The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-08-18
MAKES EN-
ALL SIT UP
AND CAPE
AM eRIcAN FLIES ACROSS
ENGLISH c II A N Ell
WITH PASS NGkR
FEAT UNPARALLELED
IN HISTORY Of AVIATION
SWpasSes The { ais Of BItT.ci,
20 -Gssps aid The Eng
Nsh AYIaloI, Rolls

Deal England. Aug 17.-lt has
been reserved for an American citl-
zen to perform. one OF tie most dar
ing feats in The history Of aviation,
John b. Moissant. OF Chicago, flew
across the English Channel irom
Calais to Tilmlnstons "Wednesday
with passenger, and by this achieve.
lnent far surpassed TIE fcats Of rlc-
riot, no Lesscps and the English arl-
ator Rolls. who afterwards met his
death AT BournemoutI.
The two-lnan flig5t from France to
England WIS the more astonishing be
cause It was only month ago that
MoissanI learned to fly and he made
30 few flights and was so littc known
among air men that even his nalion
ality was not disclosed. He was re.
puted to be a Spaniafd and It was
only when he lang cd in England to-
day that II was revealed that he Is
a Young Chicago architect.
TO make the frat still more sur
lpisins. Muiisani was totally ignorant
Of tie geograpsy Of his course. IL
had never been to England aud was
obliged 10 rely eptirels on she com.
pass, while The crossing of The chan
neI' was accomplished IN the teeth q
2 strong westernly wind
The chanuel flight was IN incident
In the aerial voyage from pais to
London MoissaBt EFT Tssy Tuesday
with Hubert Latham and reacae ed
AmicnB IN two hours Batham's aero.
plane wes wrecked and Moissani,
leayipe ap,iens at an early hour
lleaded for Calais Ills mechaniclan,
Albert filnS, WHO had accompanied
him. across the country took his place
in tho machine, when the inetor was
set In motion for the dash across tie
channel Thousands who lad gather
cd TO watch the daring aviator were
amazed and urged him moi TO make
the attempt in the face of the hall
gale that WAS blowing.
Moisssni cared nothing foy the
warning Of the people and even tie
fact that there was no torpedo bn3' II
follow in his wake, but only a slo.
moving tug, did not deter him. He
made the trip in 81 minutes. When
he descended his eyes were bloodshot
and greatly inflamed as The result Of
Q heavy rain storm into which he
drove on approaching the shore, TIE
high wind beat the rain into the
facea cf the men like hail and almost
blinded them
An average height Of between s0o
and 400 feet was maintained OVER The
water The cold was intense and bolh
Moissaul and bis mechanlclan were
bonumbed Whan te revived sur
cicnily he laughed aud said 10 an IN
icrviewer:
This Is my first visit TO England
"This is only MY sixth flight in m
acroplanp,' be continued I did moi
know the way from Paris to Calais
when / tsarted ana do not know the
way to London shall have TO rcls
upon the compass. would like te
land in HYDE Park If can find IL
My mcchanician who weighs l6-
pounds. had never been in an aer1
plane before and did not know waerf
was taking him when We left Paris
ila UtDlif iilfu ~ uloaudut iHf' ifbfi
making the flight from Calais in ihC
gusty wind, but in spito OF the pitch
ing during the crossing OF the chan
mel. the greatest difficulty encoun
tered in the trip was landing. the se5
and land winds causing dangerous
cross currents"
Asked how he cameyto attempt sucl
flight MS t5at from Paris to London
Moissant said that the idea was dis
cussed IN aviation circles in Paris anl
vas generally considered as an i'm
possibility He said that not onl.
would he attempt It himself, but b
would also carry passenger.
Moissant, who is 80 years OF age. /
of slight build, but seemingly of ycr
jovial temperament. He first visitc
Paris some months ago and becam
Interested In tho study Of aviation
4 He had two machines built after hi
own designs and found the subject :
Fascinating that he determined ID bl
come q praetical lif nnnl Ills fig
was made in Il Blerpit macline, whic
weighs son pounds. lle himself Weigl
4 $50 pounds so thai the total w.iyl
- al 4