New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-10

Atlantic City. July 9.-waIter Brook
ms, in Wright biplane broke the
worlds altitude record here this evening
when he attained a height OF 6,175 feet.
He used his last drop of gasoline at his
highest altitude and was still climbing
when his engine missed explosions
The daring aviator brought his ma
of fuel out of the storage tank to reach
the line of vision of engineers on the
beach Reaching the imaginary line
Brookins started to glide to earth and
his engine stopped entirely when he was
at $500 feet and still over the ocean
His circIing glide to the beach, which
the crowd believed to be a bit Of fancy
flying. was done to save himself from
diving into the sea-
Brookins was ready to collapse when
he reached the ground and did not tell
of his plight in the air until midnight
after he had partly recovered
Officials at midnight gave 6,175 feet as
the exact height Of the fight from cal
cuIations of engineering experts The
paragraph record is $500 feet, leaving
but twenty-five feet difference 1t is ex-
nected that the record will stand with
out protest.
By his feat to-day BroOkins wins the
$1,000 prize offered by the Atlantic City
Aero Club for breaking the worlds rec
ord. unless higher altitude is reached
here before the end of the present meet
Downward Rush Swift.
Brookins spent exactly 1 hour MIN
utes .35 15-1GO seconds in the air. ac-
cording TO the official timing Of Henry
Nj. Neely and Augustus Post, or the
contest committee of the National Coun-
eli of the Aero Club of America About
fiftv-seven minutes of this time was
made in the circling ascent. the rush OF
over a mile TO the ground consuming less
than seven minutes
Fear that Brookins at his highest
noint had not crossed the line OF VISION
of the expert engineers in charge OF Sc
curing his height by triangulation, start
led officials and spectators, until II was
discovered that the failure to secure
record of his crossing the imaginary line
On which his record will be based was
m, two swings at a much lower aIIIuue
than at the final highest point
Brookins. after waiting all day Tor the
brisk southerIy wind to die out, MADE
practice spin of little over fifteen MN
utes. reaching an altitude OF 1.9Oo IeeI
His final start was made at GUS O'CLOCK
With the weather absolutely clear and
,,,,,cb of the force of the wind gone IN
lower attitudes
His rise was made from alongside one
of the ocean piers. He pointed his ma
chine 70 the west. and then swung out
over The ocean. where he started MS
spiraI fight over ocean and city
One Hundred Thousand Saw the Feat.
News that Brookins was really at
tempting TO break the altitude record
reached the hotels and city people anu
u-ban he had reached a height OF LOU
feet the greater part Of the population
If the citv was on the beach IL IS cal
c,,1a,ed that nearly one hundred thou-
eord nersons watched the flight ana
o,,oared Frootins when he descended at
I'll p. m
threw up hats and handkercmefs' ana
the police had trouble keeping back the
crowd until Brookins made run from
his machine to his dressing room on
the pier.
Miss Eva Coffyn. sister of Frank Cof-
fxn. Brookirs's fellow aviator, pushed a
bunch of roses into his hands. which ne
waved to the cheering crowd as ne
mounted to the deck of the pier
Rroolins declined TO receive callers.
and rested for ten minutes before he left
for his hotel in an automobile He again
went into seclusion after stating that ne
found the air currents steady at his
highest altitude. and that he turned tow
ard the earth when his aneroid barom-
aters showed an altitude of over six
thousand feet
Waiting for Official Figures.
The official figures of the height really
reached in the record breaking fight viii
be based on the findings OF engineers
stationed at Berkeley avenue and at the
steel pier giving a base line OF three
and a half miles. \ yacht anchored on the
Million Dollar Pier was also used as
an observation station further TO verify
the findings. The work of triangulation
is in chargesof City Engineer Rightmire
and former City Engineer Hackney, who
were still working on their calculations
at midnight.
Glenn Curtiss made several short
flights while Brookins was preparing TO
ascend for his final trial. but descended
without attempting any altitude flight
or speed record over the fifty-mile course
which he expects 10 cover tomorrow
The managers OF the pneet have COM
municated with the Wright brothers for
permission for Brookins TO fly to-mor-