Evening star., 1919-04-27
Four in F-5 Type Machine,
Driven by Two 400 Horse
power Liberty Motors.
NEGOTIATES 1850 MILES
IN HAMPTON ROADS FEAT
Officers Figure Time It Was up"
Is Sufficient for Transatlantic
Flight.

propelled by. two liberty motors of
400 horsepower each and carrying
crew of four men, remained in the
air at the Hampton roads naval base
for twenty hours and ten minutes
Friday, establishing what naval Off
cials said last night was a worlds
record for seaplanes. The machine
covered a distance of about 1880
miles, averaging little more than
sixty miles an hour, despite the fact
that a gale of from twenty to thirty
miles was blowing.
Twenty hours is the time officers
here have estimated will be necessary
for the three naval seaplanes to
make the transatlantic fight from
Newfoundland to Ireland if direct
route finally is decided upon. and
they said that as the machine max
ing the record at Norfolk is much
smaller than those to go overseas,
Fridays performance augurs we'll for
the success of the attempt to cross
the ocean.
overocean Trip Is l 800 Miles.
The distance from Newfoundland to
ireland is slightly more than 1900
miles, but the planes to be taken over
seas under Commander John H.
Towers are capable of faster speed
than those of the F-5 type. Their
cruising speed proba ably will be about
seventy miles an hour, salthough it is
admitted that this will be governed
largely by the direction and velocity
Of the wind.
Officers manning the machine which
esta abltshed the new record Friday
were Lieut.. Commander H. B. Grow.
of the Regular Navy. and Ensisns H.
8. Souther., D. Thomas and r. Irvine
of the Naval Reserve Force. So farzs
could be learned last night, none of
these men has been selected for the
transatlantic. flight.
Capt. Noble E. Irwin, director of
naval aviation, said last night that
the record made by Commander Crows
plane had only once been exceeded by
heavier-than-air machine, a German
airplane having remained in the air
for longer period just before the
great war began. The previous rec
ord for American naval seaplanes was
about ten hours, it was said
Capt. Irwin declared that frequent
efforts are made by naval aviators to
better the Navy endurance records,
and that the fight of this machine
had no particular reference to the
transa tlantic flight
Route Not Yet Decided On
Officials still maintained last night
that the route of the transatlantic
flight had not been definitely decided
upon, but in some quarters the belief
was expressed that the seaplane fleet
would fly direct to Ireland, both be-
cause the distance is shorter and be-
cause the prevailing winds are in that
direction during the month of May
Should the machines go via the
Azores they probably would be twen-
ty hours in getting there from New
foundland. They would stop at the
islands for fuel and then continue
on to Ireland. This route is several
hundred miles longer than the direct
one
Naval orders published yesterday
disclosed that Lieut.. Walter Hinton,
now attached to the air station at
Rockaway Beach. l. l., has been Sc
lected as one of the crew to man
the overs cas- planes. Lieut.. Hinton
enlisted in the Navy September "a,
1917, and only recently was promoted
to his present grade. His home is in
Ohio.
1t also became known yesterday
that Lieut.. Elmer F. Stone of the
coast guard, who has been assisting
with PREPARATIONS of plans for the
flight, will be among those to make
the journey to Europe. He went to
Newfoundland with Lieut.. Commander
p N. l.. Bellinger On the destroyer
Barney early this month to locate a
starting place for the transatlantic
fight.