Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-01-16

SuTeHGSS OF the SSdSull VIII uSIy
time, the wind, the weather, the trackless wastes
of the sky and the ocean. I will make real the
dream OF the dreamer"
Eut Grahame-White is true Brfton and as such
has hearty dislike for the grandioquent. He is
quite content with: I'll cross the Atlantic in
thirty hours'-as if the feat were the most matter
offact performance in the world-and the chances
are that he regards it good deal in that light.
At first hearing, it sounds like an idle boast
but those who have followed the career of this
eminentIy shrewd, clear-headed and capable air
man know that he is neither boaster nor a Wis
ionary. If he says he will do thing it is certain
that he believes firmly that he can-and believes
it because he has studied his facts and tested his
theories
1t is but short look back to the beginnings of
the aeroplane and in the brief time that that
wonderful machine has been in the hands of
men it has performed the very things that skep-
tics have declared impossible It seems almost
certain that at a time not remote someone will
make the perilous trip overseas. And why not
Grahame-White?
To the average earth-man who is satisfied
never to rise above the top stories of Office
building the attempt, even under the best of
ditions, appears reckless to the point of fool
hardness. Not to the aviator. Give me the
kind of a machine I'm thinking Of, he remarks,
and the transatlantic trip would be just much
duration fying-plain sailing"
Just there lies the nub of the question OF air
navigation from Europe to America-in the ma
chimes. They must first OF all have speed, great
speed they must have lifting capacity enough
to carry the required amount OF fuel, they must
have motors capable of standing the strain of
terrific and stupendous distance they must have
Instruments that will locate the course with ac
curacy
All those elements must have been considered
long and carefully by Grahame- White before ne
made his recent announcement. He must be
satisfied that he has an aeroplane that fulfls all
the conditions. So far, little detail has leaked
out as to the manner of equipment he will
1t is known only that he is building machine
which will carry four engines, arranged IN indie
pendent pairs and each rated at $50 horsepower
He has said that he is convinced that he
show enough lifting capacity to carry the re-
Quired fuel and enough speed to rush him to
these shores in thirty hours.
That may seem simple to the unthnking. but
consider Roughly speaking it is 5000 miles
from coast to coast ana at Grahame-White's reck-
Oning of thirty hours that means that he has a
machine which he trusts for at least one hundred
miles an hour, minute after minute without in
corruption
What course he viii choose has not yet de-
veloped. He has the whole great ocean to choose
from. 1t has been limited that the steamship
lanes the natural path for the adventurer
to give some measure of protection in case of
accidents. If he chooses that from Queenstown
to Sandy Hook Ightship he must traverse $500
miles: if from Plymouth to Sandy Hook, 1852
miles; if from Southampton to Sandy Hook,
800: if from Hayre to Sandy Hook. 3.170 miles:
and if from Cherbourg. 3644, The Mauretania
has made the passage in four days ten hours and
forty-one minutes. The aviator proposes to clip
at enc swoop 6.341 minutes from that record.
To be sure there are other roads which are
said to be safer. There is that which leads from
the Azores to the BermUdas. one that allows for
two relatively short hops and q long one from
mainland to mainland. Then there is that other
one favored By those who have planned out the
course not for an aeroplane but for power
dirfgible
This second course is practically the same over
which Columbus was waited across by the kindly
trade winds centuries ago From meteoro-
logical standpoint it is said TO be the best 1t
lies from Cadiz to Teneriffe, distance of S07
miles; from Tenerife to Porto Rico distance
of S.219 miles; from Porto Rico to Havana dis
lance of 1924 miles: and thence to the main
land. The course lies in a varying little
from twenty degrees north latitude and in the
winter and spring offers fair weather and a wind
with a velocity of fourteen to sixteen miles an
hour.
The matter of wind. however seems to have
troubled Grahame-White little It is probable
that he viii select one of the northerly courses
and it is probable that he may fly even as far
north as Labrador. By choosing that as point
OF landing and Ireland as point OF starting he
might reduce his distance by hundreds of miles
Whatever his course. however. he must have
speed Even at his own estimate OF thirty hours
the nervous strain Of guiding an aeroplane for
that length of time without sleep would be ter
rife and would increase immensely with every
added hour.
Grahame-White has always been a believer in
the speed possibilities Of his air crafts Some
time ago he held that 100 miles an hour was no
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