, 1911-01-25
AERONAUTICS.
Fine Cross Channel Flight,

An aerial journey of more than Ito miles
from England into Belgium, upon a biplane
of British construction, has been made to-
day by Mr.. L. Sopwith, a young English
airman aged %. His flight, which lasted
81 hours, was an attempt to win the GA, 600
prize offered by Baron de Forest for the
British pilot who, steering an aeroplane of
purely British construction, flies furthest
from England into the Continent before
December 81.
Mr.. Grahame-White's Misfortune.
While Mr.. Sopwith was winging his wav
into Belgium, Mr.. Claude Grahame- White.
who had iourneyed down from London by
the early morning boat train, brought out
for a final trial upon Swingate Downs the
Bristol biplane equipped with a 6O-h.p. E.
N. Y. engine with which he had planned to
attempt to win the prize. He rose easily
from the ground, but the machine did not
appear to soar upwards quite as readily as
the experts had anticipated. While wheel
ing about in the wind near the cliffs the air
man came to grief quite unexpectedly. To
the CONSERVATION Of the spectators, the aero
plane suddenly heeled over while being
stored on q sharp turn and came down side
ways to the ground, being completely wreck
cd. Nothing could be seen of the pilot for
several seconds. Then he crawled from
beneath the planes on his hands and knees,
blood flowing from his face. When a doc
tor examined him it was found that he bad
in falling cut his nose and forehead badly
upon a wire stay. Fortunately, beyond
suffering from the shock of the descent,
Mr.. Grahame-White was not otherwise IL
jured.
The Airman's Story.
December 10.
Mr.. Sopwith, who returned from Belgium
this morn ng, described his flight to me in
a most interesting way. He said
AS | left the hying-ground at Eastchurch
and began to climb in an endeavour to at
tain an altitude Of 1,000ft. the wind blew so
strongly that l only progressed against it at
the rate of five miles an hour. When |
swung round and went with it, however, [
leapt through the air at the rate Of 60 miles
an hour. In a little less than half an hour
had reached the coast line at Dover-a
distance Of 80 miles. My cross-Channel
flight was a record one. | passed between
Dover and a point near Cape Grisnez in
France. q distance of about q miles, in %
minutes
Making an aerial detour to avoid som
hills [ endeavoured to steer towards Chalons
by the aid of a compass | carried with me,
but I soon lost my way. The sun went in;
had nothing to direct myself by, SO I just
kept flying on. Towns and villages passed
below me; I knew none of their names.
Then the wind began to get more gusty.
The machine swayed and lurched and The
arm with which l moved the controlling
lever began to ache.
just as l was flying over a village about
SCOTT. high q very ugly gust caught my
machine on one side and tiltedi it partly over.
To my CONSERVATION the aeropiane refused
TO regain its normal position even when I
exerted the full pressures Of the small bal
ancing planes fixed to the rear ends of the
main planes. 1t was o moment I an not
likely to forget. Changing hands quickly
on my steering lever, l leaned over as far as
I could from my driving seat so as to be
able to throw the weight Of my body against
the rising wing of my machine. Just when
l thought I should slide helplessly down
through the air the machine slowly righted
itself, but another gust assaulted me and I
had to look out for a landing place, although
| had 1t gallons of petrol left in my tank
aud the engine had not misfred once. A
field near a village presented itself. plan
ed down and sat still quite exhausted.
RoIrion 1ooSouf roc 1-ol:u. IL