Evening star., 1920-11-26
|U. s. FL|ER GOES
; MILES A MINUTE
Lieut.. Mosley in U. A. Army
Plane Makes Record at
MineoIa.

MINEOLA. November e6-FIying q,
a speed of virtually three miles a min.
ute Lieut.. c. c. Mosley. plotting an
American made Verville-Packard
Army plane. won the first Pulitzer
trophy aeronautical race here yester-
day against a field Of thirty-fouI
starters. He covered the course oi
slightly more than 132 miles. in A
minutes. 29 57-100 seconds, ali aver
age speed of approximately IT'S miles
an hour.
officials of the Aero Club of America
first having estimated the course az
lfo miles in length. announced imme-
diately after the race that Mosley's
average speed was 1884 miles an
hour. new world record However
a careful rescalfng of the official map
showed that the laps were slightly
more than thirty-two miles in length
instead of thirty five. the average
speed on the. corrected length being
cut down ten miles an shour. 1t is
expected that survey of the course
will be made in order that exact COM
putation may be established.
Present Worlds Record.
The present worlds aviation speed
record Is held by Sadi Lecointe, win.
ner of the recent Gordon Bennet,
trophy race in France, who averaged
!s7 miles an hour in a special con-
test at Villa Couslay. near Paris, ten
days after he won the international
trophy. In the Gopdon Bennett race
over course of 1863 miles, Lecointe
averaged slightly more than 1sS miles
an hour. although he had made 174 y
miles an hour in the trials.
Capt. H. L. Hartney, flying an
american Army Thomas Morse ma.
eh,. ehlne. came in second. flying the
course IN ~ minutes and 3.100 sec.
onds; Albert Acosta, a civilian. won
third place with his Italian-made An
saido 5. v. A. machine. His time was
5l minutes 50 62.100 seconds. This
was the only one Of the eleven for
elgn-made machines entered to finish
among the first ten.
Seven Accidents.
Seven machines met with accidents
curing the day and were unable to
hnish, although in no case was the
pilot seriously injured. Just before
the race started. an Army plane. pilot
ed by Lieut.. o. G. Kelly, which had
just alighted after a practice spin
eollided with Navy plane piloted by
Lieut.. J..F. Wolfer, who was about tC
take on. Three Of Kelly's teeth were
Knocked out and Wolfer's hand was
cut.
A. Looming special machine, pilotet
by Lieut.. D. G. Bradley OF the United
states Marine Corps. made q forced
landing within 500 yards Of the finisf
line on the last lap. A water connec.
tion had broken and the plane dropped
to the ground. but the pilot was unin.
Jured. Bradley had covered the frs,
three laps in 81 minutes SO S7-1O0 sec.
conds and was strong contender 70,
second place. when the accident hap.
pened.
Maj. Davenport johnson, L. S. A., in
de Haviland: Lieut.. w. D. Culbert-
SON, U. s. M. c.. in a Curtiss plane
Lieut.. F. A. johnson. Z. 8. A.. in an
s. F.-5. and Lieut.. r. o. Rogers. U
s. M. c.. in a de Haviland. also made
forced landings along the course. be-
cause of engine trouble or other
minor difficulties.
Lieut.. Leigh Wade. L. S. A.; Capt
H. B. Minis, U. s. NJ. c.: Ensign w. j
DAILY. u. 8. NJ. and Lieut.. Commander
w. E. Haviland also failed to finish
Lieut.. L. A. Smith descended, after
covering three laps. having mistaken
the length Of the course. and Willis p
Taylor. a civilian. was disqualified foi
"cuttihg corners" at one Of the turns
Confse Of Race.
= The course was from Mineola to
to Mineola. Owing to northerly
wind. the plan OF having the machines
start In groups Of three to seven and
cross the barrier simultaneously. was
abandoned. The aviators. having to
take Off in the wind, were forced to
make q sharp turn after crossing the
starting mark. Members Of the con-
test committee feared that serious
accidents might happen II several ma
chimes tried to cut corners at the
same time. the outside machine also
being placed at a disadvantage be-
cause Of being forced to make a wider
turn
instead, the machines were sent off
one at q time at intervals OF q few
minutes. Capt. Hartney was the first
to get away, and he had covered two
laps OF the course before the last ma
chine had left the ground. Lieut.
Mosley. the winner. was the last to
power motor. reverberating across the
field and drowning the high pitched
noises made by the machines of most
OF the other contestants.
First Lap Winaer.
The Verville-Packard covered the
first lap in IL minutes 6 7O-1OO sec-
onds, the second in Al minutes 37-100
seconds. the third in II minutes
Z $500 seconds and the fourth in II
minutes 1s 32.1o0 seconds. In order
to demonstrate that his craft had lots
of power left. Mosley circled the
course a fifth time. his last lap being
made in slightly more than II min
utes ~ second.
Two protests are likely to be made
against some Of the winners. Official
timekeepers declared that Albert
vering for position crossed the start
ing line and then circled, crossed
again and started on the course. His
second starting time was the one used
in the official estimates, although II
this is later disallowed and the first
time is used, he probably will be
placed fourth instead Of third.
Members OF the contest committee
also heard unofficially that the plane
piloted by Lieut.. J. P. Roullot. winner
in the de Havilland class, had been
altered, contrary to regulations gov
erning the contest.
10000 See Race.
Ten thousand persons watched the
race from Mitchell Field and adjacent
were gathered along the Long Island
roads and at the two turning points
Gen. Pershing, Secretary OF the Navy
Daniels. Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher
chief Of the Army air service; Brig
Gen. William Mitchell. director of ali
service OpeI6tionS, anu 0rlB. Gen. l.
E. Q. Charlton. British air attache
were among the distinguished guests
occupying seats in the grandstafld,
1t was a great day for the Army
In addition to placing seven of its
men among the frst ten. the Army
won a private fight from the Navy
when representatives Of the enlisted
men of each engaged in q little battle
at fisticuffs before the grandstand. a
sailor was walking past, when he
accidentally knocked of the hat OF
soldier on guard duty, the head
gear falling in a pool Of water. In
stantly the soldier gave battle and
was getting much the better Of the
were separated. Gen. Pershing
laughed with glee as he watched the
narformance but Secretary Danials