Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-10-31
!, RACE LIMITATIONS
NEEDED BY AIRMEN

From the Boston Transcript

From the Boston Transcript.
Prospects for the Gordon Bennett avia-
tlcn cup race This year are not bright, so
TAR as a contest of moment is concerned.
There seems To he considerable doubt al
this time as To whether or not there will
be representatives from any foreign ma
ton. The lack of opportunities for money.
making and The fear OF litigation by the
WriEhts are given as the causes why the
flyers from abroad are hcsitatins.
AS at present constituted, however, the
international contest is OF very little inn
portancc so far as the development of
aviation itself goes. This has resulted
from the fact that the contestants are
limited in no respect whatever by the con-
ditions for the contest. but may ny any
freak whatever which will rise from the
earth, and for which AT aviation Will, SO
slight a regard for his life and limbs rs
tn act as driver can be found. The size
OF the planes has been cut down to an
almost incredible degree. while the motive
power is being increased at a tremendous
rate.
TWO years ago at Belmont park the 1NO
horsepower nome used 10y the English
contestant, White. and Alfred
Leblanc. of the French team. were the
only two in existence. Today there il to
be Installed in IN American machine
that now under CONSTRUCTION at the Bur-
e>SS A0as " \ SrtlOII1a IlOJVV
Of no less than lD horsepower. Those OF
lM horsepower are numerous.
As Yet there has been no aviator hardy
enough to offer himself as a sacrifice to
this craft. which is being built by the
Burgess company under the orders of the
Aero Club of illinois. which organization
Is calling for patriotic" volunteers. As
designed to nj the Illinois clubs require
ments of q craft to 20 100 miles an hour
or better, the monoplane which MIR. Bur
CESS has designed is inconccivably tiny.
In fact. the entire supporting surface is
approximately $50 square feet, OF actually
less than the horsepower OF the engine.
Tie same course OF construction huz
been going on IN Franco. and the speed
machines there are Of much tho same type.
This may be seen from the recent per-
~forlnance OF Nedrines in the trials for the
French cup team. Hts time for the inter
nattone! coWTs OF 300 kilomctcrs. or a
little more thar l24 miles. was an hour and
~ minutes, which figures ont at "A rate OF
no less than 1855 miles per hour. = new
worlds record, by the way for any device
OF mans invention.
The chief defect in these maclincs-ex
ccpting that OF the inherent lack of longi-
tudlnal stability. am to all machines
Of the present daN-lics in the fact that
they require such a high initial velocity
to lnunch them in the air. This makes
tIiSil no IlCllilH H. In0ltct OF the GXIfefneSt
nicely, as they must make Il landing at
approximately tho same speed at which
they leave the earth. The slightest oh
stacle when a craft is travelling over the
ground at a rate of 20 or NJ miles an hour
as Is the case with the new speed aero
planes when starting or alighting, is ike
ly to prove fatal.
IL is time that The international body
In charge of aviation took cognizancc oi
these facts, especially for the reason. rs
We have already ii. that the building
OF machines OF such types to TIT the re.
quircments of the various contestants, 1.
OF not the slightest value to tho develop.
ment OF practical aviation. A Limitation
on tho proportion of engine power to sup.
porting surface would be one method OF
protecting aviators against the dangers
Of freak machines, for as iGcS as there
are no limits the various nations viii
continue to demand that the builders pu,
more and more power into smaller ant
smaller machines.
Thus far. although there have been ac.
cidents which might very we'll have beef
fatsl during the three cup contests held
the flyers have escaped with their lives
1t would be we'll II checks should be i'm
posed before a horrible fatality forces tn.
attention of tho world to the facts VIZ
have enumerated. IT is. OF course. to,
late to change tho conditions for the 1871
race, but the Aero Club OF America. tn,