The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-08-01
kESTASCH MADE THE
HIGH NORTHWEST
RECORD
Altitude Attained Last Night
Was 5,100 Feet, Best in
Entire Northwest.

VAAS 1COI6O X4OSSoSS1s ASlAl6 III
his Borel-Mathis monoplane. broke
the northwestern altitude record last
evening in his second flight. going
b,100 feet up and sailing majestically
around the fair grounds half a dozen
times the entire fight taking but
nineteen minutes.
Before starting out, the daring
Frenchman attached a Paragraph to
register altitude on the inside of his
machine. The Paragraph is so devils
ed than on ascending the air pressure
and this indicator it attached to a pen
which scratches on the paper leaving
a scrawly mark. When the aviator
lands the marks are mathematically
computed and in this way the altitude
is taken.
Prof. o. o. James of Case university,
who was a fair visitor yesterday on
his way from the Pacific coast to Chi
cago, reckoned the height from the
Paragraph after Mestasch descended.
He stated that the record showed S.
100 feet attained although Mestasch
hardly knew he was that high. saying
that he probably was up $500 feet
when asked what height he attained.
The evening was cold and the air
puffy, making flying a little uncom-
Portable for the foreigner. The first
time he went up he stayed ten min
utes, circling around the grounds and
sailing away to the north about three
miles. On coming down Mestasch was
shivering with cold. He had neglected
to put O. any extra clothing when
starting out. not thinking of the temp
erature, and with his monoplane dart
ing from seventy-f1ve to eighty-ive
miles an hour and the propellers fan
ming him in. the face at a rate of 1900
revolutions a minute, the aviator was
quite cold when he alighted. He went
to his hangers and secured a heavy
sweater the second time, but would
not put on gloves, saying that 1t was
too dangerous handling the delicate
control levers with the hands covered.
Dove 1000 Feet.
When he had attained his altitude
of 500 feet Mestasch was a mile
northwest of the grandstand. Sailing
over to where the people We're sitting,
he did the longest. fastest and at the
same time the most graceful dive ever
seen in the state or northwest. The
Paragraph showed that he came down
1000 feet. The engine was shut off
and the force of the wind kept the
propeller in motion. so that all Mes
tasch had to do to crank her again
was turn on the gasoline and the ma
chine was in motion again.
Did Half Spiral.
After catching himself from. the dive
in which the machine must have at
tanned a speed of 100 miles an hour,
the m%onoplane driver did a half spiral
but did not complete it. Turning to
the left he dove downward and in a
semicircle but the wind was so gusty
that Mestasch had to switch on the
gasoline again in order not to take any
unnecessary chance. The two flights
were unusually good, the second in
particular, and the big crowd was
more than pleased at the exhibition of
the swallow-like darting machine.
Sang-froid.
Mestasch is utterly unconscious Of
the crowd hen on or off the aviation
field. Last evening beteen flights he
went over to his hangar. secured his
sweater. and then pulled out a tin
ticket box and produced a gopher. He
had seen m or two Of them on the
field and asked Exhibition Manager
Kent to secure him one. This was
done and Mestasch looked over his
new pet while 10000 people stood
waiting for the machine to cool, and
wondering II on the next flight any
thing would happen.