Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1910-09-15

heavy motor in the 1all. ne rionoH
have been the heaviest losers IN
life of any of the nations interest
ed in aeronautics Half a score Oh
daring and temperamental Frencn-
men have paid with their lives the
penalty for venturing into the SKY
spaces on frail machines of silk, alu-
minum and piano wire. The Germans
are the next heaviest losers In lie
and property. The wrecking of the
numerous rigid and semi-rigid dirigibles
of the Zeppelin and Parseval types has
hit hard the hackers of the German
idea in aeronautics. The casualties
for the year 1909 were terminated by
the death of the Spanish aviator, Fer
nandez, at Nice, on December g. He
was a martyr to the idea of lightness
in aeroplane construction. His deatn
was undoubtedly caused by trying to
fly with a motor that was entirely too
light for the strain it had to bear dur
ing his determined flights. While
sweeping in great circles over the
aviation grounds of the French city
the tiny motor gave way with Split
ting crash. The watchers turned their
heads away while the swift fall lasted.
In spite of the warning conveyed in
his death, many aviators even yet are
sacrificing safety for lightness In their
engines. Delagrange, who was killed
in the first week Of January, 1910,
made the opposing mistake OF having
an engine whose weight was too great
for his wing area. His planes were
not sufficiently large to bear up under
the weight of his heavy motor. when
Under the strain of full flight. Della
grange was the first aviator to carry
a passenger with him in his aerial
trips. Mrs. Petter, the first woman
passenger in the history of the aero
plane, made a fight with him in July.
1908.
After the death of Delagrange. the
first few months of 1910 were devoid
OF fatal accidents. Aviation meetings
were going on late in the winter In
America, southern Europe and in
Egypt 1t was April in the present
year before lie Blon was killed on the
Spanish seacoast at San Sebastian.
lie Blon was the idol of the more dar-
ing aviators. He had attracted inter
national attention by his remarkable
flights at Doncaster England, late In
October of the previous year He had
dared the winds to do their worst in
a 15-mile flight on October 10. and on
the next day he made a trip that all
aviators, even his nervous fellow
countrymen, characterized as fool
hardy. A great gale blew up out OF
the Atlantic on the night of October
1S. growing steadily worse through
the night OF the nineteenth. 1t was
the sort that sweeps the tight little
island" every autumn, a terrific blow
that comes roaring up the channel
from the Atlantic. sending fishermen
and channel shipping scurrying for
shelter In some rock-bound harbor.
In the midst of this great gale the
Frenchman announced that he was
going to make a flight. In aeronau'
tlcal records the flight that he made
that day Is set down as being "a fool
hardy flight In a great gale"
The death roll has grown rapidly
In this. the summer OF 1910. On May
/ 10, Michelin was carried by strong
wind against derrick, and In the fall
that followed sustained injuries that
caused his death. Eugene Spler was
killed az San Francisco while prac.
tising on glider" NJ. Robi met his
death In a meet at Stettin. Wachter
was killed at Reims. Charles Stewart
Rolls. hero OF England by reason Of
his remarkable flight from Dover to
/ Calais and return was killed at Bour
uemouth through rudder Of his own
| invention failing 60 answer the lever
| Klnet. Belgian, met his death during
recent aviation exhibition in "A
I French town. Eugene Ely while try
I ing for the third time % make a con
tinuoua Hight from Winnipeg to Port.
age Ia Prairie. fell from a height Of
several hundred feet aud Nas killed
The dlrigibles have been the ocea.
sion Of ulue of the twenty three
/ deaths of the last two years. ON
| september e5 1909 the French var
| balloon the Repuhliqge. on its way
I e. AlruAon from the held maHeuYers
at Ia Fallsae. waa destroyed, sup
I pnszahlY hy "a propeller blade breaking
on and ripping open the wallis of the
eran -Four men We're Killed la the
/ tan .f 500 feet. that followed tho utter
. collapse af the dlrlglhls ln the De
HHeIlan af fho EfHslaeh. at leioh.
HuEsu Germany fea iaf6 ago. hye
uaa lHs.udlHs thp laFsaloF, met thsii
auaH