New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-28
GALE FOOLS THE CROWD
Indian Summer Morning Led All
to Hope for Fine Flights.
WAS BEHIND GRANDSTAND
So Spectators Didn't Realize
Strength of Wind and Were
Surprised by Failures.

ne bdlnly indian summer morning luTeo
to Belmont Park yesterday the biggest
crowd that has yet attended the Interna-
tional Aviation Tournament. Fully twenty
thousand spectators. it was estimated,
craned their necks from the grand and field
stands and the lawns in front Of them and
from automobiles in the parking spaces.
Several thousand more paid ten cents apiece
for standing room on the nearest real es-
tate Improvement from which the promoters
of the meet have tried in vain to hide the
flights by means OF canvas screens
No dav had promised better so far as
weather conditions were concerned. Not
only did there seem to be little or no wind
to those sheltered by the grandstand from
the southwesterly blast. but the high tenn
rerature augured we'll for altitude flights.
since one of the greatest obstacles to break
ing the worlds record in altitude has been
the intense cold encountered a mile in the
air When on the dot of 100 Latham shot
over the starting line. followed closely by
the Wright rivals. Hoxsey and tombstone
it really seemed as if before long the air
would be thick with aerOplanes-
It was unfortunate for both aviators and
spectators that the latter were prevented
by their position from realizing what a
hit the grand and field stands squarely in
the back. swirled in gusts through the en-
frances and between the stands and slid up
over the roofs.
AS the three aviators crossed the starting
line close TO the ground those tTea cheTous
drafts caught from broadside on: their
planes tipped and swayed in distress
Those who were looking upon an aeroplane
in the air for the first time got the idea
Immediately that these immature machines
were always unsteady, while the veteran
air fans thought the aviators had suddenly
lost their grip.
Wrights Move Backward,
Every one got a little inkling of what a
powerful enemy the air men were fighting
when the two Wright machines began TO
slide backward as they mounted higher and
higher, both facing the little hurricane like
animals at bay. Carl Dienstbach. the Aero
Clubs technical expert, called attention to
this phenomenon, which. he said, was
unique in the history of aeronautics. Hox-
sey and tombstone had only been up ten
minutes when Mr.. Dienstbach remarked
that never before had aeroplanes travelled
backward for so long a time at a stretch
The wind must be travelling forty-two
miles an hour up there" said he, for
these machines are capable of making
forty miles an hour with no wind and they
are now being pushed backward"
Skeptics surrounded him. 1t seemed impos-
sible that five hundred feet in the air the
wind should be blowing more than forty
miles an hour, while the lawn below
summer clothes felt no stirring of the
breeze And yet no aviator followed the
first three adventures in the hourly dis
lance and altitude contests. which not only
disappointed but myc-ifed the crowd
A strong revival of hope followed the
announcement shortly after 2:45 o'clock
that Audemars. in a yellow DemOiselle-
would enter the special hourly distance
competition scheduled to take place be
tween 2:45 and S:45 and that Garros would
try for a special hourly altitude prize in
white Demoiselle. Audemars spread his
wings and rose. only to come down
moment later and flop about like a hen
irving to fly. Garros didn't appear at all,
and pretty nearly every one said ne
guessed the Dernoiselle was built for the
BARNARD rather than the illimitable
heavens
further when at 80 o'clock the official
announcer called through his megaphone
that the wind was blowing fourteen miles
an hour. He got his figures from the ane-
noometer. whose little wheel turned lazily
at the very edge of the grandstand roof
Rut the wind was blowing so strongly that
# missed the instrument entirely in vault
ing over the building. They knew better
over in the hangers, which directly faced
the zephyr across the broad expanse OF the
racetrack.
Crowd Sees a Light.