Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1919-04-11
nine A|RSHIPS
FOR OCEAN FLIGHT
Eight British and One italian
Machine Will Try for
i. $4,000 Prize.
EXPECT AMERICAN SURPRISE
English Filters Hope to Be Off Before
Americans Reach Newfoundland.
Departure From RockaWay
Beach Not Determined.

London.-Captain G. W. T. Morgan
the assistant pilot and navigator OF
the Martinsyde two scatter biplane en-
tered for the Daily Mail $4,000 trans
atlantic flight prize, has left London
for Liverpool, whence he will board Q
steamship for Newfoundland.
The second week in April should see
at least four competitors ready al
their starting point, and unless Ameri
can enthusiasts have been making
preparations about which nothing is
known /on this side it looks as if the
first attempt to fly the Atlantic will
fall to British airnien:
The contest has interested the most
famous pilots and aeronautical con
structors. Sydney Pickle and Harry
Hawker (both Australians) and L
Raynham were prominent in air navi'
cation before the war, and Major ]. G
P. Wood, who will pilot short Rolls.
Royce biplane, has fine flying record
with the British air force
Captain Morgan, navigator of the
Martinsyde Rolls-Royce biplane, losI
his right leg below the knee in the
war; Morgan says his artificial limE
does not hamper him when. flying. sgd.
ney Pickle, the pilot in Rolls-Royce
biplane, was plotting his motor from
France in a seaplane in July, 1918,
when the engine failed over the chan.
mel, but, refusing the assistance of
steamship, he repaired the engine on
the water and "taxied" into Folke-
stone. Pickle learned to fly in the
Bristol biplane fleet in the earliest
types Of Caudron, Grahame White and
Handley-Page machines. Since then
he has flown nearly every type.
Capt. Arthur Payze, the first British
entrant, who is still working on
Whitehead biplane at Richmond, has
had remarkable escapes. While flying
over the lines in France he was hit on
the head by shrapnel, and fell several
hundred feet before regaining control
of his machine. He was plotting
machine in which the late A. Poyle Of
the Whitehead Aircraft Company car
ried out his fatal experiment with n
parachute and saw the unfortunate
irman fall 1,000sfeet to death.
Major Wood Is probably the young
est airman in the competition, and
he will pilot q short Rolls-Royce BIZ
plane. His early experience was in
the last African campaign, afterward
he was on the Western front, where he
gained the reputation of being a very
stout pilot. He has flown more than
10000 hours in service flights.
Transocean Flight Hinges on Weather
Washington.-While final plans for
the projected transatlantic flight of
naval seaplanes are rapidly taking
form, the officers in charge have not
decided upon even tentative date for
the start. 1t was explained officially
at the Navy department that the de-
parture would be controlled as much
by wind storms current at Newfound-
land as by clear weather.
After the machines reach Newfound-
land from Rockaway Beach they must
have final tuning up and then the
start must be made between storms
which sweep down from the Arctic
every three or four days. The begin
ming of the flight must be so guaged,
it was explained, that the machines
will not overtake one storm as it slows
down before dissipating at sea and yet
will not be caught in a second squalI.
Before jumping off, for the actual
crossing of the ocean the seaplanes
will be called upon to make a longer
voyage than has yet been negotiated
oy naval machines-that from Rock
away Beach to Newfoundland. At
least one stop will be made on this
flight, probably at Halifax, for fuel