The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-09
Baroness De La Roche Loses
Nerve and, P|unges to
Ground In Bip|ane
.PLUCKY WOMAN IS BADLY
HURT BUT WILL RECOVER
Whose Performances In the Air
Have Been Much Commented
Upon In France

Betheny Plains. Rh ems, July S.-The
second distressing accident of the avia-
tion meeting now In progress here oc-
cured today when the Baroness De
La Roche, driving a Voisin biplane.
lost her nerve at height of so metres,
shut off the power and fell with her
machine to the ground
Her legs and arms were broken and
she suffered severe contusions. but the
doctors who have her case In hand
hope for her ultimate recovery. At
first 1t was believed the baroness had
| sustained a fracture of the skull, but
this proved not to have been the case
| At height of so metres Baroness
the big field. The spectators in the
grandstand were applauding her vo-
| ciferously. Suddenly she appeared to
become frightened at the approach OF
| two other aeroplanes, one of which,
a Sommer, driven by NJ Lindpaintner.
passed directly over her. The baroness
in a period of consciousness after the
| accident said that the rush of air from
the motor. over her head had thrown
! cut the ignition and lost control of
her biplane. At first the bipiane
glided on an even keel. but suddenly
it turned over and fell like a meteorite
to the ground and was wrecked
The crowd rushed out on the field
and extricated the mangIed and bloody
form of the woman aviator from the
| tangled debris and she was conveyed
to nearby hospital. Meanwhile Lind
paintner had descended and the crowd,
believing him to have been responsible
for the accident, threatened to lynch
| him. Gendarmes, however, threw q cor
| don about the aviator and dispersed the
excited spectators.
An inquiry by the judges into the
accident showed later that Lindpaint-
her was in no way responsible for
| the accident. ~. sf........
The first accident of the meeting oc-
Cured last Sunday, the opening day,
when Charles Wachter's Antoinette
| monoplane collapsed at height OF
500 feet and dropped like a stone, in
stantly killing Wachter.
Performances Talked OF
The performances of Baroness De La
Roche on Voisin machine have been
much talked of in Paris. This accident.
which resulted in her fatal injuries, was
not her first nlishap. On January 1 last
she was seriously injured at the Chalons
aviation field In crcling the course with
her biplane she made a wide turn and
crashed into tree, being unable to ele-
| vate her machine quickly enough to dodge
IL. She fell from height of 20 feet and
was taken to the military hospital until
conscious. Her right shoulder was dislo-
Gated and internal injuries were feared.
but she recovered soon
| In February last the French Aero club
gave Baroness De La Roche an air pilots
license for her feat In flying four times
around the aviation course at Heliopolis,
distance of IL miles.
The baroness was one of the pioneers
Of aviation. She had also driven motor
boats In races and automobiles at exhibi-
tions, and as soon as flying became prac-
ticable, she learned to manage the planes
There are several other women aviators
| In Paris.
Aviators Break Records
Two aviators broke the records for 150
kilometers at the meeting here today.
Herbert Latham covered the distance in
two hours one minute six seconds, and
afterward the Belgian. Olieslager, did 1t
in one hour, IS minutes 20 seconds
Olieslager, not satisfied with his record
Of one race of So minutes 20 seconds for
| the 1870 kilometers event. set out again and
cut the record to l hour and "a minutes.
| % 2-5 seconds for 230 kilometers. He used
a Bleriot machine. Two other records
were broken during the day. Both of
them were made by M. Leblanc, who used
| Bleriot monoplane. The first race was
| the ten kilometers, which was made In
six minutes, IS 4-5 seconds, and the second
race, a FIVE minutes affair.