Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-28

Eugene B. Ely. in a Curtiss aerial
steed, whipped his machine in the face
of thirty mile-an-hour gale yesterday
and won the preliminary to the first
aviation derby, postponed until today,
from Philip Parmelee in the Baby"
Wright.
This tall, angular challenger of the
clements threw fear to the winds that
buffeted him and Travelled a t1fty-mlle-
an-hour pace His record was 1913 for
eight and three-quarter miles.
Parmelee, the most complacent and
matter of fact man in the air racing
game, finished thirty-two seconds be-
hind his rival and said not word.
He's to be heard from yet.
Two minutes later Radley, the fire
splitting Englishman, in his Bleriot
monoplane, came along in what may
be termed an aeroplane canter, and
clipped the wings of his two competi-
tors with all the evident pleasure that
an epcure takes in picking his Thanks
giving goose.
An hour prior to these hair-raising
episodes Hoxsey, Parmelee, Ely. Will
lard and Radley all air charoteers of
name and fame, threw their united
forces against a flock of inoffensiVe
little red baby balloons And would
you believe it, the baby balloons came
off for the most part victorious?
HOXSEY Dimes IN AIR
Tiring of this pleasure, the birdmen
turned their attention to the serious
problem of bombarding battleship.
Their bombs were small California
oranges that seemed to resent the
playful treatme of being squashed
out on a dusty field, marked off to
make a holiday man o war, but the
avtators seemed to enjoy it, and surely
the thousands in the stand did.
Just to show that bombs have no
terror for him, Arch Hoxsey made so
bold as to eat one The judges saw
him, and he forfeited three points for
willful and malicious waste of am
munitiOn.
Just a half hour before this this
same bOmb-eating HoXsey scared into
the rim of black clouds that circled
the field and was lost TO view. He re-
turned to earth with his Paragraph
showing that he had reached the alti-
tude of $500 feet-an achievement that
would have been a worlds record
short time ago. 1t was only a sus-
picion of what he did the day before.
when he actually broke the worlds
record by soaring 11,474 feet.
This. in long nutshell, is the record
of yesterdays doings on Dominguez
aviation field, the fourth day of the
second annual Los Angeles air meet
for the benefit of the children's fresh
air fund.
1t was a day of amusing incidents in
aviation, brought to close by the
spectacular serious and momentous
race between Ely and Parmelee as the
representatives of the rival Curtiss and
Wright factions.
While this is a friendly rivalry, it is
none the less keen, and both camps are
bent on showing the superior points of
their machines. The Wrights claim
stability and with their baby racing
craft are also after speed honors. Cur
tiss contends for both speed and sta
bility.
A few minutes after the opening gun
of the days festivities was fired seven
birdmen were in the air Parmelee
was the first to rise. In one of the
stock Wrights he glded over the start
ing ground and gracefully rose into the
air. Beachey in a Curtiss craft was the
second up and he was shortly followed
by Willard. Radley, Ely, Brookins
and Hoxsey followed in quick success
sion. and spectators were treated to a
magnificent picture.
A black cloud blanket limned the
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