Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-17

Rain Fails to Deter
| Rain is not the bar sinister to avia-
| ton meets 1t may drive people hurry
! ing home from a baseball game, and
it may keep auto enthusiasts from
watching speed kings race around a
| track, but it cannot keep crowd OF
| aviation fever-strickcn persons from
| the place where the travellers of the
air lanes hold SWAY.
Just so it was yesterday, for $4,000
or more persons trekked through mud'
wind and rain to Dominguez aviation
field to see what they could see. And
they saw a lot of good aerial sport
though no records were broken.
Rain first and wind afterward oper-
ated seriously against the success of
Yesterdays program for several hours
Had the program been one of any
other sport under heaven than aviation
there would not have been a cOrporals
guard even so much as attempt the
long journey to the southwest. When
the rain finally ceased about O'Clock
the wind came up strong, and it was
we'll on toward o'clock before any
real flying was attempted.
With the wind blowing a perfect
gale Curtiss, Paulhan, Hamilton,
Beachey Willard and Knabenshue
scared into the air, dipping and swerV-
ing and jockeying, just so the big
crowd of spectators should not be sent
home disappointed. The stunts of the
daring aviators satisfied the spectators
so well they cheered themselves hoarse
every time a machine rose into the air
and passed the big grandstand.
1t is no child's play to pilot an aero
plane through space at 80 miles an
hour when the atmosphere is as calm
as in June: 1t is giants work to pilot
a heavier -than-air machine in high
wind. Every time an aviator goes in
to the air on a winly day he takes his
life in his hands, for high winds strain
every bolt and screw, every truss and
bit of rubber-silk which go to make up
an aeroplanc. An aviator may ride in
the rain with safety, but when he
rides in the wind, he invites a serious
accident. He may float serenely for
considera BILE time with apparently no
injury to his machine, and then sud-
denly feel himself falling with in
creasing velocity to the ground. The
wind-riding aviator is hero of the
unusual sort.
Danger Not Realized
Had the spectators borne these few
little facts in mind yesterday, they
would have held their breaths while
the aviators were in the air and, when
the daring ones reached the ground in
safety. would have offered up little
PLAYERS of thankfulness. 1t is amarvel
there we're no accidents yesterday, for
once Paulhan reached a height of 512
feet, and Curtiss scared along, tossed
here and there by an air current 100
feet above the ground. So strong were
the gusts that Curtiss was blown at
least 100 feet out of his course several
times. Paulhan, too, was tossed about
when he started to round the pylons at
the corners of the hectagonal course.
But both seemed to enjoy battling with
the forces of nature, and matching
wits and horsepower against wind.
Sunday began inauspiciously for
at Dominguez. Leaden skies with rain
clouds thick all over the heavens
presaged anything but successful
flights. At IL o'clock it began to driz-
zle. In an hour it was pouring. The
roads We're sticky and made riding any
thing but pleasant. But even with all
the drawbacks crowds poured from all
points of compass toward Dominguez.
Some took the electric trains some
rode on the steam cars, some splashed
and slipped their way to the field in
autos and others hitched up the family
horse and braved Jupiter Pluvius.
By o'clock the bleacher seats in
the grandstand and many of the boxes
were filled and a line more than half
a mile long and five feet wide had
formed around the fence which marks
off the field. The seats were wet and
the ground was cold, but that did not
drive the crowds away. ThronRn the