New-York tribune., 1910-09-04
HARMON FALLS; UNHUR1
His BipIane Was Wrecked, How
ever. at Harvard Meet.
GRAHAME- -WHITE IN LEAD
IN First Days Events English
man Makes the Largest
Number of Points.
rBv Telegraph 10 The Tribune ]


BOSTON Sept 3-Ieading aviators Of the
world ushered in the first days meeting Of
the Harvard Boston aero meet at Atlantic
to-day Spectacular fights, accurate drop
ping OF bombs at an outline Of battleshlp'
the fall and wreck of Clifford B. Harmon
biplane and marvellous exhibitions of con-
trol Of the air craft were the features OF
the day.
Although the lower plane and front con
troll of the big Farrnan biplane operated
bv Harmon were demolished by fifty foot
fall 10 the marsh. the aviator landing un-
injured. the meChanicians will be able to
rer7afr il in a short time and Harmon will
remain for the amateur events next week.
EruIishrnan Sets Pace.
Claude Crahame- White. the daring Eng
lishman. wtnging his way through a heavy
rain lust before dark, set a speed mark
that should put his competitors on their
nettIe. In his B1erfot monopane. equipped
with high power seven-Cylinder Gnome
engine. Grahame-W White made three cir
cults of the mile and three-quarters course
in the fast time of 5:55. despite rain and
wind
-Four course records were established,
Grrahame- White holding the bomb dropping
and speed marks and JohnstOne the dura-
tion and distance prizes In case the pro-
test lodged by Wilbur Wright against the
fight of Grahame-White is allowed by the
|. contest COMMITTEES the speed record will De
awarded to Charles T. Willard who made
three laps OF the course in $50 2-5.
The point leader for the day was
Grahame-White. with a total Of nine.
Ralph Tohnstone was second, with two
each In the duration and speed contests,
and Walter Brookins and Willard tied for
third, with two each The spectacular
work Of Grahame-White was the great
feature OF the first days flights. and he
was loudly applauded.
Some Fancy Flying.
While alightine from his bomb dropping
trip Cirahame- White jauntily sailed a a
height of less than thirty feet, made sew
eraI dips and then after another trip
around the course. alighted at the east end
of the getaway. Instead OF calling his
rnechanfcians to turn the big Farman bi-
plane and push it to the hangar. he kept
his propeller moving, turned his machine
off the ground with the rudder and rolled
over the ground toward the entrance of the
hangars, shot along the roadway between
the great white tents, and came to a stop
within fifty feet of the division Of the
hangar to which he is assigned.
Glenn Curtiss contributed part of the
spectacular effect and at the expense Of
the English aviator While the latter was
making his bomb dropping laps at a low
rate of speed, CUrtiss took out Willard s
bipane the Banshee, in order TO try out
the new engine, and incidentally gave VIII
lard his first sight OF the machine in the
air. Catching up with Grahame- White,
passed under the big Farman, and then
rose some distance ahead. It was a pretty
bit Of control and waving hats and hand-
kerchiefs rewarded the aviator.
Four machines were in the air at the
same time, Johnstone and Brookins in their
Wright bipIanes Grahame-Whte in his
Farman and Curtiss in the Willard.
Summarizing the events of the day. there
was one entry in the bomb dropping con
test. two for speed, thoree for~endurance
and three for distance over a course which
was one and three-quarters miles In length.
Mi White did some remarkable work In
the bomb dropping contest, landing two OF
his ten shots into the tunnels Of the model
battleships while all but one Of his other
shots dropped on some portion of the bat
rjeshfns' surface Grahame- White did the
ten Iaps in so minutes and 45 seconds.
In the speed contest Willard made the
first lap in sos 40. the second in 2:54 10 and
the third in 2:12 2-5. Whites total for The
three laps was minutes and seconds.
which gave his Bleriot first place in the
event of the day.
tombstone easily secured first place in
both the endurance and distance events
with his twenty-five laps of the course. his
time in the air being I hour % minutes lS
seconds. and his distance travelled thirty
eight and a half miles. Brookins was sec
ond with eleven laps remaining in the air
Is minutes / seconds. covering nineteen and
one-quarter miles. White was third in both
contests. with ten laps. in 20 minutes 49
seconds for the seventeen and one-halt