The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-05-31
|Atlantic Flight Recent Dream
War Gave Impetus Building Powerful Machines Tried
Fr-Eyery Great Final Success AvOrs

pcricnCc. which nowadays would be re- |
Card"d as extraordinary accomplish |
m"ntS."
How near that near future was the |
First Lord of the Admiralty did not
realize. \ little more than four years
later. in June 1918. Major General VIII
liam Branckcr. the British air minis
try's Controller of Equipment said ofti-
Cially:
An enterprise which must be car
ricd out as soon rs possible is the flight
across the Atlantic Once this has been
established Americas output or DIG
bombing machines can proceed TO Eu-
rope by air and save the shipping
that is so invaluable for other purposes.
This may seem like n wild statement
bur we must remember that in l'l4 the
flight of the English Channel was con-
sidcrcd a wonderful and dangerous per-
formance. There is really no reason
whv a considerable number Of big air
planes and seaplanes should not cross
the Atlantic during next summer. ana
the earlier that pioneer proves the
flight not only possible but compare
lively safe. the better can the w"hdeFiui
resources OF America be employer 'o-
ward winning the war.
In the next month. July. 1913 despite
z the fact that the war still hung IN
ed it's offer OF $50. 900 for the first hlght
across the Atlantic. with a view 70
speeding I'D the crossing Of the Atlantic.
Although many aviators and aerlal
engineers have planned and deslnSneo
planes sufficiently powerful to carry the
amount OF gasoline needed TO span the
1850 mile gap between Ncwfounoiano
and Ireland or the $500 mile gap De-
tween Newfoundland and the Azores no
out upon the flight before this year.
During the war the world was too busy
lighting to attempt the trip. and before
the war the optimistic brain or an
aviator could not visualize the success
OF the crude planes of that recent oag'
walter wellman's Attempt.
Ono attempt was actually made by
an airship-the dirigible balloon amer
lea. This balloon. which was equipped
with motors and carried 2.OVo gallohs
Of gasoline, was commanded by waiter
UeNman. tho polar explorer and bal
loonist- and had on board Melvin Fanl-
man. an aeronautical engineer, and -FOUR
others. The principal unique feature OF
Tho balloon was an equilibrator or tail
made Of cans OF gasoline linked 10
gcth-r. This TAIL which hoated along
in the water, was designed to compen-
safe for the expansion and contraction
ing degrees Of temperature. Instead, II
proved to act merely as drag which
prevented the balloon from drifting at
any speed
The start on this trip was made from
Atlantic City on the morning or Octo-
Der Is, 1910. For time the nlght
seemed moderately successful. Cndef
favoring wind the balloon drifted nortn-
eastward, passing Nantucket twenty
four hours after the start. Then the
wind changed. the eQuilibrator violently
ierked about and dragged down the
balloon, and It. seemed for time that
the six voyagers would certainly perish,
despite the fact that the dirigible car
ried q lifeboat, The Azores and then
Bermuda was decided on as destlna-
ton. After seventy hours in the air
the steamship Trent was sighted and
appealed to by wireless With great
difficulty tho hfeboat was launched and
the six were rescued at point 80
miles of Norfolk and ESQ miles north
west of Bermuda The America drifted
away in the air forever out Of the ken
Of man after Q fight or drift OF $40
mica
wansurneer Matted BY War.
+, transatlantic navigation languished
thereafter until 1919, when interest was
renewed by the offer on March 81 OF
$50. Oe0 by tho London Daily Mall for a
night by airptane between tho United
States Or Canada and the British isles
within seveuty-two hours. Many avia-
tors picked their routes, some direct
from Newfoundland to Ireland and 9TH
ers by way OF Greenland and Iceland OF
the Azores and Spain An entry was
made by Rodman Wanamaker for Cur
tiss hydroatrplane to be piloted by Lieut..
John Cyril Porte Of the royal navy in
the spring Of the following year. work
on this plane, also called the America,
progressed throughout the spring and
early summer Of 1914 at the Hammonds-
port factory Of Glenn Curdss, but the
war stated before Lieut. Porte. and the
plano itself made the trip to England
tn tho hold Of fretghter for use in tho
British navy.
Two Of tho men Interested IN tina:
projected flight have O prominent place
In the 1913 trials as well. Porte. now
colonel, designed q huge triplane flying
boat for tho British air ministry. Com
u,ant9nr John r. Towers, who was to
have Down with the America as RELIEF
pilot tor Porte, with the-eonsent. of the
navy department, was placed after the
war IN charge Of tho navy preparations
tD rnaEA tho flight with the huge NC
boatA
WHgMSE5 31SDS Long 1nSnH.
Az has been stated, the flight across |
The Atlantic comes not "a sudden
brilliant improvement in the science u
Gv1attcn, but as an expected develop
ment OF an Increasingly important in
dustry winch has been going forward
with n speed which not even the devel- |
opmenf Of Gutpu1ohdtes can rival. In
the two years following their first sue
cess, 1904 and 1905. tho Wrights had
the atr to- themselves. In the fall Of
1905 tho Wright brothers flew a dis
TANGO OF twenty-four miles in thirty
minutes A year later Santos Ou-
mont thrilled AL Europe by making the
first European flight Flying at speed
OF tEenty-Shree miles an hour he trav-
eled thrty-ax miles before coming to
earth again. BIS experiments were con-
Quoted with a cellular airplane, rcsem.
bling a dte, equipped with a forty
horsepower engine He introduced the
use OF wheels for taking off and Land
ing. The wrights had used skids.
In 1907 further progress was made by
Delagrange and Henry Farman. and in
1908 Delesrange flew ten and half
miles In sixteen minutes. and Farmar
made a complete circuit OF one mifA IL
q minute and half. In this same year
another big American figure in aviation.
Glenn Curttss, entered the game ~
winning the Scientific American trophy
with q plane Of his own design in which
he made the first previously announced
public flight Of nearly mile. On IN"
last day-of tho year Orville Wright. who