Omaha daily bee., 1914-09-03
Entertainment Features Provide Amusement Everybody
Nv Y. A. RARROws.


IElSS1Hi sition this year something as
- a thriller which will exceed
anything ever before seen.
They have engaged Lincoln Beachey. the
man who not only loops the loop in an
aeroplsne, but fles upside down. side.
wise and in every other way. He has
made the birds attempt daring stunts
In their efforts to out-ny the man who
has Invaded their airy domain and has
the audacity TO perform aerial tasks
which they heretofore have not dared
TO attempt. No bird was ever saa,,
flying upside down. yet Lincoln Beachev
will fly upside down in his aeronlane
shooting down and up, to the left and
TO the right, providing OF course that
ne does not get killed attempting his mad
flights before reaching Lincoln.
Just how this reckless daredevil ever
conceived the idea OF flying upside down
ana how he started out in the flying
business is an interesting story as re-
lated by Mr.. Beachey himself:
"hen l was young fellow 10 years
OF age 1 began to study aviation and
gasoline motors That was just thirteen
years ago. lived in San Francisco and
made but little progress until after the
IRE, when l went TO Portland Ore, and
succeeded to get a position with Captain
Baldwin to fly his dirigible. 1 wac sue
cessful from the start and soon came into
great demand among the owners of dirigi-
bles. later building one of my own. with
which made $11,0OO in one year was
engaged to fly my dirigible during the
first aviation meet in Los Angeles. II
was the time Paulhan, the Frenchman
rlew there That gave me my first
glimpse of an aeroplane in flight. | was
astounded at the sight and knew that 1
must take up the aeroplane. The call OF
the sky rang in my ears and heart.
1t took me a full year to induce Glenn
Curtiss to give me a chance. 1 trailed
him from city to city and simply forced
him to take me on as a pupil to get rid
of me- l smashed two machines in two
weeks and he called me aside and told
me was not cut out for a flier and that
he was through with me- But 1 had q
contract and made him give me another
machine, and it was never smashed.
Then became filled with a mad de-
sire to outfly every other man in the
game. I investigated the much talked of
air pockets, vortexes. Swiss cheese holes
and other alibis so dear to the heart of
the novice flier soon found that there
were no such things. 1 learned that the
one thing to master was the knack of
combining thought and action to a SUI
perlative degree. 1 succeeded remarkably
we'll and while giving exhibitions at the
pumpkin fairs and small town carnivals,
/ was getting the experience and prac-
tice necessary to startle other avlators.
I'm July 1911. flew a few feet above
the swirling whirlpool rapids of Niagara
Falls, diving down under the suspension
bridge and into a malstrom Of cross cur
rents which any scientist will declare
impossible to navigate Curtiss threat
ened to fire me.
"A few weeks later I entered the big
Chicago meet. There We're forty OF the
q rreatest nayigators in the world there
TI'eachey was a novice to them. But on
no first windy day. when the rest were
sailing around, I took to the air and
a!led spirais, dives and stunts that
the crowd wild. But I also broke the
worlds altitude record. The officials
ere indignant and ordered me off the
cid. but the public would not stand
~ It and I woke up next morning to
Ind myself the sensation of the day.
Fabulous sums were offered for my
appearance at other meets and a prem
ium to put on my stunts. Then other
avlators tried to emulate my stuff They
did not know that constant practice and
study alone was responsible for my sue
cess. One by one they tumbled out
from the sky, and Daredevil Beachey''
got the credit for their deaths
Il kept at it and invented other tricks
and became sufficiently dextrous enough
10 make an aeroplane fly many ways
that Curtiss and the wrights pronounced
impossible.
"A year ago I built a small tractor
machine in the Curtiss shops and shipped
it to San Diego. / meant TO loop the
loop in IT, but this I kept to myself
One day told Curtiss what was going
TO do. He looked at me pityingly and
shook his head.
g 'Beachy,' says he, I've thought you
knew what you were doing. but If you
really mean that you think 1t possible
!. te loop the loop 1 believe you are crazy
i ahd you can never fly another machine
of mine
He ordered the machine kept out of
my reach and the next day / gave up
flying. I felt hurt that Curtiss had SO
little faith in me. A month later Orville
Wright complimented me on putting
over a lot of good publicity in the way
of fake stories about looping the loop
and he knew il was impossible to per.
form the feat. When / told him that
had been diving vertically, dropping 400
feet during all my exhibitions, for sir
months, and that on three occasions
lad actually flown upside down at a right
angle, he patted me on the shoulder and
said: I'm glad you have quit flying If 4
has affected your head in this manner.