Bridgeton pioneer., 1913-04-17
SIX AIR MEN PLAN
OCEANIC FLIGHTS
To Try For S5O,OOO Prize of
London Paper.
EARLY SUCCESS PREDICTED
Brown and Law, England, Herr Rum
pier, Bleriot and Colonel Cody Will
Make Attempt-Dr. Bell Believes
Feat Possible With Course In Rare
fled Atmosphere.


fled Atmosphere.
Six air men of leading Importance in
the profession have undertaken prep
arationS to cross the Atlantic ocean in
hydroaeroplanes to win the $4,000
offered as prize by the London Daily
Mail. The men are Henry Brown and
Rodman Law, Americans. forming a
team; Gordon England, a British air
man; Herr Rumpler. German inven-
tor; Bleriot, inventor of the monoplane
of his name. and Colonel Cody. former
ly an American, but now a British sub
ject.
The Mail offers its great prize on the
condition that the fight shall be ac-
complished inside of seventy-two hours
of continuous flying. There is no re-
striction against the machine alighting
on water and replenishing its fuel from
ships.
All those who contemplate making
the attempt declare they will do so
within a few months. They see no
great obstacle to- the feat The Ger
man aeronautical experts, however,
whose attention has been mostly con-
cerned with rigid dirigibles. say the
trip will not be made for several years;
that it will cost S15O,00O and will re-
quire vastly far advanced machine.
DR.. Bell Enthusiastic.
DR.. A. Graham Bell. inventor of the
telephone and a pioneer in the use of
heavier than air flying achines, en-
Enthusiastically discussed recently Lord
Northcliffe's offer of $4,000 for the
first flight across the Atlantic in a hy-
droaeroplane within seventy-two con-
secutive hours. While certain modifca-
tions in existing machines ought to be
effected, DR.. Bell repeatedly said that
as aerial science stood today the Eng
lish publishers offer is a good sport
ing chance for air men.
'There are machines existing today"
said DIR. Bell. (which, if they can con-
tinue doing for twenty hours what
they have done already for shorter
periods, will make the fight possible
in a single day. The seventy-two
hours is much longer time than will
be needed. If the ocean is to be trav-
ersed in an airship at all it will be in
far less time than Lord Northcliffe
allows
eff l were to make the flight" went
on the veteran inventor with boyish
enthusiasm, 81 wouldn't make any al
lowances for alightine at sea and re
c f1nI All,
at all it ought to be done in single
squirt. While hydroaeroplanes can
take to the water and arise again into
the air, their chances are against their
doing anything of the sort There is
also very little likelihood of their find
ing the supply ship from which to re-
plenish their tanks. Even if the wings
Of the airship are not injured by the
descent the chances are that once on
the water it would remain there until
picked up or until. under the buffet
ings Of the sea. 1t went lower still and
disappeared"
Would Fly In Rarefied Air.
DR.. Bells idea. based on his investi-
cations then made with Mr.. Baldwin.
is that the greatest service will be got
from the aeroplanes flying at great
heights. Mr. Baldwin advanced the
idea, which DR.. Bell at once accepted,
that the resistance to the forward rush
of an airship diminished in exact ratio
with the density of the air. He found
that life could be sustained at a height
OF five miles and that at that height
the density of the air was one-third
the normal density at sea level.
Therefore at that height a machine
capable, with sufficient propeller revc
lutions, of driving forty miles an hour
at sea level-and much greater speeds
had actually been attained-woulG go
at rate of 100 miles an hour
"Mr. Baldwin saw in his plan" said
DR.. Bell. 'the objection that the suffer-
ing of the aviator for want of air
would be too great at this altitude for
any prolonged effort" But DIR. Bell at
once met the objection by saying that
obviously. even if the atmosphere
were thfnned to one-third its normal
density, a speed of three times the
normal rate would project the avi-
ator against exactly the same number
OF particles of oxygen as if he went
forty miles an hour on sea level. In
other words, the onward rush of the
machine, increasing in precise ratio
with the diminishing density of the
air, would automatically condense the
air and preserve normal atmosphere,
At the same time the higher speed
would give the lighter air precisely the
supporting power of heavier air at sea
level with the lower speed that would
be the best attainable in that density
$50 up as high as you like" said DR..
Bell, "and your speed will go up with
you. We used to think a balloon or
dirigible the best for high flying. But
now we know that is not true A bal
loon in the rare atmosphere of the high
skies would need to be expanded to
triple its size to carry the weight with
which If Starfad And onca aloft If