The Penn's Grove record., 1910-06-17
AMERICAN AVIATOR
BREAKS DISTANCE RECORD
Hamilton Flies From New York to
Philadelphia and Back.
SAILS SO MILES IN III MINUTES
Frail-Looking, Boyish Master OF the
Air Overcomes Disaster and wins
Prize-Greatest Feat in History
of Aviation.

New York City.-Charles K. Ham,
,lton, the frail-lookins, beyish master
If the air, accomplished the feat OF
sailing in his biplane from New York
% Philadelphia and return, winning
hereby a $4,000 prize offered By che
New York Times and the Philadelphia
Public Ledger.
He left Governors Island at 1877
l. M, and, beating by several minutes
4 special train that raced on the
Pennsylvania tracks below him,
reached Philadelphia at 9.28.
Taking to the air again at 11.3O a.
M. he flew at a record speed as far as
South Amboy, N. j., where, at 1874
IN. because of engine trouble, he
.hose to descend. There he suffered
the further misfortune of breaking
ais propeller. But he repaired it.
arose from a seemingly impossible
location at $40 p. M, and at 6.39
again touched the sands of Governors
island.
His outbound trip consumed n
nour and fifty-ene minutes; his re-
urn trip one hour and thirty-six min
ates of actual flying. His estimated
average speed was fifty miles an hour,
the airline distance between the two
sities being Lightweight miles.
To a mere handful of spectators,
oy the salt marshes outside of South
Amboy, N. j., fell the fortune of wit
Messing Charley" Hamilton give the
greatest exhibition of pluck. nerve
and daredevil daring that any mai
Of the air has yet revealed.
He succeeded, there before these
few persons, after he had apparently
failed beyond hope of completing his
.~ity-to-city flight. In the face of dam
age, coming darkness and terrible
danger, he flew when flying seemed
impossible. And he flew higher,
faster and more recklessly than he
had done in the presence of tens of
thousands earlier in the day. He
literally defied the air and conquered
There in the swamp he won his vic
tory and his prize, not along the lines
of cities, where multitudes cheered
him.
Curtiss retains the official record
for speed, but Hamilton took all
American records for cross-country
distance and duration, and using his
own figures for the return fight, his
average speed per mile established a
new figure. Carrying, as he did, let
ters between the two cities, Hamilton
created the first fast mail by yer
land route to Philadelphia and return.
Hamilton used the biplane that won
for Curtiss the international speed
trophy in Rheims last year, with the
propeller that Curtiss used in his new
biplane for the Albany-New York
flight.
The fight from New York to Phil
adelphia was viewed probably by
millions of spectators. Reports from
the larger cities indicate entire popu-
lations turning out to see the tiny
biplane Swimming through the air at
an altitude of from 500 to 1900 feet.
Not only was the outcome of the
flight watched with attention in this
country, but in foreign countries the
interest in the event was particularly
keen.
Hamilton received an ovation when
he landed in Philadelphia. He was
dusty and expressed himself as almost
ulipl SSculdDlt, UuI lie udu d message
to deliver to the Mayor of Philadel.
phia. Mayor Gaynor's letter to Mayor
Reyburn vas delivered and Hamilton
got a reply from Reyburn to Gaynor.
brief addresses Of welcome and con.
graduation being interchanged, and
Hamilton was back in the aviation
field and prepared to start back tc
this city at 11.30 o'clock, two hours
and three minutes after landing in the
Quaker City. The field is to the north
of the PENNSYLVANIA tracks, near the
North Penn Junction. Although the
weather in New York was well nigh
perfect there was a slight mist over
the bay and in Philadelphia Hamilton
encountered a pronounced haze, but
he was able to distinguish his guild.
ing marks with apparent ease.
Long before he came near the city
Hamilton was able to discern the tow.
er of the City Hall. The immense
crowd found him trailing along ovel
the special train, and when Hamilton
selected a place to land he made a few
rounds of the field and landed easily
in a roped-off part of the field. The
finish was like the swoop of a sea gull
diving for a fish.