Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-09-21

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wing riders" The blue vault of
heaven is fretted by thousands of
roaring propellers and shifting planes.
The bird men" are dreaming dreams
OF cross-continent flights The more
imaginative of them catch glimpses of
visions of transatlantic trips, faster
than the flight of the frigate bird.
IL may happen the hour of trial
comes in the very midst of an appar-
ent success. Engines may be working
perfectly and with even beat The
roar or the spinning propellers may
De droning song of coincidence and
security. Then something snaps; a
guy wire parts like a stretched fiddle
string, the roar of the engine breaks
and sputters, or the big planes
crumple because of some unguessed
weakness. Then comes that terrible
rush of air as the machine, engine,
rent planes and tangle of bent and
broken framework bears the aviator
to terrible death.
When wireless telegraphy was in
vented 1t was but year or so until
the country was filled with amateurs,
all busily working on new theories of
transferring messages. AS soon as
the Wrights, Farman, Bleriot, Paulhan
and Curtiss and others had demon
strated that a heavier-than-ai ma
chine could actually remain in the air.
IN thousand barns, warehouses and
backyard woodsheds all over the civ
ilized world men and boys began to
try to build for themselves machines
In which to spurn the solid earth.
Historically, the science of aviation
mas been taken up, and with a few
more improvements the death roll will
grow to even greater proportions. So
far most Of the men who have met
death have been veteran aviators.
Delagrange, lie Blon, Ferber Lefebvre
and Rolls were all wellknown and in
ternationally famous in the air fields.
But the moment came that found them
helpless despite their skill.
With the multiplying of factories
where the cheap fliers can be con-
structed will come a rush of amateurs
into the ranks OF the aviators. More
deaths are bound to follow when these
themselves machines and start i'm to
perfect themselves In the art of fight.
The list OF deaths is bound to grow
as soon as the means of fight is
brought within reach OF the average
purse A shower OF would-be aviators
from the clouds to the too soliS
earth" will further demonstrate that
the mastery OF the air must be bought
with human life
An analysis of the accidents OF the
past two years shows that death
comes In dozen shapes to the daring
aviator The aeroplane is a pitifully
new thing, and even the veterans of
the air are not always able to detect
in their machines the lurking weak.
nesses. The first OF the aeroplane nc.
cidents that resulted fatally was
caused by the guy wire of one OF the
planes being placed too near the pro.
peller blades. Selfridge died in this
accident and Orville Wright was ter.
ribly injured. II was months before
ne again took up the problem of aerial
flights.
IL was a year later before death
looK MS Toll again from the ranks OF
the air workers On the seventh az
September. 1909, two men. the fore.
most aviators in their respective coun.
tries, met their deaths. Rcssi was ON.
gagged in testing a machine of his own
invention near Rome. and after a few
short and successful flights az a low
altitude he tilted his planes inward
at considerable angle and shot into
the air FOR an ambitious trial. He had
barely reached height of GO feet tiu
some OF the intricate machinery gavo
way and he was dashed to death NJ
Lefebvre. a well-known aeronaut of
Franco, was killed on the same dav
while soaring above Juvissv I'm
Wright biplane. Two weeks later tho
pride OF the Frenchmen I'm aeronau.
tics, Capt. Louis Ferdinand Ferber
pioneer in the art OF flying. was killed
In peculiar accident, one OF the
many unexplainable ones that mark
the chronology Of flight He was soar
Ing over a field near Boplogne. when
mis- machine "turDsd turtbs' In the air