Evening star., 1912-09-01
OBLIGED TO Be IDLE
Aviators Hampered by Acct
dents at College Park.
BUT FEW FLIGHTS MADE
Board Puzzled by Records Of the
Barographs-Capt. Beck
in Hospital.

Despite the fact that there was little
flying at College Park yesterday after
noon, the crowd Of spectators was one
Of the largest there has been this sea-
son. Several of the army machines were
out Of commission, owing to a series Of
accidents the previous day. Even the
big new Wright that was an entirely new
machine had gone out Of service owing
to magnetic trouble.
The magnetic yielded to treatment and
in the course of the afternoon Lieut..
Harry Arnold. to whom the machine has
been assigned, took 1t up in several
fights. Lieut.. Kennedy and Lieut.. Geiger
had out the small Curtiss and Lieut.. Mill
ing made a flight with the old Wright
that has been rebuilt by the mechanics
at the Park. At one time there were
three machines in the air at the same
time.
One of the visitors at the Park was
Capt. Hugh d. Wise, the first man in the
army to try the man-carrying Observa-
ton kites. This was in experiments at
Governors Island, n. Y, long before the
days of aeroplanes. He made a passen-
ger flight in one of the machines and said
after he came down that If he had only
had a sketching board it would have been
a luxury to make maps of the surround
ing country.
Beachey's Record Somewhat Mixed.
The officers board appointed to pass on
the altitude fight Of Lincoln Beachey Fri
day was rather embarrassed with the
abundance of records. There were seven
Paragraphs at the park and Beachey took
them all. He had SO many. In fact. that
they probably increased his head resist
ance. They registered all the way from
2, 800 feet down. and the board. after
taking the average of the seven, figured
the height at 1,SOO feet. This was a very
disappointing conclusion. and probably
will put Beachey in a bad humor. as he
Washington Friday night that he had
been we'll over 1000 feet.
1t Is said to be very hard to get an &C
! curate barograph, and the chances are
will lead to some change in the method
of measuring altitude. It may be that
the barograph will be discarded alto
gether. and that the altitude flights OF
new machines will be made in daylight.
when 1t will be possible to triangulate
on them.
Capt. Paul Beck, one of the former
members Of the army flying squad, was
operated on last Tuesday at the Walter
Reed Hospital for appendicitis. He had
finished his tour Of duty with the Signal
Corps and had been on leave Of absence
for over a month when operated on. The
operation was entirely successful. though
there was fear at one period that there
might be serious results from the effect
of the anesthetic. He Is rapidly re-
covering.
Work Of the Hydroplanes.
Work at Annapolis for the Navy De-
partment Is progressing slowly. There
are several types Of hydroplanes at the
Maryland capital. and training Is bedne
| carried ON whenever the weather per-
mits. One Of the things the navy Is look
ing forward to is the receipt Of new de-
signs from builders all over the country
The depa.r tment recently issued calls fo1
such designs. not on the basis Of the low.
| est bidder. but with view to getting the
best practical machine for navy use. The
specifications simply pointed out wanat
was needed in the way of speed. endur.
ance. stating capacity and some mechan-
tca1 features. and left designers the great
est freedom to work out the problem II
| their own way. The department under.
| took to keep the designs confidential, tC
| make suggestions where necessary, and
to reject any or all Of the plans or te
| accept as many as was desirable.
| Several OF the builders notified the de-
partment they were working on specia
navy designs. There IS no time limit OF
| the submitting Of plans, but the first oa
them proDably Will be received within q
| fortnight.
Navy Plans Hampered.'
| Some Of the plans of the Navy Depart.