The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-09-19
ROHLFS BREAKS
THE RECORD FOR
HIGH FLYING
Aviator Reaches Height of
34,610 Feet
FALLS SIX HUNDRED FEET
Rohlfs Says He Is Through with High
'FIying--Glad TO be Back
On Earth

New York, Sept. i3-Fiying his Cur
It's Wasp" type triplane, with a 70
cylinder 4OO-horsepower Curtiss mo-
! tor, Roland Rohlfs, test pilot for the
Curtis Airplane and Motor Company,
yesterday broke the worlds altitude
record. when, at Roosevelt Field, he
reached the height of 34,61O feet, or
more than six and one-half miles
above sea level. Last Saturday he
had come within nearly 400 feet of
this mark, but the flight was not Off
cial.
The previous record was 33,137
feet. made last May at villa Coublay,
France, by Adjutant Casale Of the
French Army.
Every precaution was taken yester-
day to make sure that all official re
uuirements for a record were observ-
ed. A committee repre- senting the
Aero Club of America composed of
Augustus Post, Secretary of the club;
sydney B. Veit, and Professor c. L.
Poore, Professor OF Celestial Mechan-
les at Columbia University, were pres
ent. The army was unotficially repre-
sented by Colonel John d. Carmody,
in command at Roosevelt Field; Ma
jor e. B. Lyons, in charge of flying at
Mitchell Field, and Major Henry F.
Miller.
Rohlfs left the ground at 1906
o'clock and landed within twenty feet
of his takeoff at 1.59 The first per
son to run to greet him was his wife
She threw her arms around his neck
and kissed him while he was still in
the pilot seat
What did You do?" she asked.
This time think | have don't 1t, F"
he answered, as hestepped out and
handed the sealed barograph to Mr.
Post When the latter called out that
the instrument showed a new worlds
record the onloOkers cheered. The
barograph was then resealed by the
Aero Club committee 1t will be ship
ped to Washington where it will be
calibrated by the Bureau OF Stand
ards and subjected to the most detil-
cd and exhaustive analysis and test
ing. Until the result of this eXamin-
alton is given out, the reading viii
not be recorded by the Aero Club as
absolutely official.
Bohlfs looked happy when he step
ped from his machine He wore a
suit of fur-lned clothing, and heavy
'elt mittens made by himself from ma
terial half an inch thick OF the
flight. he said;
"At 10000 feet, trouble began, ! had |
TO call on by oxygen bottle. This feeds
lir to my lungs through device |
something like a football nose guard |
At first / tried drawing it in through !
the nose and mouth. nut this dried my |
hroat and | had to shut my mouth |
md breathed through the uose alone. |
# anything had happened TO this oXy-
gen apparatus / would have been a |
'goner.
at 81 900 feet the plane began to
wobble in a way that frankly fright
ened me. 1t careened this way and |
that. and while doing 50 dropped 600 |
feet threw on more power and up
It went again." tThe barograph |
markings showed the fall plainly)
when | reached the peak the ther
mometer showed fortythree degrees
below zero. 1t took seyenty-eight
minutes to get this high and Ispent
another twenty minutes trying to
make the plane rise stin higher /
used every trick knew. but could not
coax another foot of altitude out of it.
I believe | attained the absolute top
possible in this machine.
Il am through with high flying for
the present and | am mighty glad my
feet are planted on the earth when
say it. / noticed severel peculiar
things up there. Near the top felt
nervous twitchings in parts of my
body. These we're at several scars
left by an automobile accident sever
al years ago. After my two other
high fights my teeth ached severely
and also my stomach I guess | can
count on the aches lasting about ten
days more. They lasted that long
when went above 10000 feet be-