The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-09-27
ATWOOD, The
STAR AVIATOR.
How He Suddenly Scared Into
Aerial Fame.
FLYING ONLY FOUR MONTHS.

He Flew From Boston to New Lon
don, Conn.-Later Made Trip to
New York and Washington.
Harry N. Atwood, the Boston avia-
tor who made an air journey from
Missouri to the Atlantic coast, is a
graduate of the Massachusetts Insti-
tute Of Technology. he first came
into the aerial limehght on June 30
last, when he electrified spectators Of
the Harvard-Yale crew race on the
Thames river, New London, by a Sc
ries Of daring evolutions performed in
the air way above the river.
On that day Atwood few from
Squantum, Mass, to New London and
fame, a distance of 1OS miles, in just
two hours. The young bird man had
then been flying only eight weeks.
Then followed Atwood's thrilling air
voyage from New London to Cover
nors island, a distance of 145 miles,
which he covered in two hours and
forty seven minutes of actual flight at
an average of f1fty-two miles an hour.
On Monday, July 8, Atwood decided
to try for the regular pilots license
issued by the Aero Club of America.
After taking Captain r. s. Madden Of
the army for a trip over the bay and
circling Miss Liberty with Lieutenant
John s. Tickle as a passenger Atwood
began his trial for the license. He
made one successful fight, cutting the
figures eight required in the Aero club
rules and performing other evolutions
successfully. On his second fight,
however, his motor stopped at height
Of 1900 feet from the ground. The
young air man volplaned easily to
earth, but landed too far away from
his starting point to satisfy the rules.
Flight to, Atlantic City.
That day Atwood had a talk with
Granville NJ Hunt representative of
the chamber of commerce, Washing
ton, after which the aviator decided
to attempt a flight to Washington on
July 4. Accordingly, at $50 O'Clock on
the next morning, Atwood left Gov
ernors island to fly to the capital. He
was forced to make three stops on
account of the strong wind, the first
at Asbdry Park, the second at Tucker
ton, where he restocked his fuel tank,
and the third at Venice Park, Atlantic
City. He proceeded to the Atlantic
City beach, landing at 2:30 p. m.
1t was on July at Atlantic City
that Atwood's machine suffered its
first serious mishap. At $40 p. M.
Atwood started his engine going on
the beach. In the passenger seat was
Charles X. Hamilton, fellow aviator,
who planned to accompany Atwood.
The blades of the propeller had scarce
ly begun to turn when a large bull
dog rushed toward the machine, bark.
ing. There was a mixup in which the
dog, struck by the whirling blades, |
was killed and tossed into the crowd. !
The blade which had done the tossing,
however, was found to be cracked !
This defect Atwood tried to remedy |
by winding wire about the fracture,
but later when he flew oceanward the |
split blade caused the machine to
become unmanageable, and Atwood |
and Hamilton were tumbled into the
surf, being rescued with more or less
difficulty.
On July 8 he again essayed a flight |
toward Washington, this time in Ham
ilton's biplane. Hamilton again ac-
companied him. They had risen to
height of seventy feet above the avia-
ton field when something went wrong
and the machine crashed to the ground,
breaking the propellers and smashing
things up generally. The two bird men,
however, escaped unhurt. 1t was not
until July 10 that Atwood and Hamil-
ton arrived in Baltimore. They landed
at field nine miles east of the city
after fight of 148 miles in four hours
and thirty minutes. This established
new American record for a long dis
tance fight with a passenger. The
highest altitude reached on this trip
was LOO feet.
At Washington.
On July IL Atwood reached College
Park, near Washington, at $50 a. M
In Hamilton's biplane. Here he bor-
rowed a machine from army aviators
to complete the trip to Washington.
He had no more than left the aviation
hOmSNSly Ille deTOpldue
dropped distance of 100 feet to the
ground. Atwood got Off without in
jury, but the machine was badly
smashed. Two days later in a bfplane
purchased from Hamilton the young
Bostonian circled over the White
House grounds for nearly an hour. He
then described few spirals about the
Washington monument and returned
to College Park.
July IA was red letter day for the
bird man from the Hub. On that day
he scared over the tall elms on the
White House lawn and landed almost
at President Taft's feet. The chief ex,
ecutive then presented him with a gold
medal on behalf Of the Aero Club of
America and congratulated him on his
success.
1t was on Aug. 10 that Atwood first
announced his intention of fvino from