Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-10-17
FLYING PARSON
WINS AIR RACE
Lieut.. Maynard Flies From New
York to San Francisco in
% Hours.
spATz and KEEL IN new YORK
"sky Pilot" Says He Attributes His
Success to the Liberty Motor
Didn't Change Spark Plug At
ter Leaving Chicago.

San Francisco, Oct. 14.-F'irst Lieut..
Belvin w Maynard, plotting De Hav-
Hand airplane, leader of the west
bound flyers in the transcontinental
air derby, few in to the Hall of Fame
when he sped across San Francisco
bay and alighted at the Preside at
:23 :07 from Mineola, N. Y.
1t was .unofficially estimated that
Maynard's actual flying time for the
2,70l miles was "A hours So minutes
551a seconds.
Lieutenant Maynard, his observer,
Master Signal Electrician w. e. Klein,
and Trixie. the German police dog who
accompanied them, were all consider
ably weatherbeaten and glad to get
down TO earth again, but in the best
of spirits.
Maynard said weather conditions
were perfect west of Salduro and that
the climb over the Sierra Nevada
mountains was easy.
The flyers were greeted by Lieut..
General Hunter Liggett, commanding
general Of the Western department OF
The army Maj. Gen. c. ]. Menoh0r,
director of the air service; Col. I'll. II.
Arnold commanding officer of the
Western department air service; rep
resentatives of Mayor Rolph, and 9TH
ers.
Describing his remarkable race, May
nard said:
II attribute the success of our flight
to the Liberty motor. 1t certainly has
proved itself We were not forced TO
change any spark plugs after we left
Chicago. We ran almost wide open
most of the way.
although we had plenty of time at
night for sleep, Klein and didn't
sleep much. owing to the roar of the
motor all day. We are still unable to
hear well.
"We reached $4,000 feet crossing
Lake Tahoe, which was the highest al
titude we made. 1t was intensely cold.
Most Of the time we flew at 1900 feet,
where we averaged almost 120 miles.
The only piece of bad luck we had on
tn trip was breaking the radiator at
Cheyenne. which delayed us for half
day.
Crossing the Sferras was not so
bad, although l had visions of being
stranded when we ran into the low,
smoky fog covering the San Francisco
district
1--WE went south of our course in
crossing the bay, but after reaching
the peninsula we picked up the city
Immediately" !.
The flyers were taken to the Palace
hotel, where a luncheon in their fon-
or was given by the Pacific Aero club.
Among those present were Lieutenant
General Liggett, Major General Memo
her, Colonel Arnold and other army
dignitaries.
MineoIa, n Y, Oct 13.-Darting
down in thrilling finish out of a sky
that by minutes was changing from
gray to black, Major Carl Spatz and
Lieut.. Emil c. Kiel, cross continental
flyers from San Francisco, came to
rest on Mitchell field with only sec
onds separating their arrival
It was 6 :35 10 O'Clock when Lieuten-
ant Kiel touched earth. and 6 :35 80
when the De Haviland driven by the
major rested scarcely 100 feet away.
lnefO WAS duulCdDlG ulSpu t0 dl lll0
army flying fields at MineoIa about the
actual winner Of second place in the
race and by agreement Of the princi-
pals and of the officers who acted as
Judges Major Spatz should have the
honor. although he was not first to
aIight at Roosevelt field
Not familiar with the Long Island
fields, the major mistook Hazelhurst
field for his landing spot and dropped
there at 6 81 p. m.
Five transcontinental aviators have
met their deaths in the great air race.
Maj. Fl. D. Crissy and his observer.
Sergt. Virgil Thomas. were instantly
killed when their plane was wrecked
Wednesday at Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sergt. w. H. hewitt, observer for
Col. G. Brandt, died of injuries at DE-
post. N Y
Lieut. Z. V. Wales. flying west.
crashed into mountain near Chey-
enne Wye, in binding snowstorm
Thursday and died later
Worth D. Mcclure. passenger in Maj.
a. L. Sneed's machine, died after the
plane was wrecked yesterday at Cur
tiss field, Buffalo, N. Y.