The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-17

if the winning aeroplane is made en- trely in British territory.
 Big Names on Idst.
 By the Auto Car, an English pub lication, g, 800 to the Daily Mail win ! ner if the engine is made in Great :: Britain.
 The Aero Club of America consid- 1 cred offering a prize of $50, 900 to the | winner, but hesitated when it was found that Iloyds, the great insur- l ance concern, would not take the risk l Of losing at any premiun---in short, | would not bet against the flight be- 1 ing made. Lloyd's took the position | that not only Is the cross-ocean pas- sage perfectly feasible but certain 10 be accomplished. The Aero Club does, | however, promise prize of s10,000 in | Liberty Bonds.
 A bill offered in Congress last June | had for its purpose the increase of the financial rewards of success by the offer of another s5O,O00 prize, but the bill failed of passage.
 It will be seen, therefore, that the daring fier who wins stands to get back more than expenses for his trouble. But after all the money end is subsidiary. Fame has always been and always will be the great tncen- IAsS OI yOUtulu LII outrage
 Offered a year and a quarter before the war started, it is interesting now to scan the list of entrants for the big London Daily Mail prize in 1913. The principal one on this side of the water WAS Rodman Wanamaker, whose plans for competing were seri- ous and well-considered. He retained Glenn H. Curtiss to build his craft and Curtiss had the America, a big cruiser with a wing spread of 100 feet, well under way when war came on. The airship was then drafted for military service. So far as is known, MT. Wanamaker's entry still stands although it does not appear that he i is just now engaged on any plans to prosecute the attempt.
 ! It was a dirigible, not a heavier than-air machine, in which Walter Wellman, journalist and explorer, and four companions set sail for Europe from Atlantic City on a wind1ess morning in October, 1910. Their craf. carried 340 600 cubic feet of gas, was expected to make 15 knots an hour and with favoring circumstances was to have reached Europe in eight to ten days.
 By nightfall of the next day, We'll man was over Nantucket, driving ! ahead of a favoring wind with motors idle. That night, however disaster came on the wings of a northwest gale.
 l For two days thereafter the world was in ignorance of the fate of the airship America and her crew Then one night came a wireless message from the Royal Mail steamship Trent telling of failure.
 The gale into which the America had run drove the big gasbag south ward 455 miles until, off. Cape Hat teras, the gallant navigators of the air were forced to take to their boat The equilibrator, a device of cables suspended from the dirigible, with tanks of gasoline attached to them which had been relied on to steady the airship, proved the greatest dan ger the navigators encountered. When the men took to their life boat the equilibrator, flashing madly to and fro. threatened their lives and stove a hole in their boat although, fortunately, above the water Iine The Trent came along in the nick of time to pick them up and the America was abandoned to the gale.
 Thus ended the one actual trans Atlantic attempt thus far. In the eight years since then the dirigibIe has undergone wonderful improve ment, and the progress in airplaing has been even greater. What type of machine will attempt and accomplish the fight? What are the principal difficulties to take into consideration |? And what route will be followed? In answer to the first question: it may be said that there are now in this country four standard flying ma chimes, capable of being altered so as fa1I t0 fol,
 are the All-American, designed and constructed Navy N-C-1, the Glenn L. Martin bomber, the American modified Randley-Page of Great Britain, and the Caproni triplane. All of these types are to be shown at the aeronautical exposition in this city the first two of March. A member of the Manufacturers Aircraft Asso- citation gives the following analysis of the type of flying machine likely to win successi
 This One Should Win.
 A machine in which the dead load of the hull and panels, &c., will con- stitute at a minimum about 35 per cent of the gross load of the machine in its initial condition; a maximum load in gasoline averaging about 50 per cent. of the total load.
 If the element of time be eIini- mated from consideration" he said
 "the problem of maximum range 1 becomes one of determining the maximum economic ve1ocity-that is. the hours necessary for flight at which speed the greatest range can be covered-and the hours available for flight. The maximum economic velocity is that at which the motors will consume the economic amount of gasoline for distance GOV cred.
 | Taking the present designs as a basis of comparison and computa ton, 1 the maximum range can easily be computed at 1875 miles. The dis tance between Newfoundland and Ire land is roughly 2,O00 miles. A ma chine of the F-5-L type would just be able to cover the flying distance if supplied with gasoline amounting to 50 per cent. of it's total gross load, and if highly motored.
 Newfound and to Ireland. In considering the question of route it may as well be conceded that the . l flight will he made via NeWfOuOd land