The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-03
NILES IN AIR GIVES
THRILLS AND Clasps
Young Airman's Nerve Saves
Him in Three Hrials to
Loop the Loop.
MOTOR DEAD" EACH TIME
Gets Control. Alights Gently
and Goes Up Again to
DO More Stunts.

Charlie. r. Niles. "a year. old. who ha,
been an aviator for just eighteen months
tried three times to loop the loop a.
Hampstead Plains yesterday afternoon.
Failing he dropped 2.700 feet throuxr
the air balanced his monoplane afte'
each stage Of the fail and sailed yer
f.es;ly up and down with rnotor stoppe,
until 900 fee. above earth.
Then ne descended with perfec, contro
and aiighted without q scratcl, upon hi.
slken wings.
Niless magnificent guidance o: his ma.
chine in every conceivable position Cor the
two frigbtful moments OF his descen; vii
put him in the front rank of the world
bird men. Officers OF the Aero club OF
America who watched him said that Their,
had never been an air performance Ike
Siless in the history OF aviation.
The only thought Of the little group OF
men below the monoplane was that IL wa
falling to destruction. Had IL been huns
from the skies its drop could not havt
been more wildly eccentric. Niles came
down In no graceful spiral. but head over
heels.
His engine stopped twice. once when he
WAS sailing vertically upward. the other
ward. BJth times his hand OH the steer
ing gear VAS shade quicker than
.ravity.. With d little flrt Of It's SHIN
nicriag wings the lnonoplanc swung
through u great arc into the horizontal.
Alfred J, Moisant % the Moisant iirm
tor whom Niles - 70 i!y, coulo not CON
tain his Joy. Alan r. Havley. president
a the Aero Club, catching his breath
after Niles was secu TO be safe, shouted
THAT fellows Il wonder lie gave mr
more thrills than ever had before IN my
ilfe. thought tho man was coming
smash bang into the hangars''
Niles failed TO loop the loop because his
essolene wouldn't feed into ;he engine
continuously while the monoplanc was
heading straight up ~ down. a system,
tina, will feed the sasoleue under pressure
will fix that all right the next time.
After his first Ills ut he went up sec
ond time and ieW upside down for
way to show that ii wasn't his fault that
ne didn't describe complete circle with
engine running
commonplace Preparations.
There were no pyrote chn.cs about Nilss's
start When he came on tn. field in his
khaki suit II, did not wet his finger and.
ao.diug it M 10 tho breeze. expatiste upon
the uniaSorab.c conditions foi flying. In
decd. ne mad al ideal Day, with only a
slight wind.
He strapped himself into IL Moisdnt
monoplarc made especially FOR stunts, -
In which no had flown but twice before.
Il difIercd rom ricst monoplanes in that
all piano wires had been discarded In
favor OF lghs woven steel guys. Six
steel wires from each oiled silk wing met
over the iers head. three from each
wing met there on q pulley. and by these
tho wings were tiled. a silken
web strip only foot wide, IS tho tail
az the plane. was pointed out rs all
the guidance needed to make the machine
.oop the loop.
The hfty horsepower motor was placed
well ahead and below the aviator's seat,
so that in falling he couia hardly be
crushed beneath il. There was q peculiarly
sensitive steering wheel. AN important
thing Oh n5noplanes. Niles files both
biplanes and monopianes. which is ex-
Uept.onal for an airnan, because the bal
..nce OF "A nonoplane Is more easily az
iected ana q loot care'essly moved may
swerve tho whole machine out o. trim.
The aviator got in ana strapped himself
fast two mechanics started the motor
and let go the plane ut his signal the
flier cut the grass for htty yards and
then shot UP with perfect smoothness. In
three minutes he was two miles away
1000 feet 5loit and gong up like a
rocket. From the FRS. his caring ascent
excited poe ssionai admiration, He
climbed until III. tail of his plane looked
like a brokea foather.
1t took him about ten minutes TO get q
. point 1000 feet above ground AM
directly over the two dozen spectators
You need TO he at least that high 10 TT,
20 loop the loop because. though the actus
Somersault is In a very small arc. there's
a. long swoop leading to 1. and long
glide away. Some one shielding his eye,
Ggainst the sun shouted. Here he
Gomes!'
Drop Makes onlOokers Gasp.
The cracking Of the motor suddenly
filled the air. Down came Niles in line
not more than 30 degrees on the perpen'
dcular. Suddenly ne stopped falling and
swept into level position and an insta n,
later his machine was pointing straight
toward the sun But he didn't finish the
aoUp.
All the people below knew was that tn,
sound Of tho motor stopped They had
just time to grasp that Niles his nose
pointing heavenwavd, was falling like 3
shot when the sunshine cleaned on the
tail and wings OF the plane and II riHhtet
itself at the touch OF the man IN II. A
second later it was seen that he was goinl
70 try IL again.
The machine ate up half "A hundred
more of the precious Feet between II :nc
earth on an almost vertical glide down.
ward. Again tlG roar Of tho motor ceased
and Niles rushed fog the earth head
foremost.
But only for "A second. He turned r
side somersault with a tremendously swif
and graceful Hash OF his wings and right
ing himself c'unc to the horizontal. rock
ing. Then while dangerously near grount
he made his third atteinp. TO loop IN,
loon.
He had no more luck than before, bu
Infinitely more peril, Tho downward dash
the sham turn upward, Il stopping motor
and n back Nip to get on level again LET
him 800 feet above a terrified lot of on
lookc"s. Half OF them had been rIunins
for safety. the others had not run be
cause th"ir mlnds couldn't work half "a,
fast "a Niles could rescue himself thre,