Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-27
LATHAM SETS NEW RECORD
French Aviator Makes Flight Of
Nearly Ninety-Eins Miles.
ALSO BEATS WORLD FOR TINE
Bleriot Machine BADLY wrecked by
striking Barrier in Front OF
Trtbune-scOres OF Races
to Date.

RHEIMS, Aug. @-Hubert Latham. the
French aviator, today took glorious re-
venRe for the hard luck which he expert
enoed in his recent attempts to cross the
English channel, and his indefatigabie but
hitherto unsuccessful efforts TO accomplish
some notable achievement during the pres
ent meeting by establishing a new worlds
record for distance, 154 kilometers $50
meters. or N.Ss miles. Latham covered
fifteen laps, or $50 kllometers, in 2 hours
10 minutes 9 seconds and the full distance
In 2:1S:gss, which also are worlds records,
the flight being at the rate Of about al
kilondeters an hour, as compared with h3h
made By Wright at LeMans, and a fraction
under fifty made by Paulhan yesterday.
Except for the one lap speed records
made by Bleriot and Curtiss, this week,
and Paulhan's time record in the air,
Latham now holds every record for dis
lance and speed. Like Paulhan, he de-
scended only when the gasoline tank was
empty.
Beautiful and impressive.
Nothing could have exceeded the beauty
and impressiveness of the prolonged flight.
In grace Of lines no other aeroplane here
compares with LathRm's monoplane. The
slightly tilted planes from the long skiff-
like body give 1t a resemblance, when
close to a winged canoe, while sailing
high up in the air 1t looks from a dis
tsnoe like a dragon fly. For
an hour, with fluttering wings like a nv-
ing thing, It fought it's way against the
storm Of rain and wind at an average
height Of 1Bo feet, mounting higher as the
wind rose, until during the worst of the
storm It was up fully 800 feet. The con-
tention of the advocates of the biplane
that the monoplane would be unable to
live in a strong breeze has been amply re-
futsd.
Latham earlier in the day with mo. 49,
another ~aeroplane of the same type, made
a flight Of more than seventy kilometers,
and after he had finished in the afternoon
Count De Lambert covered 116 kilometers
Gas miles) In commanding fashion. Three
flights, therefore, in q single day, totalled
more thar 80 miles.
BIeriOt Machine Damaged.
Glenn II. Curtiss, the American, had two
practice spins but although his machine
behaved splendidly its speed was disap-
pointing. An accident which Bleriot suf-
fered about dusk may improve Curtiss'
chances for the international cup. While
trying to alight in front OF the tribune
with a passenger aboard his big eighty
horsepower machine Bleriot crashed into
a fence, the wings and propeller being
broken. He narrowly missed killing sew
eral of the spectators. Whether or not
the motor was injured has not been def
nitely determined. II so. Curtiss' most
dangerous rival has been put at disadvan-
tage, as Bleriot intended to use the
wrecked machine in the international
event. although he qualified with AN
other.
Rougier, also while giving an exhi-
bition. landed among a crowd lunchins in
the grass and slightly injured two women
and a man. Breriot" insists that HIS acct
dent was not due to reckiessness, with
which he was charged by the crowd. Hs
asserts that a squadron of dragons was
moving across the field and crowded him
toward the fence, compelling him to
choose between landing among the horses
or into the barrier.
Record of the Machines.
Today's contests altered the classifica-
ton for the prix de Champagne, the fig
ures now standing:
Latham, l54k kilometers; Paulhan, 1Sl;
DeLambert, 110; Latham, 70; curtiss, 30:
Lefebvre, q.
Latham's two records were made with
different machines.
For the Prix De La Vitesse. for three
rounds of the course at greatest speed, the
record to date is as follows:
TiEsandier, Is minutes 59h seconds; De
Lambert, 2s:2; Paulhan, s2:4sat; Lefebvre,
20 :2eM; Latham, S1;s2M. sommer also
qualified.
The lap speed contest record Is:
~TissandieT, 8 minutes 26b seconds; Som
mer, 11:S41b; DeLambert, 0:ss3t; curtiss,
s:rlx; Latham, No. IS. s:S2st; DeLagrange,
IL ;oss; Ferber. s:b6M; Paulhan, 1880; Bile
riot, s:04st: Leblanc. 17:Os%; Lefebvre,
1854; Bunau-varnla. 13I4l3t; Latham, No.
30, s:9O9s; Farman, s;0eM; Cookburn. HIS.
Latham, who made thirty klometers
twice today in less than twenty-six minutes,
probably will use No. % in the final Of the
speed contest on Sunday. He could afford
to take a one-tenth handicap, as a repeti-
ton OF his performance would beat the