Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-08-22
FLYER SCARS HIGH
BrindIey Rocks in 40-Mile Gale
4,442 Feet Above Lake
at Chicago
II MACHINES IN AIR AT ONCE
No Accident MARRIED the Days Pro-
gram-5eachy Wins by As Seconds
--Sopwith Makes Record-Huge
Crowd at Meet.
DAYS RESULTS IN AVIATION
CONTESTS.

Twenty Mile Race for Biplanes-
Won by Lincoln Beachy In Curtiss;
time, 20 minutes 11:26 seconds; prize,
$500. Earle L. Ovington In Curtiss.
second; time, 20 minutes 56:07 sec
onds; prize. $500. Jimmy Ward in
Curtiss. third; time, rs minutes H.: rs
seconds; prize, 5000.
Eight Mile Passenger Carrying for
monoplanes-Won by Tom Sopwith
In Bieriot; time minutes "a sec
onds; prize, $500. No other competi-
tors.
Alighting-Won by ]. v. Martin In
Grahame-W White biplane: distance
from mark, l foot 8 inches; prize,
$3.50. Lee Hammond in Baldwin BIZ
plane, second; distance. 26 feet A
inches; prize, $3.50. Tom Sopwith in
Wright biplane. third; distance, 81
feet; prize, $780, G. p Rodgers, in
Wright biplane, fourth; distance, "a
feet 8 inches. w. r. badger in Bald
win biplane, fifth; distance. 81 feet
Grant Park Aviation Field, Chicago.
10000 spectators witnessed many
daring feats by aviators in the second
day of the international meet.
A dashing, spirited race between
three biplanes stirred thousands OF
spectators In the Grant Park aero
drome to the highest enthusiasm, and
mystery surrounding an aviator who
for nearly two hours hung thousands
of feet in the air over Lake Michigan
held them until after dark.
The race was declared the greatest
ever witnessed over an aviation
course.
The weird picture in the sky-the
lone speck of machine rocking,
floating and sometimes apparently
without motion Of any sort, then drew
their attention. 1t bound them to the
field until. guided by huge bonfire,
surrounded by torches of red fire,
called him away from his then In
visible perch and down toward earth
again.
The official records show that there
were nearly twenty-five hours Of In
dividual flying crowded into the three
and a half hour program the first
day. That is, the total of the hours
In which the different machines were
in the air was sufficient to give an
average of six machines in the air
all the time. Nine was the greatest
number observed in simultaneous
flight, but on the second day on sew
eral counts there were eleven in
fight at the same time.
Not even trifling" accident
marred the days program. No ma
chine in the air met with trouble of
any sort.
The afternoon closed, twilight came
on, the city began to twinkle with
lights before Oscar A. Brindley re-
turned to the flying field from his
jaunt in the clouds-the highest
flight of the meet so far.
At an altitude of about 4,442 feet
Brindley hung over Streeterville, a
mile north of the Chicago limits,
when the meet closed. AS he was
too far away to be signaled down by
the cannon, 1t was necessary to
light five power torches on the field,
a signal in tho flying world that
means Come on down
Brindley descended, but leisurely.
He drifted in slow, wide spirals,
sometimes sitting back in his seat
with his arms folded, he said later.
Quite a crowd waited in the dusk
to cheer the Wright aviator when he
landed little after 1880 o'clock. He
had been up in the air two hours and
half.