The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1910-11-01
A|R-mtn our 1fN EAGLES


York CITY anA Harbor
New York. Oct 31-Three aviators
few from Belmont Park, l. l., yester-
day afternoon. circled the statue of lib
erty in aeroplanes. swept back thru
the upper air without a mishap and
alighted. chilled. but exultant.
John f. Moissant. flying for Ameri-
ca. covered the estimated 36-mile
course in "a minutes, 1884 seconds
Grahame-White of England was sec
ond in 35:21.3O. and Count de Lesseps
OF France was third in 41:5S.25.
Hardly had the bomb announcing
the statue of liberty flight exploded in
midair when up from the field scurried
De Lesseps in his 50-horsepower Bile
riot. Gracefully he rose with the motor
droning perfect attunement, circled
across the starting line and as though
20 make sure his machine was ship
shape for the fight of thirty-six miles
he few about the course and then
pointed it's Prov upward and west and
went sailing majestically over the
grand stand.
Not daunted by the jump the French
man had on him, Grahame- White, in
less than minute. was in the air in
a BleriOt Of so horsepower. There was
no preliminary skirmishing On his part.
Once past the starting point, the Eng
lshman was off on his journey and,
hguratively speaking, at the heels of
De Lesseps. Grahame-W Whites ma
chine appeared to be the fastest
Passing the grand stand at an ele-
vatiOn Of 1000 feet. both aviators
headed above the railroads tracks.
which took them over the Jamaica
Plain and across the town of Jamaica
Here they were sailing at an elevation
of 5000 feet. Grahame-W White gained
steadily on De Lesseps, but the French
man was the first across New York
Bay and around the statue. about 1000
feet above the big black balloon that
had shown him the course.
Then Grahame-W White sent the nose
Of Miss Liberty and started back along
the same course he had travelled.
De Lesseps still had a slight lead
but with the wind at his back, Ora
hame- White put on full speed and be-
gan cutting down his rivals advantage.
Midway over Brooklyn the aviators
were on even terms. each at an alti-
tude Of between 1000 and 5000 feet,
but reaching the outskirts Of the city
Grahame- White forged ahead and set
sail in earnest with Belmont Park as
his goal
Arriving at the aviation field the
English aviator started his descent
from hight of three thousand feet.
He came down in a graceful swoop
over the tops Of the great trees with
the nose OF his machine pointed down.
ward at an angle Of 40 degrees. He
was going lightning fast and the
crowd held its breath in the fear that
the Englishman might lose control of
the mOnoDlane and be daslfed with it
to death.
But he was cool and collected. and
quickly brought the machine on an
even keel again and then, soaring
gracefully downward, passed over the
finish line while the cheers of the
thousands inside and outside the field
rang in his ears.
While the crowds were gathered
about the Englishman, showering con-
gratulations upon him, out of the blue
distant came the Frenchman. All eyes
were focused upon him. Like Grahame-
White had been. he was three thousand
feet up and coming down like the
wind. He also described a beautiful
curve downward. flew over the grand
stand with scarcely any diminution of
speed and then out over the course,
each moment coming lower and lower.
Finally he settled near his hangar
without even SO much as a jar. He
received cheers as hearty as those
which had greeted Grahame- White.
Meanwhile Moissant was tuning up
his newly bought Bleriot preparatory
to making a start. At first it's motor
did not sing true. but finally they be-
came attuned and he shot up in the
air. around the starting pylon and was
off over the grand stand, steering by
the compass for Bedloes Island, on
which stands the statue of liberty.
Fifty miles an hour was the speed the
spectators reckoned he was making
against the cold. biting wind which
was blowing at about ten miles an
hour and 1t was only a few moments
after he lad passed beyond the park
enclosure until he was lost in the dis
tance.
Mile after mile he sped. high up in
the air, crossing over Brooklyn at an
altitude of 1000 feet Reaching the
East River. Moissant swept across to
the New York shore and passed al
most above the Battery. Then describ-
ing a pretty half circle, he dashed out
Like the two rivals who had preceded
him Moissant also had the wind at his
back in his return trip and he sped
across Brooklyn at a mile q minute
clip.