The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-08-09
AVIATOR, $4,000
FEET Up, FORCED
Down BY COLD
Zero Weather Found by New
York Man on Top Level of
Earth's Atmosphere.

An altitude Of 3o,7oo feet was
reached by Roland Rohlfs, chief test
pilot for the Curtiss Engineering Cor
poration, according to his Paragraph,
in flight from Roosevelt Field re-
Gently
The best previous American record
was that Of Major r. W. Schroeder,
U. s. A, who attained an altitude Of
2S,SOO feet in Britishbuilt Bristol
machine, Sept. 10, last year. The
worlds record is claimed in behalf of
Adjutant Casale, Frenchman. who
was reported last month to have
reached height of 1886 feet.
After the flight of Rohlfs the baro-
graph was signed by the Official wit.
nesses and sent to the Aero Club Of
America to be corrected and authenti-
Gated. 1t may stand as the official
worlds altitude record.
Rohlfs found himself In a tempera.
ture Of 25 degrees below zero with a
wind blowing 100 miles an hour. when
he reached the top Of his climb of
nearly six miles. The cold kept caus.
ing trouble with his engine. He cut
up the pillow of his seat and tried to
use the stuffing to protect parts Of
the engine from the cold, but this was
blown away as fast as he put it in
place.
He climbed out on his machine
to cut water pipe when he thought
that cold water from the pipe was
helping to chill the engine but found it
difficult to ramble about his machine
when 1t was at height considerably
greater than the summit Of Mount
Everett, and finally had to start down.
ward without achieving the record
credited to Casale. He said afterward
that he believed he could have beaten
Casa'e's record If the engine had been
little better protected against cold.
Air Too Thin. t
The oxygen which the pilot
breathed when SO high that the air
was too thin to sustain life of itself
was almost exhausted when he had
finished with his desperate attempts
to keep frost from invading the en-.
CINE, and he had no assurance of keep
ing life in his body II he continued
his efforts to a few thousand feet
higher through the arctic Billiards he
found at this height. During part Of
the flight he was forced to work his
gasoline pump by hand. He was pro.
tected by heavy furlined suit, with
his face completely covered by a hood
with inset goggles.
Rohlfs flew Curtiss Wasp biplane
equipped with a twelve-cylinder 400
horsepower Kirkham motor He tried
out the climbing powers Of the ma.
chine two weeks ago in an unofficial
flight. in which he reported reaching
a height of $1,000 feet. Numerous wit
nesses were called yesterday to make
the flight official. and the barograp phi
was signed by Major J. E. Roessel,
Major H. F. Miller, Lieut.. Col. w. L.
Moose, Jr., Captain A. F. Simonin
Colonel Archie Miller, Augustus Post.
on behalf of the Aero Club of Amer
lea; John T. Tarbox, Secretary of the
Aero Club of America, and the pilot
himself.
Machine Small One.
The Paragraph record will be ex-
haustively examined by air experts
and athematicians. to fig the official
figures of the height. 1t was said
that study of the record might result
in placing the exact altitude achieved
anywhere between 3O,400 and $1,000
feet.
Rohlfs machine weighed 1900
pounds. 1t had wing span of thirty
two feet and half an inch and was
twenty-three feet over all in length.
It was intended for use in the war as
a twoplace machine-gun fighting
plane, but it was not ready before the
armistice was signed.
Rohlfs will make another fight
soon, when. with further protection
for his engine, he hopes to ascend
$4,000 feet.