The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-25
J. Armstrong DrexeI Takes His Machine Up To A.
 titude of 71O5 Feet
BELMONT PARK IS FILLED
 WITH FLYING MACHINES
Brookins and Hamilton Are Two Amer jeans Who Hold Their Own in the Contesting Flights With the
 Foreigners

New York October 24.-The third day
 of the international meet at Belmont
 park made up for all the damp, cold and
 disappointment of the first two days. A
 new American record for altitude was set
 down to the credit of J. Armstrong Drex-
 el and the competition in the other events
 was at all times thing of delight. full
 of zest. action and beauty. The air fair
 ly hummed with the buzz of the dipping,
 dancing craft and their incessant evou-
 tions were so swift and so intricate that
 the spectators could not follow them, and
 even the official scorer. prompted from
 the judges stand by the tabulators and
 timekeepers, Jagged behind.
 DrexePs Estimate
 Drexel scared for altitude in his record
 nlght at just $40 D. m, five minutes be-
 tore the second hourly altitude contest
 closed In great, lazy circles he crept into
 the wind, pointing higher and higher into
 the glare of the setting sun to a height
 or 7lo5 feet. Beneath him three busy bi-
 planes were scattering about the track
 like so many sparrows in a panic racing
 Tor places in the grand speed event. He
 pianed above them like hawk searching | " SS ttiHii liicil III perspective ne
 seemed almost immobile against the blue.
 Ills descent was swift but unhurried,
 and he landed lightly in the middle of the
 field There was immediate surmise that
 he had approached if he had not estab-
 hshed new record. but no figures were
 available until his barograph had been
 unseaied and the reading of tic stylo-
 graph on the plotted sheet inside it was
 examined.
 Drexel had made. however, what proved
 to be remarkably close estimate as to
 just what he had done i've been up
 more than 1000 feet he said, eand let mo tell you that 1t was cold
 The barograph is an aReroid barometer
 to which has been attached revolving drum of plotted paper driven by clock
 work with recording stylus attached. z The instrument shows both the height and time at which 1t is made. Drexels
 reading showed clearly that he had risen
 lil5 feet. The best previous American : record was 6175 feet. made by Walter Brookins at Atlantic City. and Drexers own best record, made last summer in Great Britap, was 675O feet, although at the time worlds record. It Is probable , that the official records. as they will finally be compiled, will allow him only 100 feet today, as it Is held that an | dHCioiQ pdiOlllttST IS dn instrument not
 of sufficient accuracy to be relied upon ! for measurements down to the ultimate l foot. The worlds altitude record Is Sl96 feet, held by Henry Wynmalen, a Hol- lander
 | There was some confusion as to just . what honors Drexel was entitled to for : his splendid performance today. He had risen five minutes before the second hour for altitude flights closed and he was , not entered in the grand altitude event. , According to the rules the measure ment of all attitudes will cease to be 5 made at the end of the hour
 Drexel did not reach his full height
 until long after the hour had closed
 but nobody begrudged him whatever titles of distinction he could win. for the crowd voted that he deserved them. f Flights of BrooIxins Walter Brookins also went up for ati- tude in baby Wright biplane-a ma chine precisely like the new headless fiers that the Wrights brought out this
 summer, but with a shaI per upward cant to the planes. thereby enabling the avia- tor to point up more sharply and climb
 faster.
 Brookins In a Wright machine was mis- taken by everyone for the new Wright single surface machine," because of it's
 fine drawn lines and smaller planes and it was not until nightfall that Wilbur
 Wright, not without a smile, admitted v that the real racer was still on its way from Dayton. O., and was not expected r here until tomorrow.
 3 Brookins went up 4SS2 feet, according to the barograph and won the second al- titude honors for the day. At the apex of his climb. his engine which had given him some trouble before, stopped dead. : with both the propellers pointing straight up In the air, so that in gliding to earth . with no mower they afforded hin, fba
 least resistance in breaking the rush Of , his descent He came down whizzing,
 about mile and half off the course, , and struck with bump which broke his | forward landing skid. The damage was
 insignificant. however, and he was not f hurt in the least.
 New Models in Action Next to the performance of Drexel, the ! crowd took most enjoyment in the ap- . pearance of models never in America 2 before. The debutants of the air court sled to the grandstand before crossing the starting line, and waltzed off on their
 first part of the course. They were the f new Wright climber used by Brooxins in
 his altitude flight; a tiny Demoiselle-
 called the humming bird of aeroplanes,
 but it looks more like a butterfly; and a , flying fish-Antoinette. In all there were , 10 machines aloft at once, all in spirited ' rivalry.
 . Americans had never seen anything |. like it, and the exclamations of admira- : ton and bewilderment were heard on , every hand.
 Latham, whose name has been asso- :, ciated so closely with the development
 of the Antoinette piloted the ticklish craft He sat well back in the sharp stem. shaped like the stem of a speed 2 launch, with which it cuts the air and the two wheels with which he controls
 the long, slender wings could be seen
 necessarily turning backward and for-
 ward under his hands.
 . The craft was fast and 1t was partic- . ularly noticeable that he banked the turns |. with a precision and daring that the . Bleriot monoplanes, more bat-like and . blunter, could not attain. Tn the straight . aways, however, he was not so fast. F. . w. Radley. an Englishman in trimmed | down Bleriot, went by him as if he had i, been chained to stump. But Radley : had frequent engine trouble and never |