Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-01-27
RECORD AS BIRDMAN
P.0. PARMLEE WAS BEST in
THE ENDURANCE RACE Y
San FRANCISCO.
He Was in the Air Nearly Four Hours
Sunday Afternoon-Ely, Who Landed
ON Deck of Battleship, Was Cheered
by Crowd-Tetrazzini Honored by
Avoators- Have Trouble.

San Francisco, Jan. 23.-San Fran.
cisco s aviation meet produced new
American record for endurance Sunday
when Philip o. Parmalee, plotting a
Wright biplane, remained alOft for
hours 80 minutes and 40 Is seconds.
The best previous endurance record
was that of A. l.. WEIGH of st. Louis,
who established record of 3 hours IL
minutes and IS seconds. At Los Ange-
les recent meet the late Arch Hoxsey
was credited with an unofficial record of
3 hours and II minutes.
A crowd of over $4,000 cheered the
birdman as he pursued his monotonous
course, and when he finally descended
he was given a rousing ovation. Several
enthusiasts, among them Eugene B. Ely,
hoisted him on their shoulders and car.
ried him in triumph to a stand in the
middle of Selfridge field, where General
Tasker H. Bliss and other army officers
congratulated the aviator.
~ could have remained up longer
said Parmalee, "but my hands and feet
grew so numb that l thought had
better come down after clinching the
American record.'
His flight was uneventful. Once,
while sailing close to the San Bruno
hills on the far side of the field, he
dipped suddenly and sharply in order to
force gasoline into his engines.
Crowd Lionizes Ely.
Ely, the daring Curtiss, aviator, who
landed on the deck of the cruiser Penn
sylvania Thursday week ago, was lion.
lied by the army and navy in full view
of the crowd. With Major ]. p. Neil,
in command of the field encampment,
and Captain Pond of the Pennsylvania,
Ely reviewed the troops of the second
battalion of the Thirtieth infantry and
a detachment of bluejackets from the
warship. Then followed the presenta-
ton to the aviator of gold medal by
the army.
Goes to Escort Tetrazzini.
Immediately after this ceremony Ely
went up in his biplane to deliver on
behalf of the aviation committee an in
vitation to Nine. Louise Tetrazzini, the
opera singer, to attend the meeting.
Madame Tetrazzini, according to pre-
arranged plan, was waiting in an auto
mobile at the Ingleside track, about five
miles north Of the aviation grounds.
1t was Ely's intention to act as an
aerial escort to the diva for the re-
mainder of her journey to Selfridge
field, but after reascending the aviator
lost her automobile among the crush
of other machines on the road.
The committee was waiting for her
at the gate, however, when she drove
up and escorted her to gayly decorated
box in the center of the grandstand,
where she was formally welcomed by
the aviation officials and army officers.
Beautiful exhibition flights and mill
tary maneuvers kept the crowd keyed
up to high degree of interest through
out the afternoon.
Lieutenant Myron Crissy, flying with
Walter Brookins in Wright biplane,
experimental with dropping bombs, and
Charles F. Willard, the Curtiss aviator,
conducted further tests by sending
messages by wireless.
Amateurs Come in Grief.
Attempts by amateurs to fly added to
the interest. Thaddeus S. Kerns, the
youthful Chico bird emulator, stood his
machine on it's nose in the middle of the
field. The engine was Jared through
the stanchion, separating the drivers
seat, and Kerns had narrow escape
from serious injury.
Another novice who came to grief
was George H. Loose, plotting biplane
. owned by Ralph J. Shief of Alameda
Loose negotiated the length of the field
in darts and skips. On reaching a knoll
near the limits of the enclosure plane
grazed the shoulder of a spectator, the
machine swerved and turned over on
its side, wrecking the car. The aviator
however, was not injured.
A throng of excited spectators rushed
, up to the wreck and completed the
demolition Of the aeroplane in the