The San Francisco call., 1910-11-13

feats OF aerial high flying. Jim
Spencer, who had reason to feel proud
of his beautiful Bleriot model Silver
Flash, loudly boasted that she could
fly higher than any other airship owned
by the club.
Frank williams promptly disputed
Jims assertion. and after some hot ar
gumcnt a brand new idea took form, as
several other members felt that their
fiers could sail every bit as high as
either Franks Wright model Comet or
Jim's Silver Flash.
Frank proposed to construct sort of
aerial high hurdle. with crossbar that
could be raised to various heights, the
airship flying over the highest mark
set to be the winner. The other mem
bers were quick to see the originality
of Franks scheme, but didn't under
stand just how he intended to carry it
out. 1t was ore thing to prepare for
high jumping hurdle where the bar
wasn't more than q few feet high and
quite another undertaking to build one
on the lines Frank proposed.
1T can be done easily enough" ex-
planned Frank to his puzzled listeners.
But what about the lumber? Won't
that cost great deal?" objected Jim
Who said anything about lumber?'
laughed Frank. "As for the cost
should judge dollar would cover the
whole expense. What lumber is neces-
sary would cost about dime"
Stop fooling-talk sense!" snapped
Jim. nettled at Franks reply.
Il am" grinned Frank; "and now I'll
tell you how I'm going to do it with
nothing but two big kites"
jim looked foolish when Frank ex-
planned how simple it all was. Two
large kites of equal size were to be sent
up at the same time and so close to-
gether that the kite cords would be
within 25 feet of each other.
Thus a horizontal aerial crosshar"
in the shape of a stout cord would be
stretched from kite cord to kite cord
and raised or lowered to any height by
simultaneously letting out or winding
in the two kite cords.
but how are you going to measure
the exact height of the crossbar when
the supporting cords are on a slant?"
asked Tom Kennedy
That will be done by tying loose
string so it hangs from the center of
the crosscord The loose string will
be knotted at every foot length and
will be weighted by a detachable
weight to make it plumb. Thus, when
you want to set a new height detach
the lead plumb and let out the two
kite cords.
This means that the loose measur-
ing string must rise along with the
paying out of the kite cords You can
gauge the rise fairly well by counting
the knots in the measuring string as it
rises, but to get the exact length ad-
just the plumb line to the measuring
string at point so it will just Craze
the ground and yet keep the line
straight. Then count your knots, and
f1,nir fnta olc
finished Frank learnedly.
1t was only matter of a day or two
before all preparations were completed
for the great high fliers' contest as it
was advertised to the Juvenile world,
The grand event took place in that
scene of so many Of Prairievilles
aerial triumphs Williams Aerodrome
before large crowd. Two beautiful
kites rode proudly together tugging
upon the taut cords that bound them
to the earth and ran in two graceful
parallel lines up into the sky. One
kite had the name of that great ayi-
ator, 'Curtiss," blazoned on it's scarlet
surface in gold letters, while the
Wright Brothers" kept it splendid
company in silver ard blue. Small
American flags formed. the long kite
tails. fair breeze gave just enough
resistance to keep the, kites steady.
while not hindering the progress OF
the competing airships
The rules of the contest were very
simple. The lowest aerial hurdle was
to be 20 feet; thence on the crosscord
was to rise 10 feet ut time up to so
feet, feet at a time from so to 10
feet and foot thence on upward. Each
competitor had three trials. If sue
cessful his airship was eligible to COM
pete in the next rise; If unsuccessful he
dropped out. Thus the result would be
determined by "the natural process Of
elimination" to quote Franks scien-
tific explanation.
Every member of the Aero club en-
tered for the contest. The only regret
that might be felt over the affair was
the absence or any prize. The club
happened TO be rather short of funds
at the time, and while some members,
particularly Jim Spencer wanted to