The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-05-11
Ell. DILLON g. co.
CURTISS AERO
FACTORY GOING
TO MOVE HERE

(COnC1u6Q from rage III
or UP or down, constantly changing
the range and battling the marks
men on the ground.
THE next few years will see great
developments in war aeroplanes. The
machines Of today have not suffi-
cient range Of speed. There is no
machine built today which has a
range of from 45 to 60 miles an
hour. Either they are fast, or they
| are slow. The war aeropIane should
be able to travel 40 to As miles an
hour when doing scout duty, and GO
to 10 miles an hour when pursuing
other aeroplanes, or escaping from
others, or doging the enemy'S fire.
'3The next great war will actually
witness the battle in the air. which
the novelists used to write about. If
the aeroplanes cannot be reached
from the ground, they must be
fought by other, aeroplanes. There
fight. One is by directly colliding
with the enemy's aeroplane. This
course is sure to be fatal to both
machines. The other way is by
mounting a piece of field artillery
and destroying the enemy's aero
plane.
Such a piece of field artillery is
being perfected now. Two require
ments are needed; sufficient light
ness and compactness to be easily
carried on an aeroplane; freedom
from recoil, and smoke bullets,
cause they leave thin trail of
smoke behind them, thus enabling
the marksmen to trace the exact
course Of their projectiles. In firing
on the ground it is easy to obtain
the range by watching the dust pick
ed up by the missed shots. But in
the air there is absolutely nothing to
tell the marksman how near or how
far away from the target his shots
are falling.
"In order to overcome this diff
Guilty, smoke bullets must be used,
and in this way it will be possible
to accurately direct the fire upon the
enemy. Machine guns are desirable,
in order to make the fire rapid and
continuous"
Lieutenant Theodore Ellyson, u. S.
N, who has been assigned with Cur
tiss by the Secretary of the Navy,
declared that the United States navy
is entirely indebted to Mr.. Curtfss
and to him alone, for all the prog
ress that has been made in the de-
velopment of the aeroplane for use
in naval warfare.
The speaker sketched the history
making flights of Ely to and from
the cruiser Birmingham, in a Curtiss
aeroplane, and later Glenn Curtiss'
achieveme in rising from the wa
Curtiss hydro-aeroplane.
Each of these achievements, while
a step forward, falls short of the
goal, declared Lieut.. Ellyson.
He then announced that Mr.. Cur
tiss is now on the point of bringing
make possible the use of aeroplanes
in naval warfare. This apparatus
will be so simple that it can be rig
ged up on the, deck of a battleship
in five minutes and launch aero
planes without interfering in any
In explaining this device to a
Farmer reporter later Mr.. Curtiss de-
clared that it is designed to meet the
needs of present day battleships and
aeroplanes without necessitating any
changes in either.
cit will make it possible for a bat
tleship to carry a fleet of aero
planes" he said, land probably will
be of especial use to scout cruisers.
"It might not be possible to launch
an aeroplane from the water in
rough weather." he added, "and it is
it directly from the deck of battle
ship. I think, I will have my ap-
paratus ready for a test in the near
future
Christopher ]. Lake described the
the Bridgeport Aerodrome.
"It was in 1907" said Mr.. Lake,
chat 1 first saw an aerop1ane in
flight It was at Hammondsport, N.
V, and the flyer was Glenn II. Cur
tiss. To my dying day I will never
forget the electric thrill I received
when I saw Mr.. Curtiss mount the
machine, with its great outstretched
wings and come swooping over. my
head and directly up into the air."
Mr.. Lake then reviewed the diff
Guilty experienced by aviators in find
ing suitable fields in this part of the
country. He said that the idea oc-
CURED to him that Bridgeport is a
suitable place for the location of an
aviation field to be used both for ex-
hibitions and eXperim entail work. For
many months he worked on the pro-
ject examining the countryside all
around Bridgeport and finally hit
upon the old Nutmeg driving park as