The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1910-09-09

wing riders" The blue vault OF
| heaven is frotted by thousands OF
roaring propellers and shifting planes.
. THE bird mon" are dreaming dreams
OF Cross-continent flights. The more
imaginative of them catch glimpses of
visions Of transatlantic trips, faster
than the flight of the frigate bird.
1t may happen the hour Of trial
comes in the very midst of an appar-
ent success. Engines may be working
perfectly and with even beat. The
roar of the spinning propellers may
be drCning a song Of coincidence and
security. Then something snaps; a
guy wire parts like a stretched fiddle
string, the roar of the engine breaks
and sputters, or the big planes
crumple because of some unguessed
weakness. Then comes that terrible
rush OF air as the machine. engine,
rent planes and tangle of bent and
broken framework bears the aviator
to a terrible death
When wireless telegraphy was in
vented it was but a year or so until
the country was filled with amateurs,
all busily working on new theories Of
transferring messages. As soon as
the Wrights, Farman, Bleriot, Paulhan
and Curtiss and others had demon
strated that a heayier-than-air ma
chine could actually remain in the air,
in a thousand barns, warehouses and
backyard woOdsheds all over the civ
ilized world men and boys began to
try to build for themselves machines
in which to spurn the solid earth.
Historically, the science Of aviation
has been taken up, and with a few
more improvements the death roll will
grow to even greater proportions So
far most of the men who have met
death have been veteran aviators.
Delagrange, lie Blon, Ferber, Lefebvre
and Rolls were all well-known and in
ternationally famous in the air fields.
But the moment came that found them
helpless despite their skill.
With the multiplying Of factories
where the cheap fliers can be con
will come a rush of amateurs
into the ranks of the aviators. More
deaths are bound to follow when these
would-be man birds have bought for
themselves machines and start in to
perfect themselves in the art of flight
The list Of deaths is bound to grow
as soon as the means of flight is
brought within reach of the average
purse. A shower of would-be aviators
from the clouds to the too solid
earth" will further demonstrate that
the mastery Of the air must be bought
with human life.
An analysis of the accidents Of the
past two years shows that death
comes in a dozen shapes to the daring
aviator. The aeroplane is a pitifully /.
new thing, and even the veterans of !
he air are not always able to detect |
n their machines the lurking weak /
lesses. The first of the aeroplane ac- /
,idents that resulted fatally was
2aused by the guy wire Of one Of the |
planes being placed too near the pro.
)eller blades. Selfridge died in this .
accident and Orville Wright was ter
IDLY injured. 1t was months before
he again took up the problem of aerial
lights.
It was a year later before death
ook his toll again from the ranks Of
he air workers On the seventh of
September, 1909, two men, the fore
most ayiators in their respective coun-
ries met their deaths. Rossi was en-
ragged in testing a machine of his own
invention near Rome, and after a few
hort and successful flights at a low
altitude he tilted his planes upward
It a considerable angle and shot into
he air for an ambitious trial He had
rarely reached a height of 60 feet till
ome of the intricate machinery gave
way and he was dashed to death. M.
4efebvre, a well-known aeronaut of
france, was killed on the same day
While soaring above Juvissy in a
Wright biplane. Two weeks later the
ride of the Frenchmen in aeronau-
les, Capt. Louis Ferdinand Ferber a
Dioneer in the art of flying, was killed
n a peculiar accident, one of the
many uneXplainable ones that mark
he chronology of fight. He was soar.
ng over a field near Boulogne, when
lis machine turned turtle" in the air.