Evening star., 1920-05-14
AIR TOURNAMENT
OPENING MARKED
BY RECORD FLIGHT

Lieut.. Fred Nelson Com
p|etes 133-MiIe Trip in
So Minutes.
| Cloudy skies and brisk wind
| failed to interfere to any considerable
| extent with the opening of the frst
! annual Army air tournament at Boil
| ing Field today. and aircraft from the
aerial navics of a half dozen different
countries representing every type
made famous during the great war.
roared up into the clouds, in charge
| of skilled American pilots.
! flown at the beginning of the after
noon program. and the second heat
will follow later in the day. The
! winners OF these two events will
compete in the finals tomorrow.
The finish of record flight by Lieut..
| Fred Nelson from Middletown. Pa,
where the aviation general supply depot
! is ocated. marked the close of the morn
! ing program. The distance of 1873 miles
was covered by Lieut.. Nelson in fifty
Eine minutes. His machine was a Ger
| man fokker equipped with 160-horse-
power Mercedes motor This plane was
one of those surrendered to the allies by
| the Germans under the terms of the
armistice of November H. 1918.
The big Handley Page bomber, carry
| ing crew of dozen men. left the field
at College Park. Md, early in the after
noon and expected to land at Boiling
Field within an hour.
Rain and wind are delaying the fight
Of Maj. Rudolph Schroeder. holder of the
worlds altitude record. from Dayton.
| Ohio. to Washington. but his arrival
here during the course of the tourna-
| ment is regarded as certain.
Two Big Features.
Two events Of especial interest on
! the afternoon program are the aero
batic exhibition in which nine
aviators will demonstrate the flying
tricks used by military aviators in air
| battles, and the mimic air battle. in
which Lieut. Col. c. f. Hartney will
oppose Lieut.. p. H. Logan and Lieut..
| +. 0. Carroll will oppose Lieut.. G. Z.
Haynes. The judges in this latter
event will be Col w. c. kilner. Maj.
G. Fl. Brett and Maj. Maxwell Kirby.
The first aerial event today was the
maneuvering of five planes in the air,
directed by wireles telephone, an ap
paratus in the ground picking up the
sound waves and magnifying them so
that the spectators in the reviewing
were given by Lieut.. J. A. Adams, in
command of the formation. the other
flyers taking part being Lieuts. Lotha
Smith. Lyman Patterson. Leo F. Post
used in this demonstration is the in
vention of Col. &. &. Culver and is
ingeniously arranged SO that the
speakers voice is registered perfect
ly. but the noise Of his motor is shut
out from the tranSmitter
An added feature of the morning was
an exhibition of daring flying by Brig
Gen. William Mitchell, chief of train
ing operations in the air service
Loops. Immelmann turns. barrel rolls
and II the other devices of the skilled
airman to elude his enemies were
shown by this aviator, one of the few
general officers in the Army who is
practical flyer. His machine was
a Vought. with rated speed of ia
miles per hour. and the latest type of
training plane being used by the
! American Army.
Among the dozens of machines be-
ing flown and exhibited none is at
tracing more attention than the
mediately in front Of the reviewing
| stand. 1t is known as torpedo
| plane" and carries beneath the fuse
| lade a Whitehead torpedo with 200
! pounds of T n T. in the head. The
| machine is equipped with two 400
horsepower liberty motors and has
| wing spread of ninety-two feet
Machine guns are mounted on it SO
| that it can fire fore and aft or above
or below.
| A battered machine of much the
I same type on view is the Martin
| bomber which was flown around the
! rim of the United States by Col
| Rutherford Hartz. 1t shows the re-
suits of wear and tear, but is still in
| serviceable condition.
! The fastest machine at the field is a
| Bristol F-2B. equipped with Rolls
! Royce engine Of 250 horsepower
! which has developed a speed Of 210
| miles per hour.
To Repeat Program Tomorrow.
All of the features of today's pro-
gram will be repeated tomorrow, in
addition to which Mai. Martin F.. Scan
Ion. commanding officer of Boiling
Field, has arranged a special feature
for pm, when number of pursuit
planes will make an attack upon the
observation balloon. The planes to be
used are of the single scatter pursuit
type and are noted for speed and
fmaneuvering ability. These planes
will hide in the sun and suddenly dive
upon the balloon and attack from
three sides. Immediately after the at
tack has been started the three OBJ
servers in the basket wilt telephone
down to the ground crew to haul the
balloon down and the observers will
jump from the baskets in parachutes.
On the way down the officers in the
pursuit planes. This is one of the
! favorite tricks that was performed
by the Germans overseas, but 1t has
always been considered a difficult
l matter u snoOI dH oUSeTtcF WIN Is
swinging around in a parachute on
his way to earth. One of the inter-
esting features in connection with
this attack will be the maneuvering
of the balloon after attack by the
ground crew of the balloon company
and hauling it down. This is accom-
plished by means of large motor
truck which has mounted thereon
motor winch
Another spectacular feat tomorrow
will be performed by Lieut.. A. II.
Scott, who will leap from a De Havi-
land plane 1000 feet in the air over
the Washington Monument, effecting
a landing by means of a parachute.
Persons wishing to go to Boiling
Field by street car should take any
car going to Anacostia, Congress
Heights or the steel plant and get off
at Howard road. where motor trucks
will take them to the field. half a
mile distant, free Of charge. The
trucks were not in service this morn
ing but assurances were given that
they would be running before the day