Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-04
NEW AER0S SWIFT
Racing Craft Soon to Be
Ready for Army Trials.
WRIGHT MACHINE is SMALL
Great Skill Will Be Required in
Landing-New Wireless
Apparatus Tested.
WRIGHT MACHINE is SMALL

Two racing aeroplanes are almost ready
for trial at the Army Aviation School at
College Park. Md. one Is d Curtiss and
the other a Wright. The Wright aero
plane is the speed machine that has been
contracted for and is TO have Il minimum
speed OF sixty-ive miles an hour. 1t has
a sixty-horsepower engine in it. and
while It IS not yet ready for testing, the
general impression IS that il will come
nearer seventy-five miles than sixty-tivc.
The new racer looks very much like
the famous Baby Wright built to de
fend the Gordon Bennett trophy at Bel
mont Park in 1910. This machine, II Will
be recalled. was never timed over Il
measured course in public. but on figures
obtained by the correspondents in timing
the trial flights over short known dis
tances 1t made between seventy-eight and
eighty miles an hour. 1t never showed
In the international speed race because it
Tell with Walter Brookins the first time
very close to the ''Ba by in dimensions.
1t has wings only three feet six inches
wide and spread OF twenty-six feet. 1t
has the double propellers characteristic
or the Wright machine and is headless
like the standard Wright.
Mllllng May be Pilot.
1t is not known who will demonstrate
the machine when it is tried for the
army. as George w. Beatty, who was
here demonstrating the weight car
Tying Wright. has returned to Dayton
1t is generally understood that after
the machine is put in commission it
will be flown by Lieut. Thomas De
Witt Milling. In all probability it
will not be tested until after the
army maneuvers around New York
city. which will make it late in August.
1t Is just possible that Orvillc Wright
himself will come from Dayton to oper-
ate it on it's first flight
The little machine is tiny that
1t would seem to have hardly any sup
porting surface in the air. and prob
ably will be compelled to go like a
streak to keep up at all. With this
condition confronting him the aviator
probably will be forced to make his
landing at about seventy miles per
hour, and this will call for consider
able skill on the part of any aviator.
Machine an Experiment.
The new Curtiss is an experiment. in
the construction of an aeroplane by
the aviators themselves at the park.
The machine is the accepted type of
Curtiss racer, which has not yet been
seen in Washington. The wings have
a spread of thirty-two feet and are
four feet broad 1t carries n seventy-fve-
horse power engine All the parts Of the
machine We're made in the Curtiss fac
tory at Hammondsport and 1t is being
assembled. under the supervision of
Lieut.. Geiger. by Sergt James Hart
man, who has just finished a shop
course in the Curtiss factory. He is
being assisted by Private Henry Som
bers.
While the supporting surface of this
new machine is not radically small as
Is that of the Wrights, 1t has u much
more powerful engine, and it is be-
lieved II will be good for something
over eighty miles hour.
Officers Leave This Week.
1t is thought that the army machine go
ing to the maneuvers will be shipped TO
New York tomorrow, while the officers
going from here will start about August
s. 1t is now understood that there IS likely
to be professional Curtiss aviator among
the scouts operating the Curtiss machines
Beckwith Havens, one of the Curtiss
team. some time ago enlisted in the Ma
tional Guard of New York, and il is un-
derstood that CurtiSs will furnish him
with a machine. which he will fly for
the National Guard during the maneu-
vers.
This will greatly strengthen the per-
sonnet of the Curtiss forces, and will
make the unofficial competition between
the two classes of machines much more
even SO far as the possession of sea-
soned aviatOrS is concerned
Several Practice Flights.
There were number of practice flights
at College Park yesterday afternoon.
Lieut.. Geiger went up in both the Cur
tiss machines, while Lieut.. Graham took
up the BurgessW Wright. The most i'm
portant flights from q military stand
point We're made by Lieut.. Foulois in the
standard Wright machine, while testing
out a new inStallment of wireless appara-
tus that is now being tried on the army
aeroplanes.
Instead of using wire netting for an
aerial on the machine, Lieut. Foulois car
RED length of about 12J feet of copper
wire with small weight attached hang
ing straight under tie machine. This
gave d much wider area of distribution
for the wireless waves and the signals
were very plainly heard in the small
wireless set that has been installed in
one of the hangers for the experiment.
The machine at the time of sending was
about 100 fee. high and a half mile from
the receiving set.