Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-06-25

| and Washington one is Immediately
struck with the many excellent land
| ing places. There are several race
tracks, for instance. and large athletic
| fields between New York and Wash
ington. At Philadelphia there is Frank
| lin field. Although it has the draw
back of being in the city limits, it is
| a large field and level The old Pimlico
race track, just outside OF Baltimore,
is also a broad space, inclosed so as
| to keep the crowds back should an
| aviator land there And, OF course,
there is the Bennings race track, just
outside of Washington.
THE trouble with most landing
places Is that the crowd surges around
and hampers the movements OF the
aeroplanist. At Poughkeepsie, for in
stance, it took an hour before l could
get under way again after landing, so
great was the crowd around me-"
Mr.. Curtiss was asked what, in his
opinion would be a fair number of
stops between New York and Wash
ington should that course be CHOSEN
! for fight or a race.
Suggests Three Stops.
that three stops would not be unrea-
sonable," he replied. "A stipulation
that the contestant must fly both ways
would, of course, be far more difficult
and would doubtless require two days
| for the round trip because Of weather
conditions and other considerations"
Curtiss appeared to be the calmest
man in New York at the end of his
great flight To the observer it seemed
as if he did not look on it as a very
| great feat.
Here is the aviator's own simple mar
rative of the flight OF $50 miles in 2
hours and 81 minutes:
When 1 was watching the wind
clustering over Albany on Wednesday
CMay 25) | felt assured it would blow
itself cut and there would be an hour
or two of calm before another storm
! wind could blow up. 1t was the prob
lem of a high following a low, and
that is why l was out at o'clock this
morning (1ay 29) ready to get away.
IT found 1 had figured too readily
with the wind, however, and IT was
still blowing itself out when left the
hotel. But at the tail end of it had
come along. and the smoke in the
Standard Oil works near my camp
was curling upward. In another hour
was certain the wind was through
to stay and decided to get under way.
= The Gasoline Problem.
THE problem of gasoline was not
serious. I started out with ten gallons
and had three left at the farm (Gin
farm, near POughkeepsie) when / stop
ped to replenish the supply. l did not
ill the tank to the top again. as ]
wished to avoid weight through the
| bad section about Storm King The
only repair l made was to one of my
wire braces, which l found was vi
brating whenever 1 ran at full speed.
'They tell me there was cheering all
along the line. but I couldn't hear 1t.
The rush of air past my ears and the
noise Of the machine pretty we'll shut
out all other sounds. While passing
over West Point / could see them on
the parade ground waving. but could
not hear any voices.
There was one stage of the journey
when was in real danger. That was
in rounding Storm King mountain, just
before reaching West Point was
down current of air hit one of my
planes. 1t had the effect Of fitting the
machine, for the opposite plane was
not struck by the current. 1t dropped
me down between thirty or forty feet,
and 1 had trouble getting my balance
again"
Weren't you scared" some one
asked
well. can't say that I was scared.
but it upset me little.'' said Curtiss,
with a smile. at was the worst
plunge ever got in an aeroplane, and
1 don't want to get another one like
1t soon. After that / went lower, be-
GAUGE the variations in the air currents
were not so great near the ground or
the water. That was the principle
worked under all the way down after
crossing the Poughkeepsie bridge.
"Of course coming down through
New York city flew comparatively
high. for 1 figured that the high build
ings and the heat from the passing
ferryboats would make it dangerous to