The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1923-05-10
Air Records

McCook Field, Dayton, O.,-The
worlds airplane speed record-244
miles an hour-is held by Brig. Gen.
William Mitchell.
Worlds altitude record-40,8O0 feet
has been established by Lieutenant
John A. MacReady.
Worlds endurance record-36 hours
minutes and 20 seconds-is held by
MacReady and Lieutenant Oakley
Kelly.
The same two pilots have established
the worlds nonstop distance record
2060 miles.
Lieutenant Lester j. Maitland has
established the worlds one-kilometer
speed record-244.97 miles an hour.
Lieutenant Russell L. Vaughan holds
official speed records for so and 100
kilometers.
Lieutenant Alex Pierson has broken
the French speed record for 500 kilo-
meters by more than one hour while
Lieutenant Harold R. Harris has lop-
ped almost two hours off the previous
French record for 1000 kilometers.
To establish these records and to
bring America into first place among
the nations contending for air SUI
premacy the young record-holding
birdmen-all stationed here = have
continually run the risk Of being kill
ed in mass of tangled wreckage or
of being crippled for life.
To what end?
The present epidemic of record MAX
ing and breaking to some appears fool
ish but the officers of the United
States air service reply by saying that
every fight made and every record
attempted is done to test or prove
some scientific fact.
This is true Of the work going on
at both McCook and>Wilbur Wright
fields.
Value of Records.
Every record made by these men,
who one day will be recognized the
pioneers of the air service, has a pre-
determined military and commercial
value.
In the altitude work, for instance,
it is pointed out that in case Of war
the highest flyer always has dis
tinct advantage over his adversary,
as events on the west front showed
during the world conflict.
Carrying along the same argument
as applied to commercial aviation, It
is claimed there are certain trade
winds at great distance above the
earth of such velocity that trans
continental trip could be reduced to
few hours.
1t is known that when MacReady
attained his ceiling" Gas the highest
point any given machine is capable Of
reaching is known he made observa-
tions of incalculable value to the air
service along these lines.
Speed Trials.
Speed trials have their military and
commercial value as well.
The speed boats, the Martin bomb
ers, the DH-4's and the great Darling
bomber, now in secondary stages Of
assembly are all direct results of the
world race in the science of aviation.
The last named ship is without
question: Inc largest poIuUSI LHdJ mas
ever been constructed. It was design
ed as the forerunner of greater air
plane and it is pointed to as another
direct result of competition in the
world for air supremacy.
And the object of an endurance
fight is not merely to determine who
con stay in the air the longest. 1t was
designed primarily to determine what
effect long endurance flying would
have on the motor and component
parts Of the plane, to develope weak
mess, which must be overcome and
show up defects to be eliminated in
future building.
One Practical Result.
Airplanes and pilots were recently
allccated to the cotton belts to wage
a fght against the destructive boil
weevil~ The cotton plants will be
sprayed with poison powder. which
will destroy the weeviI but not effect
Vegetation.
This is said to have been direct re-
suit Of pioneer work done two years
Ego this summer by Lieutenant Mae
Ready, who sprayed catalpa groves