New-York tribune., 1919-10-12
Wins
First Half of
Big Air Race
Continued from page 1

and later held up at one of the control
stations by bad weather. Maynard was
continuing his remarkable flight under
perfect conditions.
With Ss1 miles to go, Lieutenant
Maynard. took off from Salduro, Utah,
at 6:47:55 o'clock yesterday morning.
Both he and his observer. Second Lieu
tenant Walter +. Richards, were conf
dent of success, and declared positively
they would lunch in San Francisco.
Even Maynard's police dog Trixie
wagged its tail vigorously as though
appreciating all that lay upon this mo-
mentous leg of the great flight.
From then on his progress was per-
feet. At S:i3 he landed at Battle
Mountain, New. Two hours and seven
minutes later he brought the wheels Of
his machine upon the ground at Reno
New. Here he had the misfortune
to lose nineteen minutes through in
ability to locate the field.
Six times he circled the most famous
divorce city in the world before he
espied the official landing field chosen
by the United States Air Service for
the race. Immediately he set about
the task OF tillng his fuel tanks to
the last ounce of their capacity, be-
cause there now faced him the most
serou1 task of his entire flight.
Crosses Sierra Nevadas
Right before him lowered the giant
Sierra Nevadas, their peaks rising
sheer into the skies 5000 feet. To
safely cross them he had to drive his
machine to an altitude of 900 feet,
where terrific head winds sweep across
the giant ridges.
In half an hour to the second May
nard took off from Reno. He was not
losing q second at any of the controls.
He circled quickly to a tremendous
altitude and then started off straight
across the mountain peaks.
At terrific speed he tore across the
mountains, ard descended to Mather
Field, Sacramento Cal, at 1:49:59
O'clock. Now there was but seventy
miles between him and victory, with
perfect flying weather facing him, with
had already covered 2,625 miles in
"a hours minutes 48i2 seconds or an
average of 1895 miles an hour.
1t was 1925 p. m before Maynard
got away from Mather Field, but the
head winds he encountered brought his
speed down to the average of 96 miles
an hour for the seventy-fve- mile flight
He landed at San Francisco at :12:07
p. m.
May Win Three Prizes
But for the head winds encountered
on the last leg of the flight he would
have maintained an average speed of
about l10 miles an hour for the entire
transcontnental flight.
BY his remarkable performance
Lieutenant Maynard stands good
chance OF winning no less than three
FIRST prizes. He has already won one
first prize without any doubt This is
the prize for the first contestant to ar
rive at the hnal station IN the trans
continental flight
Until the actual flying time of Major
Spatz and Lieutenant Kiel can be COM
puted, it is in doubt as to which Of
the three actually made the fastest
flight across the continent. The third
prize that Maynard has a chance to
win is that TO be awarded for all
round efficiency.
Although all the contestants must
fly back across the continent to their
original places to complete the race,
Lieutenant Maynard now has a dis
tinct advantage over all competitors.
The route from San Francisco to Min
cola has the advantage of prevailing
winds. These winds have been in IA
vor Of Major Spatz and Lieutenant
Kiei, and they were unable to beat
LleuseHdHt Nay udlN. OoHilhR UaCh
they will have to race against head
winds. while he will have the wind on
his tail.
Is Eastbound Race Spectacular
While Lieutenant Maynard won the
first flight across the continent. the
race between Major Spatz and Lieu
tenant kei was the most spectacular
In all aerial races. Ever since they
left Cheyenne. Wyo., these two con-
testa1ts have been running neck
and-neck race. They landed at Min
cola with only twenty seconds between
them
Captain Lowell H. Smith, who led
the eastbound competitors un to yes
terday morning and was running
neck-and- neck race with Spatz and
Kiel, met with misfortune just outside
Cleveland yesterday.
In the desperate race between the
three he was the first to get away from
Bryan, Ohio, yesterday morning, taking
off at 6:41 a. m. He was followed by
Major Spatz and Lieutenant Kiel, who
took off together at 6:48 a. m.
All three ran into a heavy rain i'm
mediately after leaving Bryan, and
Captain Smith lost his way. He had
actually reached Cleveland, the next
stop, at 1850 a. M. and circled over
the town. In the heavy rain he was
unable to locate the landing field, and
he landed in the vicinity of the mail
plane field at Woodland Hills Avenue,
seven miles south.
Smiths Machine Injured
In landing Captain Smiths machine
struck a ditch and turned comnletely