The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-11-15
A.roOIane Makes the Trip Success
fully from the Deck Of Bat
tt-ship Over to Dry
Land.
ONLY SHORT DISTANCE
Flying Machine Hit the Water When
it Was sLaunched But Then
Rose Into the
sky.

FORT MONROE, Va. Nov Is
Aerial navigation proved that it is a
factor which must be dealt with in the
naval tactics of the worlds future, If
the successful fight made by Eugene
2 Ely in a Curtiss biplane from the
deck of the cruiser Birmingham can
he taken as criterion From Hamp-
ton Roads. the scene forty-five years
AGO of another epoch in the history of
naval warfare, when an ironclad prov
ed its superiority over the former type
of fighting vessel, the aviator flew
across the lower end of Chesapeake
Bay. landing on the shore opposite
this fort.
With broken propeller and in
weather conditions unfavorable foi
aying. the aviator shortly after 800
o'clock glided from the platform erect
ed OH the front of the cruiser, swooped
down until he touched the water. then
rose rapidly and was off in the direc-
ton of the Atlantic Four minutes
later he was lost on the eastern horiz-
on and an instant later had landed
safely on Willoughby Spit.
The impact with which the machine
struck the water after its 27-foot
drop from the cruiser SCARED one of
the propeller blades and small piece
was split from the blade. But the
speed of the aeroplane was not less
ened, and it lifted away with express
train rapidity on its fight.
Intermittent rain throughout the
4 day, several small hail showers and
continuous fog almost compelled the
aviator to postpone his attempt But
ne was determined to prove, as he
said after the flight, that he could ac-
complish more than had been expect
ed. Furthermore. he did not wait foi
the Birmingham to get into notion
which would have added to his mo-
mentum, and thus have aided him, but
seizing an opportune moment between
showers he was off before those Oh
board and on the other vessels neal
by. were aware he was ready for MS
flight, the first of it's kind the worlc
has ever seen.
Ely asserted it would be an easy
matter for an aeroplane to alight OF
a vessel, either while the latter was
moving or standing still. Naval ex
perts who witnessed the flight cN
pressed their belief that the navies o
the world in the future must take tn
aeroplane into consideration.
The machine in which he flew wa
the one which Glenn H. Curtiss use'
on his Albany to New York fight. |
had seen two previous cross-wate
flights, one over Lake Erie, fron
Euclid Beach to Cedar Point and bacR
distance of seventy miles; the othe
by Curtiss over the surf off Atlanti
City, when it covered fifty miles.
The distance Ely flew was nearl
five miles. The birmingham was lA
ing in the roads quarter of mil
from the Hotel Chamberlin, but, /
making his flight to Willoughby Spi
he few in a curve, SO that, While tn
exact distance could not be determil
ed, it was believed he covered almos
i've miles. 1t was 3:16 o'clock wne
ne took to the air. Eve minutes late
he was safe on Virginia soil, fe'
miles north of Norfolk
Ely after being brought back on
launch and placed aboard the 10
pedo-boat destroyer Rec, said ne wa
not fond of water, but he had owe
come his fear long enough to remai
over it in fog and accomplish ~
purpose.
When he struck the water on diVlr
off the platform on the Birmingham
salt spray dashed into his race al
goggles and he could not see for Sc
eral minutes in which direction
was going TIe had planned to take
different course from that followf
and land further to the north. III
highest altitude he attained was es
mated at 50O feet