Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-09-04
10000 PERSONS SEE
LONDON ARR PAGEANT
King and Queen Witness
Thrilling Even, at English
Airdromc.
RECEIPTS ESTIMATED AT so.ao
Perfect Rcnlism Is Furnished In De-
structiou of Kite DniIoon-unluue
Exhibition OF "CrnEyo Flying md
Stunt Performing.


LONDON. Sept. 3.-The n. A. +.
pageant. recently held at the London
Airdrome. Hcndon. was a brilliant
success. The receipts are cstima ted
at about $4,000. representing an at
tendance OF about $4,000 people In Tn.
grounds. Including the people who
were conEreSated outside of the air
dromc. 1t Is estimated that nearly
100000 people witnessed tho pageant.
The King and Queen. Queen Alex
andra, the Duke Of York. AMI Prince
Henry were among those present
Tho day was an excellen. one 70.
dying. particularly from the poin: of
view of the spectator. for, although
no rain fell. the sky was often over
cast state OF affairs which makes
II far easier to witness the cvoiutions
OF aircraft than when they arc per-
forming In tho dazzling sunshine.
There were sixteen events i'm all.
and every one was well executed.
The handicap race was "a good lesson
In the matter OF speed OF present
day planes, for a IIandlcy-Page. with
Ave minutes start. was bad last
over a course Of twelve miles against
ncld of eight starters. The winner.
on Snipe. with one minute start.
WAS five seconds ahead OF the scratch
Nighthawk, which came in third.
a very good exhibition of crazy
nying was given by Flight Licutcn-
an. j. Noakes. a. +. c.. 81. NJ. on
vivid rcd Avro. He did just about
everything on his machine that was
guaranteed to be dangerous. He
twisted and turned about near the
ground. practically stopped in the air.
fell sideways. backwards and in fact.
II was hard TO find anything crazy
he could not do.
tho destruction of kite balloon.
From formation Of Ave Snipcs far
overhead, one came tumbiing doYn.
as III by accident. and then with
wild swooD IL darted towards Nv.
balloon. There was cracklc Of
firing. and out from the balloon came
tho observer in his parachute--a dunn
my. be Il said. Another assault on
the balloon. and 1t burst into red
flames that licked it's sides and spread
until 10000 cubic feet of hydrogen
were ablaze and falling. with a long
trail Of dense black smoke behind.
The bombing OF an enemy village
was tho best Item for excitement.
The village had been built up. OF
Handlcy-Page's scrap and very
clevcrly contrivcd village IL was-
houses OF different sizes. streets. and
big church. and real men and
pr0ach OF the bombing squadron tho
people fed some OF them failing VIC
tins to the bombs. Heavy bombs fell
in the village and blew up some OF
the buildings, starting nrcs. Then
the formation returned and completed
it's work. and the whole village was
in a blaze.
Two remarkable and impressive dis
plays Of closc-formation flying were
al hnr tf,l
formanccs OF the day. First came
formation OF Ave Sopwith "Snipes"
from the central flying school, and
the FIRST point they scored was the
extraordinary quick Eet-ofr No soon
or had they started than they were
in the air. climbing stccply together
and maintaining perfect "V'' for
nation throughout. Attaining n suf-
ficicnt height. and wheeling round
past the royal box. they loopcd- the
loop all together. Changing from
"V'' to line. and from line to column.
and displaying pcrfcc; discipline and
machine control the leader zoomed
up as IL TO loop again. but remained
at the top az the loop and flew up
side down In the direction they had
come. One after another followed
suit. until all had their landing
wheels nppcrmost. Then. with one
accord. they rolled half over to the
normal flying position. The other
formation flying was by nine Br!stois.
which left the ground in one perfect
line and suddenly. mt a signal. formed
into column of thrccs past the
King. Then they gave n beautifully
executed series OF mancuvcrs. the for
nation taking up one.after another OF
the accepted orders of aerial battle.
groups OF three. each n small wedge.
finally one big ~" in which order
the whole formation landed fault
leSSly. IT was revelation of what
can he done by squadron of ac-
complished pilots confident In their
mounts and In each other.