The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1911-08-18

CHICAGO PEOPLE
ARE AVIATION MAD
Hundreds of Thousands See
Flights on Lake Front.
in Day-OrviIIe Wright Will
Fly--Rene Simon, French
man, is Angry.

swing in Chicago
Down on the lake front $4,000 spec
tators witnesses hair-raising ''necll-t0
neck" races in which huge. biplanes
swept around the aerodrome in closer
finish runs than in many a Derby
They saw J. Y. Martin, form er Har.
ward professor, make a new world s
record for aIghting and witnessed
Tom SOpwith break an Americ an res
ord for passenger carrying and win
$4,000, only to nave his new record
knocked galley west later by w. G..
Beatty
Sopwith, ''the kings own" proved
the great prize winner OF the day, fly
ing off with five rewards; totaling
$4,420. The Britisher's easiest money
came when he won $500 for climbing
500 feet in four minutes
For the first time in the history OF
aviation, an aviator in 4 hydro-pl 2na
went to the assistant of a fellow air
man who had plunged with his ma
chine into the water
McCurdy's biplane became an
aerial torch and thrilled 100000
spectators when it got tangled in the
wires On the north end of the Grant
park aviation course. The mach ne
was set afire by its own gasoline be-
coming ignited.
The aviator fell 100 feet, but wa
net injured. The burning aercp G
81 ~
ever seen at an aviation meet.
The accident occurred just in front
of the Chicago Yacht club McCurdv,
who catapulted out of his biplane
when it struck telegraph wires, was
picked up by the official automobile
ambulance. He protested ira he was
not injured, but was rushed to the
emergency hospital On the field
These two were only half the acct
dents that awed and thrilled one Of
the greatest crowds ever gathered 10
watch the feats of airmen
Demonstrating for the first time tn
usefulness of an airship as q life-saver,
Hugh A. Robinson steered his CuriS3
hydrO-aerOplane down to Lake Michi-
CANS surface when Rene Simon fell in
his mOnOplane and offered to take him
aboard the air-water machine A pro-
sale boat without wings came along,
however, and wrested from Simon and
Robinson the distinction of being TIE
first rescued and rescuer in an airship
life-saving feat.
SimOn's spectacular fall into TIE
lake followed soon after the burnin g
of J. A. d. McCurdy's biplane ir the
air. The McCurdy accident, besides
imperiling his life, endangered thou
sands of spectators in the free seats
by leaving dangling near them num-
Der Of live" electric wires.
After Simon's fall into the water,
Lee Hammond, young Baldwin flyer,
repeated the Frenchman's perfor-
nance. He also was rescued by a
boat. The hydro-aeroplane was ready
to go to his assistance, but, being
cheated once, it remained away when
its pilot saw the unwinged craft skim
ming around the drenched machine
with the aviator clinging to it.
Earle L. Ovington was the fourth
aviator to suffer an accident. He
smashed wing of his plane against
a pylon at the north eend Of the field
while banking.
The thousands on the lake front
saw other thrilling things besides the
accidents. The altitude performances
of several aviatOrs eclipsed anything
seen at the meet thus far and kept the
vast throng in the last hour of the
DAYS programme.
The spiral dips of the high flyers in
descending Just before the close Of the
meet for the day also furnished thrills
Beatty, who beat the altitude record
of the meet and won the daily alti-
tude prize, dropped at alarming speed
part of the 100 feet that he reached
in the air.
A L. Welsh, in a WRIGHT b'p'ane,
set the record for duration by re-
naming in the air three hours and a
half
Less than seven minutes behind
Welsh in length of time in the air
was c. P Rodgers. also in a Wright
biplane, who now ranks first in total
duration for the three days.
Beatty, who ranked fourth among
the days flights in time qlof' IS
second to Rodgers for the tn ee days,
having hours. 8 minutes and 43 sec
onds to his credit. Beatty was up 3
hours, Is minutes and IS seconds dur
ing the day.
Landing in front of the judges
stand in Grant park, where the inter
national aviation meet is in progress
Henry Nelson Atwood finished driv-
ing his Burgess biplane from St Louis
to Chicago.
This was concluded the first day of
his ST. Louis Chicago-New York fight,
by which he hopes to make new
worlds record.