New-York tribune., 1911-01-01
ONE OF HEAVENLY TWINS
Arch Hoxsey, with Johnstone,
Also Killed, So Known.
RIVALS FOR ALTITUDE MARK
Hoxsey First Came Into Proml-
nence When He Took Ex-Presl-
dent Roosevelt on Trip.

Arch Hoxsey. with his i'll fated team mate
and rival. Ralph Johnstone won fame as
employees Of the Wright BROTHERS at the
Belmont Park aeronautcel tournament THIS
last season. Their spirited contests OF skill
and endurance were the feature or the
week.
one Of their most picturesque perform
ances was the attempt to break the height
record after dark. Hoxsey on that occa-
sion reached 6.1s3 feet. while Johnstone
made only 5.7s3. Later in the week, now
ever. Johnstone broke the worlds record.
gong UP 9.71i feet
Another startling exhibition OF the pair
at this meet was their unprecedented pacK-
ward fight when they turned tneN ma
chimes into a gale and were driven pack-
ward down the island many miles oetore
they would give up. On that occasion
Hoxsev came down at Brentwood, twenty
FIVE miles from Belmont Park. His altitude
during the fight reached 6,So3 feet.
on November 12, while flying with HoX-
ssy at Denver. tombstone was killed py
fall. His old friend continued the riVairy'
however. after the others DEATH ana a'
last exceeded mis- high mark
on November 10 he made another spectac-
ular fight at Denver, when ne soareu
rearIv 4OO1 feet above Overland Park, ana
then turned and sailed straight for the
mountains fifteen miles away. When ne
and his machine had become mere spech
he turned and few back to the park, chased
nv a furious snowstorm. which overlook
lids nr tho crowd at
the mark homeward. Hoxsey started his
fight from in front Of the grandstano "heh
the wind was blowing so hard that tue
flags on the grounds stood out at rlgh.
angles Whirlwinds threw dust over the
spectators, and it appeared for time tha'
he might not be able to make the Night
He was in the air 32 minutes 57 20 seconds.
After landing Hoxsey said he could claim
the distinction of having gone higher In
storm than any other aviator. He SAID al
one time he was above the sleetstorm. he
few directly over Fort Logan. and said he
did It TO SHOW the soldiers what they VIII
have to fight in the future"
Hoxsey nearly lost his own life in Balti-
mere on November 8. when he fell mile
in the baby Wright machine in which john
stone had made his record. He escaped,
however, with only few minor bruises.
Hoxsey was attempting to capture the
$3.50 prize offered by General Felix Angus
OF THE Baltimore American and STAR for
an altitude of 10000 feet Instead of flying
around the course at the start, as is gen.
orally done, Hoxsey at once started his
planes upward, making 1850 feet in less
than one turn about the field. He had gone
2,0O0 feet in precisely five minutes. He had
reached an altitude Of $500 feet, when sud
denly, he began swift descent at very
slight angle AS he himself described it, It
was a combination glide and fall. Faster
and faster he came down. and finally dis
appeared among a clump Of trees about
two miles from the aviation field.
Only last Monday Hoxsey reached the
climax OF his career as an aviator He
scared more than two miles up into the
sky. his barograph registering 11,474 feet
or almost thousand feet above the alti-
tude of 10,499 feet recently attained by
Legagneux at Pau. France.
This was the second time the existing
worlds altitude record had been broken
In Los Angeles, the first time being last
January. when Louis Paulhan rose a little
over 1000 feet
Hoxsey accomplished his feat in a
forty-mile gale that wrecked Hubert
Latham's Antoinette monoplane and kept
more cautious aviators on the ground.
Hoxsey sailed into the sky at l o'clock.
At 2:45 his barograph showed the great
est height while he was over Venice, a
seashore resort more than twenty miles
from the Aviation Field. Coming down,
he made a series OF remarkable spiral
sides thousands of feet in the air
Before he came lightly TO earth the
crowd was on its feet cheering wildly. He
was lifted from his biplane by fellow avia-
tors. who paraded up and down before the
grandstand bearing the intrepid flyer upon
their shoulders.
The crowds insisted upon making a hero
10 doff his furs, but marched him back
and forth before the grandstand.
"Was it windy up there?" he was
asked.
1T blew so hard" replied Hoxsey,
that my machine hardly moved and barely
held its own. 1t was so cold that more
than once 1 thought my carburetor was
about to freeze"
On Thursday OF this week Hoxsey made
another sensational flight when he scared
over the top Of Mount Wilson, the highest
peak Of the range near Los Angeles. He
cleared the top of the mountain by 400
feet, making his total elevation above sea
level 10,Oo5 feet. He was In the air two
hours and thirty-two minutes, including a