Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-23
MANBIRD DEFEATS
REAL BIRDS IN A
RACE ON OCEAN
French Aviator Does All Tricks of
Winged Creatures in a
Sensational Flight
CAME is BAGGED ON THE FLY
Most Modern of NimrodS Wings
Quarry While Both Are Co.
ing so Miles an Hour

! A medium sized, muscular man, in a
pair of manmade wings, taking the
role Of the first twentieth century MINI
rod of the upper air, pitted his prowess
against the birds yesterday and the
man WOny
Coming out of the east like great,
! winged monster that even the birds
| had not dreamed of, the man invaded
| the sacred domain of all winged Crea-
/ tures-the oCean-and sailing out over
it's blue eXpanse he flew above and be
meath, to the right and to the left, and
| in between great flocks of birds, at
times flying faster than they, and to
! show that his mastery over them was
| complete he picked one from the air
with a rifle shot, while his chugging,
terror-inspring craft travelled at fifty
miles an hour.
The man was Hubert Latham and
the wings that supported him were
| those Of an Antoinette monoplane.
While this little French king of the
air was setting a worlds precedent for
game bagging above the clouds plain
men who think it sport to pick off
birds while securely lodged behind
comfortable and immovable blinds"
looked on in admiring wonder.
The other men were members and
guests of the Bolsa Chica Gun club,
located on the ocean front, twenty-five
miles south Of Los Angeles.
John B. Miller, a member of the
aviation committee and of the gun
club, invited Latham to go duck hunt
ing over the clubs marshes in his
aeroplane. Miller did not think the
aviator would take the proposition seri-
ously. Latham snapped up the invi-
tation in an instant
KEEPS LUNCHEON ENGAGEMENT
you may look for me in time for
! lunch" he replied.
Latham stepped into his Antoinette
at Dominguez field at a quarter to Il
yesterday morning. The other aviators
on the ground, thinking the French
man was going to give his machine d
little tryout, gathered near.
Just going for q little spin,' said
Latham as he sailed away. In fifteen
minutes he had covered the twelve
miles between Dominguez field and the
| BOlsa ChiCa club, and in twenty min
utes he had broken all aviation rec
| ords, established a new sport and hung
up target for bird-men to shoot at
| that will probably stand for some time
| to come.
In daring and spectacular features
| the unassuming Frenchman set pace
that has not been equaled in the an
nails of aviation in this country or
Europe.
| 1t was seven minutes to u when a
! SIOuD OL WdlCD6IS DIT lIe bOISd AIlccl
club saw black speck against the
eastern sky. Field glasses were trained
on the speck and a member shouted:
Here he comes"
Others looked at the speck and de-
clared it was a bird. But larger and
larger it grew.
It's true it's bird" returned Isaac
Milbank of the aviation committee;
but there's a man inside it,"
RACE WITH BIRDS BEGINS
In another minute the whirr of the
big propeller of the monoplane was
heard, and the machine assumed d
definite outline against the sky. From
the Dominguez field down to the club
Latham had taken q bird line, but a
few miles out from the club he circled
off to the west and took a straight
course over the lagoon just inland. Half
a mile away the aviator turned the
nose of his craft oceanWard. Then, like
a great sinister thing, the mammoth
craft, with its great wings casting
ominous shadows on the waves below.
sWOoped down over the ocean, and a
new terror was added to birddom.
The battle between the man and the
bird was on,
The eye of the aviator lighted on a
great flock of ducks summing themselves
on the ocean, mile from land. Like
a great Vulture, he bore down upon
them. But the birds, trained to hear
the faintest sound, noted a strange
buZzng form afar and rose in flight.
The manbird put on speed. He gained.
Then the birds, excited as never before
by the adventure of this strangest of
all monsters, brought every muscle
into play and flew as they had never
flown before to escape the terrifying
thing"
In their excitement the birds sepa-
rated into two tiocks, and the manoird
plOWed in between.
FOLLOWS DUCKS IN FLIGHT
Out of sheer joy the man kept up tho
chase, Putting on more speed, he cir
Cled when the birds cirCled, dipped
when they dipped and scared when
they scared. Three times the birds and
the man in the great yellow wings trav-
eled around a ten mile circle, the man
gaining slowly but surely as the birds
tired in their flight.
Once as the manbird scared he caught
the birds in his trap. a small flock
was beneath him, and pointing a 20
caliber rife, he fired. His aim was true
despite the terrific pace he travelled. and
a bird dropped into the ocean.
The aviator then shot out two miles
from land after another flock, ami
scattered this as the one before. Sew
eral times he fired as he overlook his
prey, DQL MS ann was uOL SO SOOu.
Finally, when every duck of the great
flocks swarming the ocean had been
put to flight, Latham turned inland to-
ward the marshes.
A herd of cows was grazing on a
grassy plot interlacing the lagoons
when the manbird. with the chugging
propeller Of his machine sounding like
a steam engine, plowed his way
through the air above them.
The cattle took to flight. Some found
refuge in the water at the edr OF
the lagoons. Others beloved their pro-
test at this invasion of their precinct
by the winged monster.
Thousands of ducks resting on tho
lagoons took wing when the manbird
appeared and the flutter Of their wings
Continued on Page Flve)