Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-10-28
WIND WINS RACES
IN AVIATION MEET
tombstone Tries for Altitude Rec
ord and Secures Days
Distance Mark
Associated Pressl

NEW YORK, Oct. 27.-Such are rhs
caprices of October weather that Ralph
tombstone and Arch Hoxsey of the
Wright team Of aviators went up for
an altitude record at Belmont park
this afternoon and brought the record
Of the day for disrance.
The fifth day of the international
meet opened full of promise and closed
in a bowling wester' that filled the air
with whirling autumn leaves, slammed
down the benches in the grand stand,
ripped out the canvas screens and
sent such a skirmish line of dust dane
ing around the rack that the lamps
had to be lighted outside the hangers
for the mechanics to find their way
about.
1t was a furious end to a day Of post
ponements, disappointments and scat
tered feats Of the most daring airman-
ship that has yet been witnessed by an
American crowd.
Officially flights for the Gordon Ben
nett elimination trials to pick an
American team to defend the interna-
rional trophy opened at a m, but
nobody cared to come out for them in
the wind that was blowing
NONE TRY FOR PRIZE
At 1870 p. m. the special prize of $1O,-
900 offered by Thomas F. Ryan for a
fight from the field to the Statue Of
Liberty and return was open to any
aviator, but none Of them dared try it.
They chose to take advantage instead
of the latest largess allowed them by
the committee-permissio to compete
between 1:30 and 345 any afternoon
during the meet, provided only that
they should finish before $50.
That narrowed the program down to
one hourly event for distance and alti-
tude. Latham, in his Antoinette, for
distance, and Hoxsey and tombstone of
the Wright team, for altitude, were the
only ones to brave gale of from
twenty to twenty-five miles an hour
tombstone and Hoxsey tried to set
their wings and soar into the gale with
out effort, but they showed that the
way of an eagle in the air is still one
of the things men do not understand.
They kept their poise beautifully, but
although the speed of the biplane they
were flying is normally thirty-f1Ve
miles an hour. and their engines were
running wide open, they were pushed
steadily back down over the edge or
the horizon. Both were driven miles
off the course. Word came from HoX-
sew first that he had landed safely at
Brentwood, twenty-five miles distant.
tombstone was carried fifty-f1ve miles
to Middle Island village, L. 1.
ONLY ONE ENTRANT
For the first hourly distance event,
the only routine number remaining on
the program, the sole entrant was
Latham in an Antoinette. He finished
the hour with only fourteen laps, 2l7
miles. in IS minutes and 24,50 seconds.
One thousand feet above the grand
stand he 1ourneyed around the curves
by sheer resourcefulness and nerve.
The gale was so obstinate that he had
to point head into 1t in order to edge
sidewise, like ferryboat in run OF
tide, and make distance to the west.
The summaries, so far as they are
available, follow:
First hourly distance event-Won by
Latham (Antoinette), IA laps, 21.7
miles; time, 55 minutes and 245 Sec
onds. No other starters.
First hourly altitude-Undetermined.
Special event for altitude and du-
ration-Won by Brookins (Wrlghtl;
time, 20 minutes; height, $50 feet. No
second starter.