The Penn's Grove record., 1910-06-03
CURT|ss FLIES FROM
ALBANY To new YORK
Brilliant Success of Aviator on
First Trial For $4,000 Prize.
1877 MILES IN 152 MINUTES

Makes Speed of Better Than Fifty
four Miles an Hour-Stops an
Hour to Replenish Gasoline Tank
at Poughkeepsie.
New York City.-Glenn Hammond
Curtiss flew from Albany to New
York and won the $4,000 prize Of
fered by the World for the successful
completion of such a trip in less thai
twenty-four hours.
Starting from the State capital at
three minutes after 7 o'clock a. m. he
landed on Governors Island, both
man and machine in perfect condi-
ton, exactly at noon.
On the way he made two stops, the
first at Poughkeepsie, where he spent
an hour replenishing his oil tanks
and going over the engine. and the
second at Inwood, just across the ship
canal from Spuyten Duyvil, where he
made his official landing in the limits
of New York City. He spent an hour
and seven minutes there and then
flew on to Governors Island, doing
the distance from Inwood to the land
ing place in eighteen minutes.
On the official trip, from Albany to
Inwood, Mr.. Curtiss covered 1877 miles
in 1872 minutes, an average speed OF
f%fty-four and four-fifths miles an
hour. At times Mr.. Curtiss' machine
| sped as fast as sixty miles an hour.
All records in aviation were broken
by this flight. Records for speed and
for distance and for both combined
went down before the steady wing OF
the Curtiss aeroplane.
The exact figures of the fight We're:
| Start, Albany ......... 7.03 a. m.
Landed at Gill's Farm,
near Poughkeepsie, rs
milesfrom starting point. SIS a. m.
Left Gills Farm 9.26 a.. m.
| Landed at Inwood, So miles
from Gill's Farm. .....10.35 a. m.
Left Inwood..... ...~...11.42 a. m.
Landed at Governors ISL
and. ..... -. ...... Noon.
The flight from Spuyten Duyvil to
| Governors Island was not a part of
the official flight, which ended when
Mr.. Curtiss' machine landed safely
within the limits of Manhattan.
Crowds gathered at every point
along the great trip. A special train
hired by the New York Times fol-
lowed the fightof the aviator, locomo-
tive and steam vessel whistles cracked
the air with their blasts of greeting,
and everywhere Mr.. Curtiss found a
welcome awaiting him.
But he few on unheeding, mindful
only of his engine and his oil tanks,
skimming through the air at a speed
that left even the Twentieth Century
Limited behind him. 1t was only by
running the special train at sixty
miles and more per hour that the &C.
:upants were able to glimpse the man
bird.
When he landed he was cheered by
the officers of Governors Island, and
then, after a brief lunch, the Worlds
check for 100000 was presented to
him in the editorial rooms of the
newspaper by j. Angus Shaw, the
president and treasurer of the Press
Publishing Company.
In claiming the record for both dis
lance and speed on his Albany-New
York trip Curtiss does not lose sight
of the fact that Paulhan, the French
aviator, claims a record of 1876 miles
in four hours and eleven minutes, in
the flight on April 27-2S from Lon
ion to Manchester.
But Curtiss points out that not only
did Paulhan cross open country in
stead of mountains, but that the
Frenchman broke up his trip into two
| sections. He left London at $40 p.
m, April 81, and landed at Lichfield
at $40. There he rested till the next
morning, when he flew on to Man
chester, completing the trip. Com
pared with Paulhan's trip Curtiss'
fight might be considered continu-
Gus, as he rested but an hour at
Poughkeepsie, and would not have
spent that much time there had he
not been detained by admiring con-
gratulators.
The fact that the day was Sunday
prevented many persons from seeing
the flight who would have been on the
lookout on a weekday. But bulle-
tins were sent out through the city
and flags were flown at prominent
points indicating that Curtiss had
started ON his memorable fight.
Crowds gathered on rooftops in the
city, and there vas not a hotel that
did not have a gathering of interested
spectators. They saw Curtiss glide
by down the river like a flash, faster
than any bird and with strength and
equipoise comparable to that Of an
eagle.
Never once during the passage
down the Hudson was the Curtiss
aeroplane in danger of disaster. Once
a series of shifty wind currents forced
the machine downward for forty feet,
at an altitude of several hundred feet
above Storm King, ear Cornwall.
Once unusual cross currents made the
biplane pitch excitingly, so that Cur
tiss was obliged to seek a level far be-
low that he had held. Again the
loosening of a guy rope bothered the
operator slightly, because it made the
machine veer sidewise. But all those
Incidents, although each caused acute
anxiety to the multitudes watching
and cheering the air craft from the
ground, did not give Curtiss more
than brief worry.
The stop on Gill's Farm, about five
miles north of Poughkeepsie and only
4 short distance from the river, was
Sidney Webster Dead.
Sidney Webster, to whom e. H.
Hartman wrote his letter revealing
Roosevelt campaign secrets, died of