The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-12

/! is absolutely unparalleled in the his
| tory of aviation. g
There are a thousand contingencies
that may arise, to stop the motor OF
an aeroplane, or to prevent it from
working properly. If any one of these
emergencies had occurred while
Beachy was lowering over Bridgeport
he would have been lost. There was
no possible place for him to alight.
When Glenn Curtiss flew from AL
bany to New York, he did not take
the risk that Beachy took yesterday.
When Charles K. Hamilton flew from
New York to Philadelphia, he was not
exposed to the danger. In each case
the aviators were passing over coun-
try dotted with open meadows, or
over water. in which they might cas-
lily have alighted, had anything gone
wrong with their motor.
But it was different in Beachy's 9
case. For fully three-quarters of his
aerial trip he was passing directly
over a close1y-built city, and to aliSht
would have been almost surely a fa-
tai crash
Beachy's flight yesterday was entire
ly impromptu and never would have
been allowed, had eileen Curtiss sus-
pected that the young aviator was
planning it.
It was a fitting Introduction for the
opening of the Bridgeport Aerodrome,
and for the first day of Bridgeports
great aviation meet. The 5000 spec,
tatOrS inside the enclosure went Wild
when they saw him start off for the
city and gave him great reception
when he returned and alighted, after
some hair-rising glides and dips.
Mr. Beachy started from the avia-
ton grounds with instructions from
Mr.. Curtiss to make a few circles
around the field. Once in the air he
couldn't make his fingers behave, and
started off grandly in the direction OF
Bird dgeport.
To the crowds at the aviation field
he soon became the mereSt Speck in
the distance, but tremendous uproar
from the factory whistles showed that
Bridgeport was welcoming it's unex-
pected aerial visitor.
Picking out The Stratfield. the big
gest building in the city, Beachy made
a circuit around it and sailed over
the principal business streets, while
Bridgeport gasped in amazement. The
aeroplane was sailing beautifully and
looked like an immense bird in the
sky. Beachy guided his machine over
the water front and then started back
for the aerodrome at express train
speed. He concluded his performance
with a hair-raising series of volplane
glides and alighted. He had been in
the air 16 minutes and covered about
- miles. His greatest altitude was g.
900 feet.
On alighting he kept the whole
length of the field between himself
and Curtiss.
81 hate to hear what he'll say to
me. when he gets me- said Beachy,
with all the glee of a schoolboy who
has played a clever trick on the mas
ter.
Asked if he had heard the whistles.
Mr.. Beacky replied in the negative.
1.-THE engine was making so much
noise 1 couldn't hear much else he
said, 'but when I was passing over
bridgeport I did hear a funny sound.
] thought that something was going
wrong with the motor and I turned
around and looked back at it once
Or twice. That must have been the
whistles.
sIt seems so natural for me to fly
over a city that I just can't help it, =
added Beachy; 81 used to do it all
the time in my dirigible Bridgeport
looks beautiful from up above