The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-06-03
CURT|SS' GREAT FLIGHT
WORLDS LONG DISTANCE SPEED
RECORD SMASHED.
FROM ALBANY TO NEW YORK
Travels 1877 Miles in q Hours-DeveE
ops Average Speed Of 54.0o Miles
an Hour.

New York-Glen H. Curtiss flew
from Albany to New York City in an
aerOplane Sunday, winning the $4,000
prize offered by the New York World.
He covered the distance of 1871 miles
in two hours and thirty-tW0 minutes
and came to earth as calmly and as
lightly as a pigeon His average speed
for the distance-54.0 G miles an hour
SURPRISES any record ever made by
an aeroplane in long distance flights
and in its entirety his feat perhaps
eclipses anything man has ever at
tempted in a heaVierthan-air machine.
The start was made from Albany
at 1909 o'clock Sunday morning un-
der weather conditions as near per-
feet as could be desirei. One hour
and twenty-three minutes later he had
made his stopping place near POUCH
keepsie, where there was an hours in
PERMISSION. Resuming his flight with
in the boundary of Manhattan Island
at 1926. Only 100 yards north of the
point on which his craft settled
stretched Spuyton Duyville Creek, sep
arating Manhattan Island from the
mainland. Had he failed to cross this,
his flight would have been in vain.
But he succeeded. Thence to Cover
nOrs Island his task was but a skim
Of triumph and the concluding lap of
race already won.
Compared With PauIhan's Flight.
Paulhan's flight from London to
Manchester, 1856 miles, exceeded the
Curtiss feat of Sunday in distance, but
not in speed and danger.
The Frenchman's average was 44.3
miles an hour, and below him lay Eng
lish meadowlands, Curtiss followed
the winding course Of the historic Hud
son, with jutting headlands, wooded
slopes and treacherouS palisades. He
swung high over the great bridge at
Poughkeepsie, dipped at times within
fifty feet of the rivers broad surface
and jockied like falcons at turns. Only
once did his craft show signs Of re-
bellion. This was off Storm King,
near West Point, where, at height
of nearly 1000 feet, treacherous
gust struck his planes. The machine
dropped like a rock for forty feet and
tilted periously, but Curtiss, cool and
collected, kept his seat.
Early Preparation.
Curtiss was up before dawn, hes
liant, despite favorable weather con-
ditions, but with eyes and brain clear
ed of the cobwebs of sleep, he went
with his mechanic and a handful of
spectators to Van Rensselaer, Island in
the Hudson, three miles south of AL
bany, from where he was to make the
start.
Rose Like Rocket.
Curtiss arose from the ground like
rocket. There was no preliminary
maneuvering. There was no trial
flight. The aeroplane ran hurriedly
over the surface of the island and
started straight for its goal to the
southwark.
Curtiss Lands.
He landed easily on stretch Of
new-made land within forty yards Of
the shed in which the aeroplanes were
housed during the Hudson-Fulton cele-
bration. Dismounting without further
ado, he resigned his craft to soldiers.
Refreshments were served in Cor
bin Hall, and Curtiss briefly related
his experience. Mrs. Curtiss, who
had meantime arrived in New York
on a special train, joined her husband
as Curtiss was preparing to take the
ferry for New York. Half an hour
later Curtiss was in the World office
where a check for $4,000 was handed
IN him with short Snppch of COngrdt-