The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-10-22
RACING OF
AEROPL LANES
One of the Aviators
Had Narrow Escape
From Death


and cold, although the weather man
outlook was pessimistc, promising
| showers before sundown, Thirty aVi-
/ ators and about forty areoplanes were
out Tor the beginning OF what prom
ises to be the most important aero
nSutlc event ever held anywhere IN
| the world.
| The setting at Belmont Park, l.. l.,
| for what today and the eight succeed
| ing days will be an international bat
| tie for the supremacy OF the air, was
| disappointing.
A green field oil cropped grass, set
| in a saucer, rimmeJ at the horizon
with faint blue fields, bounded by the
| familiar oval OF the Belmont race
trace and marked at the turns with
tail red and white pylons. huge steel
Grandstand, painted 10 tone with the
landscape, gay with the flags OF all
nations and banked TO the roof with
| tier on tier of close ranged benches
| beside 1t the white colonial facade
ot the WestCheSter racing association }
| club house opposite it the broken
outline OF the twenty hangers in which
| the aeroplanes of three nations are
housed: 10 the east a low clump OF
trees and near them the trim brown
tents OF the United States signar
corps-suoh was the picture that
greeted the eye oil the observer at
! daybreak
America. France and Great Brit
ain are the competitors Neither Cur
tiss nor the Wright Brothers. the best
known American aviators. are entered
In person. They are represented BY
EloXsey, Johnstone and Brookins for
the WrightS and McCurdy, Ely, Mars
and Willard for Curtiss.
Curtiss won the James Gordon Ben.
nett international cup last year. but
he declined 10 defend il IN person this
year. Instead both he and the Wrights
have built special racing machines.
not yet seen in public with which
they hope TO retain it for America,
but they viii meet opposition in the
latest l00horsepowe Bieriot, brought
here by the French team
Hamilton has new 1lO-horse power
biplane, but 1t has never been tried
out to the limit and even It's owner
does not know just what 1t viii do
under pressure, He believes it very
fast. John b. MoiSsant smashed his
Blerot racer last Monday, but is busy
rebuilding t. j. Armstrong Drexel
VIII also fly American machines.
| France sends Leon Morane. who now
holds all speed records for one kilo-
meter up TO IS miles, Hubert Latham.
with his beautiful. erratic, dragon-fly
Antoinette monoplane, Alfred LIE
Blanc. the champion croSs-country
llyer' Emil Auburn, his pupil Count
Jacques de Lesscps. the second aviator
20 cross the English channel, and such
lesser celebrities as Barrier, Garros.
Audemnrs and Simon, some of whom
lily the tiny "demoisselles," the hum
ming birds among aeYopianes.
England sends Claude Graham
White. who took first honors at Bos.
ton In the recent Harvard meet.
James Radley, OglviIle and McArdle.
all representing the Royal Aero Club
OF the Tn ted Kingdom.
The definite arrival OF the mono.
plane Is one Of the most noticeable
features OF the meet
The failure of the Condor to make
longer flight is ascrIbed by NJ. Faure
to the condition OF his balloon. which
was weakened, he says, by exposure
to wind and weather on the deck of
the steamship which brought 1t from
Europe
The most thrilling feature of the
Condor'5 flight was a sensational dron
from height oi nearly two miles 10
a point less than fifty feet above The
surface OF Lake Michigan. NJ Sch.
moicll told of this experience as fol.
lows.
1t was late on Monday night We
were at height OF sometime near
10000 feet when suddenly we struck 4
zone of air where the temperature
was close to zero The gas i'm the
balloon began To condense rapidly and
we started falling. We shot down
and down. We stroye frantically To
cncck our descent After a sheer
drop OF G,u00 feet, there came n brief
halt and we thought we were safe
but the relief only for a moment,
Again the balloon began To drop BAGS
ol ballast were hurled Overheard and
splashcd in the black waters beneath
Then We sacrificed the oxygen tanks
ana everything that VIC could lay our
hands on, but still we dropped.
I'VE We're within hundred feet
oh the surface OF the great lake when
we discarded our shoes and coats and
claSped our lie preseTNerS to our
bodies. believing that in au infant we
would be plunged into the water
Then. just when we thought ourselves
lost, the balloon was halted on its
downward flight. We were only forty |
five feet above the surface of the wat
cr. We brcathed sigh oil relief as
the wind carried us over toe water
and we sighted land
Our attempt to descend was
iraucnt with new perIls The balloon |
sailed three miles over the rough |
country at express Uan speed, drag
ging the basket in its wake The
basket was dashed against fences,
IarmhouSes and three chimneyS dur |
ing the onslaught Fences were bowl |
ed over and small trees knocked down, !
Finally. stout barbed.wirc renee |
caught us and held long enough TO |
throw NJ, Faure and myself headlong |
into marsh filled with muddy water. |
We hali-swam and haIC.wNded t. ter1a |
tirma and found we were in Two |
Rivers, Wis"
ANiators were early aStir on the |
ground mere, preparing for the open |
ing OF The international aviation meet. |
Work was proceeding In the ma
chine tents. grooming the machines |
for the days flights. There was a |
breeze blowing ont of the northwest, !
but one aviator darod tho conl Hons |