Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-16
CROWDS SEE HOT
RACE in MIDAIR
PAULHAN BEATS HAMILTON IN
IMPROMPTU FLIGHT
MIScAROL HURT WHEN 5LERloT
MoNoPLANE FALLS
Injuries Are Not Serious, but Machine
Is Put Out of Action for
the kest of Aviation
Meet
Gcontinued from PAGE op.'

ANOn Linneu Ea-f Wv
ers under the huge grandstand for
hours, waiting for the rain to cease
took their places above, anu those who
had stood in mud and water for two
hours howled with delight
The San Francisco delegation arrived
on a special train from Los Angeles
and took seats in a reserved section.
The events of the day were about to
begin.
As courtesy to the visitors, all
wearers of a little orange-colored rib
bon were allowed the privileges of the
field. A hundred or more waIked-or
rather slipped and slded-across the
field to the hangers, or atrShlp garages,
where the various aeroptanes are kept
while not in fight. Everybody wanted
TO know all about the points of the
various machines and il kept half
dozen men busy explaining the thou
sand and one intricate points OF aero
planes and aerial navigation.
Rain has only one bad effect upon
aerial navigation. 1t makes the start
ing course extremely bad. Upon the
aeroplanes it has no effect whatever.
for their engines are hidden away
under rubber silk planes. On the aNi-
ators il has a tendency to dampen
their ardor only. Fortunately the last
DaQ eUGtI HEdGLtEt4AA ~ a. E4t-A--AAeAN~'-
yesterday, for not a single pilot re-
fused to go up. In fact. all OF them
were extremely anxious to get into the
air and would have gone up long be-
fore o'clock had the judges signihed
their willingness to allow such thing.
Once Drove in SnoWstorn
Hamilton once drove his machine in
a gale blowing at the rate of forty
l. H. oIf1 1i01 4
swilled about him. He said nonchal-
antly Yesterday that a rainstorm was
but a gentle lamb compared with some
of the snowstorms he had encountered
recently in the east while travelling IN
the air in his Curtiss biplane.
Cheers broke forth from the specta-
tors when an announcement was made
that Glenn H. Curtiss would be ready
to fly in ten minutes. That was just
about 8 o'clock. From the time Curtiss
first rose into the air until darkness
had fallen like a pail the interest was
sustained by events of all sorts com
ing in quick succession.
Curtiss, Hamilton, Paulhan and Will
lard went once around the course in
order to qualify for the days events.
That was enough to arouse the enthu-
siasm, and it never Jagged from then
on.
IIe last Dig event Ol lilt dLltlllOpll
was not on the program. 1t was an
accident, in which Charles Edward
Miscarol narrowly escaped death or
serious injury, 1t was a balky little
Bleriot monoplane combined with
plowed earth and a too quick turn
th-t caused all the trouble.
MscaroI in Danger
Miscarol had taken the butterfly
shaped machine from out the Paulhan
hangar to test the engine. The forward
control had been removed as an expert
ment. Much trouble has been expert
enced with the monoplanes used by
Paulhan, and he may give up their
use entirely.
The monoplane resembles a dragon
fly in appearance and stability. 1t
takes the utmost care and skill to navi-
gate one successfully. Even the build
ers of monoplanes have had trouble,
as witness the fall into the sea eX-
perienced by Hubert Latham when he
was trying to cross the English chan
nell The slightest fitting one way or
the other, the slightest break in any
of the controlling factors, and the mon
oplane comes tumbling to the ground.
Not so with a biplane. There is greater
surface exposed to the air, allowing a
broken machine to glide to earth in
stead of falling with a crash.
Miscarol chose the north side of the
big field for his testing ground. He
raced the machine up and down over
the soft wet earth at a high rate of
speed.
Backward and forward in the little
depression that sometimes hid the mon
oplane from the view of those in the
grandstand raced the Blerior. 1t re-
minded one of some great wounded
bird, seeking to escape from a pursuer
Trouble Was Apparent
At last the aviator darted toward the
northwest pylon and swung sharply to
the left with his machine. At times the
rear surface by which elevation is con-
trolled seemed to give trouble, and the
several feet in the air when the for
ward wheels were skimming the earth.
A few seconds after the turn those
nearest the machine watched the man
guiding it, and noticed that he seemed
to be in serious difficulty. Not a breath
of air was stirring, yet the machine
rocked like a channel boat in a gale.
Lifted clear from the earth, the dragon
fly veered from right to left, then
tipped until the left wing struck the
soil. The machine was swung violently
around and fell on it's side with the
wing crumpled back for five feet from
the tip.
Miscarol was thrown forward and
his head struck one of the truss rods
to the left. He was dazed by the