The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1910-12-20
AVIATION meet OF
WORLD INTEREST

Scotford, chairman of the publicity
committee of the aviation meet, and
Lieutenant Paul W. Beck, detailed by
the United States government to su-
pervise military experiments during
the event, will shoot geese from aero
planes in the course of dare devil
valley on date to be chosen between
Christmas and New Years day. Scot
ford will take his shotgun on board a
Wright machine driven by Roy Kna-
benshue and Lieutenant Beck will try
to bag his game from Curtis aero
plane driven by R. l. Young.
Originally started as "sporting
proposition by Scotford, who thought
he was awaiting too high for the dar-
ing birdmen to follow, it was promptly
brought to earth by Knabenshue and
Young, who Immediately agreed to
make the flight IF Scotford has the
nerve.o
The terms in which the acceptance
was couched deprived Scotford of the
nerve to refuse, and the date of the
flight to take place in the Sacramento
valley will be announced within the
next few days, as soon as the details
of the course, landing and starting
points, ETC., have been decided upon.
Scotford's letter to Knabenshue
reads as follows:
"As a sporting proposition, will
you take Lieutenant Beck or myself
in one of your machines, provided the
Curtis man takes the other, for a
goose hunt to take place any time and
place you chooses'
Knabenshue replied by wire:
eve accept your proposition if
Scotford has the nerve"
Young replied by mail:
"Yonr letter concerning goose hunt
received. After talking it over with
Knabenshue, we decided that if you
are in earnest we will accept. You
may name the date Lieutenant Beck
may go in the Curtis and you in the
Wright
Beck and Scotford replied by wire:
"We do accept. Any date between
Christmas and New Year you name.
You will choose place in Sacramento
valley
While Scotford is receiving many
premature condolences from his
friends, the feat will be one of serious
importance, and is regarded by the
army men to whom it has been report
ed as matter of the highest conse-
quence, particularly as Lieutenant
Beck is positively convinced of the
feasibility of bagging game from an
airship. Proof of this will be consid-
cred by the war department as estab-
fishing the status of the aeroplane as a
machine of war.
The offer of these intrepid birdmen,
has raised the aviation meet from a
plane of national interest to an alti-
tude at which it commands attention
of military authorities the world over.
The military and naval attaches of
the foreign legations at Washington
have from the start evinced the keen
est interest in the meet and the op-
portunities it presents to solve the
most important problems that con
fronts the modern tactician-the sue
cessful invasion of city through the
agency of aeroplane.
While the duck hunt will be literal
ly spectacular advantage in the air
| il will be constructively an invasion
of San Francisco, for sufficient accu
racy in the craftsmanship of the avia
tors will be taken by the military au
thorities as demonstration that San
Francisco is helpless TO withstand an
attack by aerial agents of destruction
and steps will be instantly taken to
prepare for the contingency of such ar
assault.
! Conditional reservations at the big
hotels indicate that every great power
will have representatives on the field
/ to observe the startling maneuvers
that have been planned and report
scientific deductions to their home
governments.
The fact that airships have been
successfully launched from the decks
of American battleships reduces the
question of San Francisco's peril tc
mere matter of craftsmanship, and
the confidence of the birdmen on this
point has convinced the war depart
ment that the aviation meet in Sar
Francisco may be the most important
military event that has ever taker
place in time of peace.
Should the air men actually revea
the degree of accuracy in markksman
ship which they claim to be demon
strable fact, this city will be treated
/ to the dramatic spectacle of an assault
upon San Fracisco by aeroplane:
launched from ships of war.
The success of his experiment would
reveal the fact that, in addition to thu
dangerous lack of adequate defenses a
strategic points along the coast, ther'
exists the more terrifying possibility
of an assault against which the besi
of our present defenses would be use
less.
Many army men assert that the sue
cess of this experiment would mean i'm
mediate revolution of the plans OF
boards of strategy in all parts of the
world, though some of the military au
thorities insist that the modern riff
is sufficient protection against an,
airship which remains at the altitude
practicable for the direction of mis-
siles from above.
Aviation park at Tanforan is 20
acre flat triangular field which il
stated by experts to be better suite'