is probable
That some officers from other
branches of the service will be given
lessons
Lieutenant Selfridge, who was
killed last year when the Wright ma
chine fell, was an officer of artillery.
Lahm Native of Ohio.
Lieutenant Lahm, who took the
first flight with Orville Wright after
the death of Selfridge, is a graduate
of the United States military acad-
envy.
1t seems too bad to spoil the story
to the effect that Lahm is such a
loyal Kentuckian that he requested
that Kentucky grass be planted on
his grave in case he met death on
the day of the trial flight, but the
truth is that Lahm is an Ohioan. He
was born in Ohio, raised in Ohio,
and was appointed to the military
academy from that state. 1t was
Ohio courage and not Kentucky cOur-
age that he carried with him on his
trial flying trip. Lieutenant Lahm
was transferred from the cavalry
branch to the signal corps four years
ago. He graduated from West Point
in 1901.
Lieutenant Benjamin D. FOulois OBJ
tained his commission from the ranks
He entered the service from Connec-
ticut, his native state. at the time of
the Spanish war and he served as a
private, corporal and sergeant in the
engineers and infantry for three
years, when he was recommended
for an examination for a commission.
He passed and was made a second
lieutenant in 1902 He has served
but a short time with the signal corps.
Army and Navy Men Impressed.
Orville Wright's great flight has
made a deep impression on army and
navy officials. They contend that
the accomplishment of the cross-coun-
try flight demonstrated the available
ity of the aeroplane for use in war.
fare.
The manner in which the flying ma
chine was lost to view from Fort
Myer and then the rapidity with
which it returned there after it was
sighted above the crest of a hill was
merely another hint of the possibili-
ties of the practical use of the aero
plane by the army or navy.
The great advantage of an aero
plane over balloon for use in war