Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-08-28
ELEVEN AMERICAN
ENTRANTS FINISH
Large Crowds Cheer Aviators
As They Complete lO0O-Mile
Flight Of the First Interna-
tional Air Derby
TWO AIRMEN MISSING
II Is Feared II. T.. Slater, Pilot. and
Sergeant Strickland, Observer In de
Ha,iIand Plane Game Down in Lake
Ontario and Pcrished

Mineola, n. Y. Aug. 27.-Eleven Amer
lean entrants in the international aerial
derby had completed the 1,o0O mile flight
to Toronto and returne when darkness and
storms on the route from Albany put an
end to further arrivals at Roosevelt
Field tonight. Eight arrived between $50
and eight o'clock.
y large crowd of spectators We're on
hand and cheered Justify as each new
arrival down out of the clouds and made
a perfect landing
he following fyer'rs arrived late to-
day:
Lieutenant Z. II. Logan in a La Pere
machine. 5:51 p. m
Captain II. E. Chandler, JN-4 II, 6:52
p M
Colonel G.. c. Brandt, DH-4 7:25 p. m.
Lieutenant-Co Colonel II. Il. Hartley, 7:34
p. m.
Major A. p. Gilkeson, Curtis JN4 II.
S:O5 y. m.
Earlier in the day three other Amer
lean niers had complcterd the round
trip, and with the two arrivals Of yester-
day the total now stand at II. No reports
had been received by officials here Of the
number of f!ers completing the trip at
the oronto end T
The fiers arriving earlier in the day
were
I Lieutenant Robert II. Mdkiff, DH4.
! landed at 11:20 a. m.
| Captain a. r. Simonin, DH-4, landed at
! IA n. m.
! Lieutenant w. c. Brown. landed at
| 11:50 a.
Lieutenant Fl. NJ. George also complet-
ed round trip to Toronto landing at
| 7:37 but as he was dissatisfied with the
! l. 1irrt,t 70 tn
he re-entred there and must return to
| Toronto 10 complete his flight. He will
start on his return flight in the morn
| ing he has repaired damage to his ma
chine caused by the wind.
| Captain r. Honsigner. flying a DH-4
became lost in the darkness on his flight
! from Albany, and landed a Farmingdale
| y. Y. at $50 tonight. Motor trucks
! were sent out to bring In his machine
which was slightly damaged He and his
mechanician were not injured.
Several of the machines which landed
here We're storm battered that they
will require extensive repairs. The
fliers reported heavy squalls Of rain and
headwinds in the way from Albany. The
winds being so strong that In several
cases fabric was torn from the wings OF
the machines. One flier, Colonel Hart
ley was forced to land at Cornell y. Y.
Buffalo. y. Y, Aug. ELL +. Slater.
pilot, Sergeant Strickland, observer. and
their De Haviland plane. No. 30, in the
International aviation derby, are missing
tonight and grave fears were entertained
by flight officials here that they came
down in Lake Ontario this afternoon and
perished.
Safer on the last lap of his derby
flight left here at 12;i7 p. m. No direct
word has since been heard of him al
though all of New York State south OF
the lake and the northern shore on both
sides Of Toronto have been covered a.
thoroughly as telegraph and telephone
connections would permit Lifeboats were
also sent out from Toronto and Niagara
on-the-Lake but their search, too wa
fruitless.
I'VE fear the worst" said D. L. VIII
llams. representative of the American
Flying club at Curtiss fed tonight.
The final effort TO locate Slater and
: his plane was made by Captain H. w
5 Cook. who arrived in mid-afternoon from
Syracuse and was due to finish his derb
= flight to Toronto this evening. Upor
learning that Slater was missing Captain
Cook gave up his schedule and starte
on "A scouting expedition with his Fokke
iM1cnlnt. lie reported from NeW13ne TO-
l night that he spent two hours over Lake
5 Erie flying east and west across tn
regular course but saw nothing of Slater
The only clue Of Slater's where
ahouts was furnished by Bert Acosts
who with Roland Rohlfs returnel
: from Toronto at o'clock after com
pletinG their course in the Derby.
3 Acosta said that over Port Dalhousie,
4 on the south shore Of Lake Ontario
he saw a De Haviland plane. His at
r tention was attracted to il by the fact
2 that it was flying from west to east.
I at right angles with the Toronto
Buffalo course. Acosta did not know
l at that time that Slater was missing
l and paid little heed to the De Havi-
o land except to note it's unusual coura'
I The big Caproni piloted by Lieuten-
| ant Melville and a crew of four wa
forced down near Batavia this after
I noon and was on the ground for fou
\ hours making repairs. Melville
t brought the Caproni into Curtiss fel
$ at six o'clock.
Lieut., n. c, Kirkpatrick met with a
G mishap on the landing field to-day. \
sudden gust OF wind tilted his ma
$ chine up on it's nose, while the pre-
e peller was still spinning and the
blades were smashed. The engine wa
not damaged and kirkpatrick re
. sumed his flight after getting a new
{ set of propeller blades.