The San Francisco call., 1910-01-27
AWFD THRONGS
HAIL PAULhAN
ASKING OF AIR
Aviator Makes Cross Country
Flights and Attains Great
Speed
Ascends 1900 Feet and Leans
From Biplane to Wave
10 Crowd

loag Jump across the pasture; b4t it
was plain yesterday from the first that
he was vaulting higher. The wide
frame did not rock in the air nor Jerk
from level TO level. Tuesday it seemed
as Il Paulhan were pioneering his way
over a rocky road or that his biplane
was a chamois leaping from jag to
Jag. so fearsomely it rocked in the air
above the eucalyptus But yesterday
II rose gracefully and smoothly. The
-topography" OF the air seemed 20 have
been altered.
on to the south end of the field
PauIhan turned his machine There he
made wide circle, the wonderful
planes maintaining a splendid balance
on the turn. He set his nose for the
north. bat behind the grandstand, over
the san Bruno fields.
south City had Paulhan, as an unap-
proachable guest for moment The
silent green mounds of the cemeteries
felt the weird touch of the shadow of
the machine which the eyes under the
mounds would never see.
Colma. the little center which the
prize fighters claim, beheld the appari-
uon in the sky and high over the
town Paulhan swept, turning his back
on the gray and distant city. whose
people had assembled by the thousands
in the old racetraek field TO see him.
Makes Tremendous Speed
Then he came with the wind down
toward the south again. toward the
tens Of thousands Of pairs Of eyes. A
wayward bird saw the strange form
coming down from the north upon it,
and its atavistic instinct recalled the
aux and it few for refuge in the dim
eucalyptus.
Paulhan was 500 feet above the level
ct the field and probably quarter of
a mile to the west, speeding at a tre-
mendous rate. possibly. his assistants
said at the rate of 75 miles an hour.
At 4:O3 he eclipsed the sun.
The eyes Of the 80 600 were following
the moving framework in the sky. The
drone of the engine came to earth and
the blur OF the revolving propeller
could be discerned behind the white
planes. but there was not jerk TO the
fight. The invisible path over which
Psulhan drove must have been as
smooth as glass.
There were dark purple clouds loi
tering near the sun during the after
noon. and Paulhan crossed their face.
He cut straight between the sun and
the grandstsnd, as true as the course
Of the shadow Of an eclipse, but as
swift it seemed, as sunlight itself
There was a wonderful halo of light
flaming around him. he sped out
again against the dark background Of
the purple clouds. hurrying south.
on the wings of the wind he few
into the gray south. and the speck Of
the aerOplane grew smaller and
smaller until it faded like a phantom
ia the southern sky.
Millbrae and the Jersey herds in the
Cat saw the astonishing apparition
pass over the pastures. The golf play
ers at Burlingame felt the shadow over
tho putting green.
Returning Biplane Seen
The folks in the aviation field gazed
toward the south and waited. There
was no apprehension over his return.
There was simply speculation on the
duration Of the flight The speck of
the planes had been swallowed up like
gnat in the grsy of1ng at minutes
after 4. Seven minutes later J. Cowan
Hubert. the sales agent Of the Far
man machine, with his trained aero
nautical eye. caught the first glimpse
Of the returning speck.
-He is 10 miles away now" said
Hilbert. That meant that during the
interim Paulhan must have sailed
many miles south of San Mateo=prob-
ably TO Redwood City.
Paulhan came back high in the air
and raised still higher, to the 1000
he no Ia
ctrcled wide toward South City and
north Of the field and came back di-
rectlv over the center of the oval.
1t was 4:17 when he crossed the field
at an altitude Of 1900 feet. A tremen-
dous cheer broke from the crowd and
Paulhan leaned free Of the frame work
and waved his hand to the thousands
below. His assistants in the field
cheered wildly and waved back
To feel the full power of the aero
plane its supreme indifference TO the
earth, its reliable dependence on
ether. one must stand under the fly
ing machine, tilt back the head, and
with eyes turned toward the zenith, see
the serene vehicle poised on high, more
than 1900 feet above the ground trav-
cling mystical avenues of the ethereal
domain. The sensation is OF admiration
and wonder, but the aeroplane travels
so gracefully, so easily that il does not
seem weird. But there is an uncanny
atmosphere about il, at that. Had Paul
han, Farman, the Wrights and others
Of the higher levels lived in the DAYS
of old New England there undoubtedly
would have been some very daring ayia-
tors put on the witches bonfires
Throng Cheers Aviator
Paulhan. after passing over the field.
went off the course and made a quick
turn and came back over the place
where the crowd was the thickest.
Then came the moment of greatest en-
thusiasm. Every man waved his hat
and every woman her handkerchief
and everybody went wild at the marvel
Of the show.
Paulhan made another grand circuit
Of the field and came back a second
time over the crowd at a lower level
He made another circle and then
.planed" down to earth
There was no stopping the crowd
With a unanimous impulse it broke ali
bounds OF restraint and inundated the
field.
1t had seen a flight. 1t did not care