The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-13
LINCOLN BEACHY BEACHY SAYS HE WANTS AN
 IRON COFFIN Hamilton Offers Him His { Choice After Watching
 Beachy's Stunts
 Yesterday Daring Little Aviator Again F Furnishes the Thrills at
 the Aerodrome

Which would you prefer,-a mahog- any coffin or just plain pine?" asked Aviator Charles K< Hamilton of Avia- tor Lincoln Beachy at the Bridgeport Aerodrome, yesterday afternoon, just after Beachy had descended from his 4,O0O foot climb, concluding with se- ries of hair-raising and dangerous dips and plunges over the field.
 "Oh, cast iron is good enough for me-" retorted Beachy with the utmost indifference.
 Hell break his neck doing that" was the anxious prophecy of Glenn H. Curtiss as he watched his daring pro- tege circling the field, turning at sharp angles, sweeping down to within a few feet of the ground, and shooting LID into the air again. Beachy fairly revelled in his machine yesterday, playing tricks with it, like 9. small boy OR a. new bicycle Time after time the 5000 spectators on the field held their breath when the daring lit tleA flier swooped down at a sharp angle and seemed to. be plunging straight to the ground. A sigh of relief would go up when the machine would suddenly turn up and shoot high into the air. after barely pass ing over the heads of the spectators.
 once, Beachy singled out Glenn Cur tiss and Earle. Ovington who were talking together right in the center of the field Selecting them as his tar get, he swooped right down upon them. For a moment it looked as though he was going to hit them and Ovington was given some of the same kind of thrills that he passed out to the spectators at Steeplechase Island last Sunday.
 Beachy righted his machine and passed just five feet over their heads.
 What were you trying to do, take our hats off" asked Ovington when ting ready to throw myself on the ground"
 McCurdy'e machine was in good working order yesterday, and he made some beautiful flights but Beachy carried off the palm and was the hero of the hour.
 It was a crowd of fully 5000 that had gathered at the Aerodrome at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The north side of the field was lined solid- ly with automobiles, affording one of the biggest groups of machines ever seen together in this city.
 McCurdy was the first to come out. His initial flight was a brief one largely for the purpose of tuning up his machine. He remained in the air for two minutes, turning a couple of graceful circles and then coming down.
 McCurdy again went up, this time attaining an altitude estimated at l. 500 feet. He remained in the air six minutes.
 Beachy took the air at 3:57. He determined to test the upper atmos- phere of Bridgeport. He circled around and around until he became the merest speck in the sky. His ma chine is not equipped with baro- graph so it is impossible to give the exact height he attained, but it is estimated at 5000 feet. He came down after a stay in the air of 13 minutes, and concluded with a number of dar- ing dips and rises.
 The last flight of the afternoon oc- cured when McCurdy and Beachy shot into the air together. They cir cled the field for several minutes and a number of times were in close prox- unity. McCurdy was the first to come down. It was then that Beachy began sweeping over the field. He would come down to the ground like an immense hawk making a raid on a chicken yard. The spectators on the field. scattering out of the way of the huge bird looked the part of fright ened chicks.
 During the afternoon Beachy took a couple of passengers for a bounce across the field attaining a height of about five feet.