The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-12-30
HOXSEY UP 1O.0O5
FEET SAILS OVER
MOUNT WILSON
Highest Peak of Coast Range
in California
STRUCK ZERO TEMPERATURE
Latham Meets With Injury Trying to
Save Novice Whose Machine
Went Wrong

Los Angeles, Cal, Dec. 3V.-Arcn
Hoxsey. holder of the worlds aero
plane altitude record yesterday flew
over Mount Wilson, the highest peak
of the mountain range that rims the
vally In which Los Angeles, Pasadena,
and the towns of the orange belt"
lie. Under ideal weather conditions
he scared 10,005 feet into the sky and
cleared the crest Of Mount Wilson
with 1920 feet to spare.
Lieut.. Vernon Boiler and several
other army officers who are here to
see the flights asserted that Hoxsey's
performance pointed new way of
transporting armies across mountain
ranges. Lieut.. Boiler, who came here
from FortWhipple, Ariz.. said that
thousand biplanes could transport an
army of 10000 men across mountains
as high as the Alps in a day.
Hoxsey used Wright biplane
equip for passenger service and he
made the journey from the field to a
point beyond the mountains In one
hour and twenty-eight minutes. The
distance Is estimated at "a miles. On
an air line, the distance from the
field to the mountain Is less than
that, but Hoxsey circled over the field
until he had reached his maximum
height before he pointed the nose of
his machine toward the range. He
was out of sight before he made the
attempt at topping the peak.
News of his success was flashed to
the aviation field by telephone from
the Carnegie Solar Observatory on
Mount Wilson, directly above which
the aviator scared for five minutes.
He landed at 1881 p. m. on the aiya-
ton field here. He was in the air
two hours and thirty-one minutes.
1T was fearfully cold" said Hoxsey
land when got to point just above
the summit / found that the haze,
which obscured the mountains from
the aviation field, wes heavy pail of
vapor filled with fine ice particles
that stung my face. | am certain
that II had had recording thermo-
meter with me, 1t would have shown
the temperature of the upper altitude
to be far below zero. However, hurd.
ling mountains is much easier than
climbing 1000 feet over a valley Of
the sea. The earth does not seem Sc
far away"
Hoxsey's performance was the most
interesting feat but just before the
close of the afternoons events the
crowd got a thrill by an accident
which almost resulted in the death Of
Hubert Latham, the French aeroplan
list, who made valiant attempt tc
save Glenn Martin, a California no
vice, when he lost control OF his ma
chine.
After successfully negotiating the
course once, Martin was blown far
to the south OF the field by twenty
mile wind. He narrowly escaped dis
aster several times among the high
wires and trees. He finally tackled
back to the course. and the crash
came as he was trying to make 6
landing.
Two or three thousand men and wo
men were within few feet OF hin
when he dashed into the wire fence
just In front OF the grand stand. la
than was In front OF the judges DO,
when Martin brought his machine t
earth. Latham saw the danger, and
rushing out, caught hold Of the ma
chine and desperately tried to turn 4
away from the fence, but miscalculat
ed It's speed and was dashed to III,
ground. The running gear OF the ma
chine. which weight 300 pounds. mis-
sed Latham's face only by few In
ches. 1t sped into the fence will
force enough to break the iron posts
Martin was hurled over the fence, bu
was unhurt