The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-09-11
SOPW|TH GOT
SOPP|NG WET.
Aviator Fall Into the Ocean When
wave Gave His AreopIane
Slap and Turned II
Over.
HAD PASSENGER ABOARD
pair Were Saved by Motor Boats
Which Hurried to Them as
Soon a. They Were
capsized,

NEW YORK, Sept 11.--During the
aeroplane flights at Brighton Beach,
Sunday Tommy Sopwith, the Eng
lish aviator. fell into the Atlantic
ocean, George Beatty ran into fence
and Claude Grahame.White damaged
his big Nieuport monoplane At the
end OF the day only Gene Ely's Curtiss
machine was trundled off the field un-
damaged.
Grahame.W White was Just complet-
ing beautiful flight, in which he had
pigeon.winged westward across
twenty-mile off.shore breeze, and was
zipping home when Tommp Sopwith
came to grief Sopwith had but few
minutes before climbed into his
Wright machine, with Lee Hammond
OF Capt. Baldwin's camp sitting be-
side him as passenger.
AS Sopwith and his passenger pass
ed into view the Wright engine SEEM
ed to be baking. Evidently Sopwith
noticed early that he was aloft with
defective power, for, after going out
to sea short distance, he headed for
shore. He had scarcely turned when
one cylinder of his engine went dead.
When the biplane was still almost
100 yards off shore the lower plane of
the machine was just few feet above
the water. A few feet beyond the
lower wing Of the aeroplane skinned
the water. An instant later wave
gave the lower left wing slap. The
slap brought the wing down to the
ocean and the aeroplane turned tur-
tie on the waves. with Sopwith and
Hammond scrambling about In the
wreckage.
Motor boats and swimmers made
for the wreck, and in q moment the
two fliers had been hauled into one
OF the boats and the aeroplane had
been eased up against q swimming
fleet and later hauled ashore. Sop.
with was having his clothes and those
OF his passenger dried out in bath
house at about the time George Beatty
was getting ready to smash up.
Atwood already had made flight
In Beatty's machine successfully and
Beatty had attempted also to go Ut
with Stenographer James Hare as q
passenger, which had not been sue
cessfuI. Beatty spun westward alone
along the track all right until the
aeroplane suddenly headed toward The
track fence Beatty shut off his engine
as he and the fence came together
He skinned his nose. The machine
was pretty badly damaged.
The 10 horse power Nieuport ma
chine OF Grahame- White was keyed
up for long flight and to the music
Of the band Grahame-White and hi!
machine took the air. Across a lumpy
field the big monoplane roared ant
bounded, swerving along deep ditcl
with perpendicular banks and filled
with Shiny water. The Nieuport rush
ed along the rank grass. and with {
crash that could be heard above th'
band Grahame-White and the me
chanic, squatted low behind him
We're snapped violently forward. TIL,
body OF the aeroplane was torn of
the chassis as the framework stucl
In the ditch while the engine and pro
pellor bored into the muddy bank TIL,
left wing of the monoplane got caugh
In the ditch and blade was broken
Lieut. John Rodgers of the Nava
Aviation Corps, said that the aero
plane has shown itself an indispens
able adjunct to modern naval equip
ment. The lieutenant won his spur
last Thursday when he flew from tn,
parade grounds of the naval academ.
and alighted near the monument a
Washington He is cousin of Ca
braith Perry Rodgers, who is nov
making arrangements for coast-to
coast aeroplane flight
the experimental stage, as far as tn
navy is concerned, when Eugene E
Ely flew from the deck Of warshi
70 the shore at Norfolk nearly yea
ago." said Lieutenant Rodgers. "Tha
demonstrated that an aviator can ge
away from boat without trouble
There are plenty of instance
Where history would have been chang
cd If fleet had an aeroplane. Whe
ADMIRAL Schley was off the coast Q
Cuba he had no means of KNOWN
now many ships there were In tn
harbor He did not know where Gel
vera was until detail had made
dangerous trip through the jungl
and came back with the Information
II ne had employed an aeroplane h