The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-10-08
Sixty Machines Left New
! York for San Francisco
This Afternoon
NEARLY TWO SCORE
] AT SAN FRANCISCO
Will Cross the Continent and Make Re
turn Trip-Purpose Is to Test Re
liability of Machines and Awaken
Interest in Recruiting for Air Service


MINEOLA, N. Y, Oct. s.-More than
60 machines were lined up on Roose-
welt field today awaiting the signal of
Major General Thomas H. Barry, U.
S. A., which would send them speeding
on their way to San Francisco in the
greatest aviation contest in history. At
the same time nearly two score ma
chimes were in San Francisco ready to
start on the east bound trip. The con
test, which is limited to military await
ors, is for the purpose of testing the
reliability of the planes and stimulating
interest in recruiting for the air serv-
ice. A return fight also will be made
Lieut.. j. v Machle in De Haviland-
four machine equipped with a liberty
motor was the first to get away in the
coast to coast race from Mineola to San
Francisco and return at 9.15 a. m. to-
day. Sergeant j. f. Mcclure accom-
panied him. Prior to the start of the
race Mayor Mitchell, chief of training
and operations, took short flight and
| pronounced the weather conditions al
most perfect. A 15-mile wind was blow
ing and the aviators, he said. would
meet cross winds all the way to Bing-
hamton. Ten machines had left Roose-
welt field by 9.15 a. m, maintaining a
| speed of l20 to $50 miles an hour. An
| eleventh machine, piloted by Lieut. Me
| Donald, was forced to return as a re-
| suit of engine trouble after going a
I oh nr+ Il ,G+. IL q
ing conditions army officials predicted
many of the contestants would reach
Cleveland by night fall
An airplane pilotod by Lieut. Maui
rice Cleary and CARRYING Benedict
| Crowell, assistant secretary of war as
a passenger, fell from a height of $50
feet today and was wrecked. 1t land
ed upside down. Cleary and CroweIl
were badly shaken up but were other
wise unhurt. Cleary and Crowell were
strapped IN the machine but climbed
out unaided a few seconds after the
crash
The assistant secretary of wars first
remark after regaining his feet was:
Il am sorry the ride was so short. 1t
certainly was one of the shortest on
record - The machine had been in
said he would make flight in another
machine later in the day
| The pilot explaining the accident
said the engine stopped and in order to
avoid running into a hangar and in
juring a number of persons he was
forced to turn his machine abruptly
around with the result that it toppled
over.
Ten different types of machines were
represented in the entries and some of
them had seen active service on the
battle front. Three of the planes en-
tered are German Fokker machines,
captured almost intact on the western
front. French, British and Italian ma
chimes are also entered. Most of the
American entries are equipped with the
famous Liberty motor developed by
America during the war and the race
will afford good opportunity to test
its qualities against the best types of
foreign makes.
The foreign entries include Air Com
modore l.. Z. o. Charlton, air attache
of the British embassy, who will fly
Bristol fighting plane that he has
been using III taxi service at Wash
ington, and Captain De Lavargne, air
attache of the French embassy, who is
to fly as a passenger in an American
plane.
Although prizes totalling $4,000 had
been offered by the American flying
club and private individuals for the
winners of the contest, Major General
Charles I. Menoher, chief of the army
air service, has ruled that they could
: not be accepted He announced how
ever, that there would be ratings fol-
three competitions each way. These
include a time competition for the pilot
$ crossing the continent in the shortest
5 time irrespective of stops and actua
: flying time; speed contest for the
II pilot making the trip in the shortesr
S flying time, and handicap competi
tion based on actual flying time, bu
: L --- lCantin, a.. D..