Bridgeton pioneer., 1910-11-03
DREXEL Tells OE
HIGHEST FLIGHT
Both He and JOhnstOne Break
Altitude Record,
FEAR IN AIR MEANS DEATH

When the American Millionaire Ayia,o.
Went Up Over Seven Thousand Fee,
In = MonoPlane at Belmont PARK
Describes His Sensations = Awfux 7
Cold AIoft, but Great Sport.
The day the American altitude rec.
ord was broken there were eighteen
aeroplanas in the air at Belmont park
New York. sixteen of them eontesting
for prizes and ten of them at one time
circling the mile and a half course
There were solid. plodding Wright bi.
planes. wasplike Bleriots. graceful
Antoinette. a dainty Demoiselle.
bulky Farman and speedy Curdss
fiers. The star fier of the day was
J. Armstrong Drexel. millionaire avi.
ator, who flies for sport and who broke
the American record for height. later
broken again 10y another American,
Ralph Johnstone. Drexel reached an
altitude of 7.105 feet. skimming up
ward until he almost seemed about to
break through the dome of blue, but
returning finally to earth.
The altitude of Drexel surpasses his
own record made several weeks ago
in England. and also the record made
by Walter Brookins, who few 6,175
feet in Atlantic City last summer. He
lacked more than 1000 feet of break
ing the worlds record of 91S6 feet
made by Henry Wynmalen. but he
flew upward so easily and gracefully
the feat looked simple. Rising from
the aerodrome. he circled upward, his
machine growing smaller and smaller
until he looked like a spider crawling
along on the underside of the tenuous
white clouds that fecked the sky, and
then he became smaller still. until it
was hard for the eye to follow him.
Still higher he went, and to the
naked eye be seemed fixed in one
+ place. destined never to descend If
the eyes fell from him for a moment
it took minutes to find him again. 1t
! took him more than twenty-five min
uteS to wind his way upward. but
once he pointed the nose of his ma
chine earthward he grew slowly larger,
and as he neared the earth the pound
ing of his engine became family audi
bic, and it was evident lack of fuel
| did not force him to fit back to the
| aerOdrome.
| 1T was cold as the devil up there"
| he remarked as he crawled slowly out
of the machine He rubbed his face
| and twirled out his little mustache
with stiff fingers. But" he continued
| as he took several steps to warm up,
Il will go higher yet 1t was awfully
cold. and the wind was stiff. but il
! was easy. l had no difficulty what
ever. My engine worked superbly, but
as it tended to heel over to the left I
had to be on my guard constantly
| Except for this fact. which compelled
me to be on the alert. it was great
| sport. but the next time | go up am
going to be dressed more warmly.
However, l had good experience. and
| hope | may go higher STILL
Drexel by his altitude record and by
his various other feats in his Bleriot
has been rising rapidly to the fore
most of the worlds aviators. In his
flying he shows excellent skill, cool
ness and resource that equal those of
such men as Leon Morane, Hubert
Latham and Alfred Leblanc. He is
without fear, for. as he said:
If you think of fear you are a dead
| man"
I
DreXel is the American millionaire
of the famous Philadelphia family.
who lives in England. where he con-
ducts an aviation school at Beaulieu.
Shortly before he set off on his record
breaking whirl to the aerial heights
he had visited his r-in-Iaw. Mrs.
Marjory Gould Drexel. at the grand
/ stand. Without any ostentation he
ordered his trim little monoplane
! brought out on the turf So far as the
crowd knew the aviator. who stood
twlrling the ends of his mustache,
simply was off to make an ordinary
hourly altitude record.