The sun., 1919-09-19
ROHLFS UP S4,61O
FEET, NEW RECORD

officially sealed Paragraph he carried
showed the true altitude and that all
previous altitude records had been
shattered.
Previous to this the unoficial record
OF sS.1S7 feet made last May in France
by Ad1utant Casale Of the French army,
was the ceiling Of the earth. Rohlfs
himself held the American record OF
s0.700 feet
AT a height of about $1,000 feet my
machine dropped about 900 feet" he
said. II could not seem to control II, as
It spun to the right and then to the left.
finally decided that possibly I wasn't
giving her enough gas. AS soon as
opened UP the throttle she righted her
self and we started to climb again.
Il began to use the oxygen tanks
about 10000 feet up. If the oxygen had
failed for a second would have been
done for. I made the greatest altitude
after climbing seventy-eight minutes,
and maintained that altitude for about
twenty minutes. could get no higher.
Nothing unusual happened to me ex-
cept that my teeth ache this time as
they did on the other trips. A peculiar
thing / noticed this time was a sort OF
nervous twitching on my body where
have scars as the result of burns I re-
ceived several years ago. These began
" pun anu WHICH. Inis ihSteu quite
while.
1.-THE temperature this time was one
degree higher than that found last
Saturday. The Thermometer dropped
only to 48 degrees below zero this time.
I cannot say too much in praise of my
head mechanic, Wally Baugh. be-
lieve he is one of the best, IL not the
best, motor mechanics In this country"
The official Paragraph was examined
by Augustus Post, secretary Of the Aero
Club of America, and by other wit
nesses. 1t was then signed by Mr.. Post.
Prof. G. L. Poore Of Columbia Univer-
sity. Sydney 5. Welt, honorary secretary
of foreign service of the Aero Club Col.
John d. Carmody. Major r. B. Lyon.
Major Henry J. Miller and by Rohlfs
himself. 1t will be sent to the Bureau of
Standards in Washington for examina-
ton to determine its accuracy.
Pressed further by the spectators,
greedy for details about this invasion
into space. Rohlfs said he made the first
5000 feet in ten minutes. The succeed
ing thousands were increasingly difficult
of course. for not only did the rarefied
air fall to give the propeller the grip"
1t has at sea level, but the same air In
the carburetor did not give the motor
the power It had at sea level. No super
charger, a device for COMPRISING the
air to proper density before injecting It
into the carburetor was used. This device
has been used with much success by
Major r. W. Schroeder. the army test
pilot, in altitude flights at Dayton.
Major Schroeder formerly held the rec
ord, and has announced that he intends
to make another attempt to win 1t back
Rohlfs said that at $4,000 height he
found that the wind which had been
from the east at the beginning of the
flight, was In the west This shift oc-
CURED when the machine had reached
Riverhead. far out on the island. Tho
height record itself was made over Lake
Ronkonkoma.
A peculiar feature OF high flying is
| that, dull stomach ache, lasting ten
Gays or more. results. The pilot has not
yet recovered from this effect Of last
Saturdays flight and did not relish the
double dose. His mouth and nose were
extremely dry from breathing the
oxygen. and his teeth ached when he put
them together
The Wasp triplane In which the record
was made holds also a record of 16s
miles an hour speed. It Is equipped
| with a 400 horsepower Curtiss motor.
Thirty gallons Of gasolene and Ave Of
oil were carried. Off1cials of the Curtiss
company. including Frank II. Russell.
president: W. w. Mountain and c. N.
Keyes, were quick TO praise the pilot as
well as the machine. Rohlfs has been a
| test pilot for three years and IS 20 years
old.