The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1910-12-29
INVENTORS SIT
KAVGAT|
Achievements of FIiers al
mont Park Meet DemOns(
Tremendous Advand
Made In Six Years.
BY ROBERTUs LOVE.

/ ~ AN man ny! lie can ii
| have seen him fly. Sc
" believing. II is gres
more convincing TO see
( fly than TO read about his fig
very few years ago | was one
| skeptics who laughed at the
that man could learn TO fly. TIL
US who laughed were not inexcu
Men have trodden this old glo
many centuries always eager to
don the sod at will and ayiate in
azure Thousands and thousand
attempted to contrive some sort
traption capable Of taking the
into the empyrean. circling aroI
the cerulean and bringing them
10 terra firma safe. sound and
Up to a very few years ago al
attempts were failures. and that
we laughed.
But now. thanks most largely
two assiduous sons of Bishop W
OF Ohio. we laugh no longer. We
pay respectful tribute of memoir
ancient Icarus. who made wing
who made his of luther or suthi
other" Icarus and Darius failed
vile and Wilbur succeeded. The v
moves and men fly. Bird-like
aviate in machines with wings
tails that sweep and soar and Cd
and glide swiftly and gracefully.
Nearly Two Mile Climb.
Only a few days ago Ralph John
stone of Kansas City. at the Belmont
park aviation meet on Long Island.
scared lark-like In a biplane nearly
two miles up into the skyl so far above
the earth that his machine was lost
TO view in a cloudless atmosphere.
tombstone climbed up the air ladder
9.714 feet. breaking by j2S feet the
worlds record for altitude. He was
trying for 10000 feet. but quit 2S6
feet short of his ambition only because
his motor quit first At the same time
and place ]. Armstrong Drexel climb
ed S.3I3 feet in a monoplane and came
down then because he had a dinner
engagement at Sherry's and he was
getting sick at the stomach. a man
with a sick stomach is not calculated
TO enjoy his dinner so we readily ex-
cuse Mr.. Drexel for descending when
he did.
Wilbur Wright. standing on the
ground. was the only spectator of
Johnstone's fight who was disappoint-
ed. The biplane will go higher than
10000 feet before long. | hope" said
Wizard Wilbur. with confidence born
of expert knowledge And ali of us
hope it will and that its daring aviator
will descend as safely as did John
stone and. like him, call not in vain for
Il bowl of hot soup and a plate of
beans
Let US bark back for a moment into
the almost ancient history of aero
planning. Two years age Thomas r.
MacMechen. an enthusiastic young St
Louis newspaper man who believed in
aviation. brought TO New York Henri
Farman. French aviator and maker Of
aeroplaneS. Mr.. MacMechen with as
sociates agreed to pay NJ. Farman
of aviation stunts. expecting sufficient
gate receipts TO pay the piper and have
a grub stake left.
Reference to newspaper files cover
ing those days will show that brother
journalists had fun WITH MacMechen-
habit the metropolis. Some of their
fun perhaps was justified. for as a
matter of fact NJ. .Farman. loudly trum-
peted and press ACCENTED into American
renown. failed TO do any flying that
was worth mentioning twice in the
same century. His machine crawled
along the ground like a bug that had
been stepped on by beast. The jump
ing frog of Calaveras county, which
was loaded to the muzzle with shot.
did about as much jumping as Far
mans biplane did flying Farman was
Disguised. So was everybody else.
Rapid Progress In Year.
Two years ago the art of aviation
was not far enough advanced TO in
sure a successful exhibition of flying.
For that matter, one year ago there I
wasn't very much thrill in the perform
lnces of aviators. Glenn II. CurtisS. I
10 be sure, had won the Bennett cup
n the first international race at Rheims I
FOR speed But Curtiss disappointed /
of thousands of spectators /
when he failed TO fly more than few !
feet at time as the star attraction in .
with the st. Louis centen- ]
NAL celebration in October, 1909. He /
vas still trifle shaky on his wings. |!
20 TO speak. Yet last June this same 4
Curtiss thrilled the world by flying
rom Albany 10 New York with only
me landing en- route. In the interval
lie had acquired his wing cor troll. He
vas no longer an accident il aviation.
lie was an adept.
In the Curtiss biplane plant at Ham