Evening star., 1924-10-26
SEAPLANE MARKS
| FOR SPEED BROKEN
Lieut.. r. A. 0fstie Makes
161.14 Miles Per Hour in
Baltimore Meet.
BY FREDERICK n. NEELY.
stan Correspondent Of The Star.

otAH Correspondent OF The star.
BALTIMORE, Nd, October as
Flying against imaginary competi-
tors from Great Britain and Italy.
Lieut.. Ralph A. Ofstie Of the Bureau
Of Aeronautics, Washington, broke all
seaplane speed records over a 50-kilo-
meter course at Bay Shore, IA miles
south of here, today. The outstand-
ing record he established was 161.14
miles per hour for 500 kilometers,
which required making 10 laps over
the course.
1t Is common fault and an ex-
cusable one for racing pilots while
tearing around a course to forget or
lose track of the number of laps and
invariably they complete an extra
| ono or two to make sure they will
qualify. 1t was breathless crowd
that watched the little Curtiss racer
which Lieut.. AL Williams flew in the
Pulitzer races of 1922 as a land plane
approach the home pylon on the tenth
lap. round 1t with a broad turn and
then zoom, signifying the end Of the
flight. Lieut. Ofstie had only about
65 gallons of gasoline in the little
plane, and 1t would have been almost
impossible for him to have made an
| extra lap without running out of
fuel and losing the 5o0-kilometer rec
| ord coveted by all nations.
Driving start Banned.
With Ofstie at the start of the race
was Lieut.. George T. Cuddihy of the
Naval Air Station. Anacostia. They
took the air simultaneously. circled
for position and then shot across the
starting line, diving for the start
having been forbidden since the dis
aster that fell to the little racing
plane of Capt. Burt Skeei. U. S. A., at
| the Pulitzer races at Wilbur Wright
Field. Fairfield, Ohio, a few weeks
| ago.
Throttles wide open, the tiny ships
| carrying twin pontoons, soon disap-
peared with a blast from the power
full Curtiss motors and for four laps
they kept within sight of each other
At the end of this lap. Lieut.. Cuddihy
pulled his ship up, circled and land ed
| preparatory to making dashes for
| the three-kilometer seaplane record
| Ofstie had outflown him on the four
| laps, capturing the speed record fol
! 100 kiloneters at 1852 miles pei
hour. thus bettcring the old record OF
l2s.7b, and the speed record for 20(
kiloneters of 17s.25 lettering the ole
record by nearly 10 miles. Then he
cut" his throttle in order to con.
|
main in the air for the 500 kilometers
while Cuddihy, again in the air
dashed past the timers stand four
times for an average of 1879 miles
per hour. beating the record made by
Italy. which was I7407
Foreigners Not In
These little planes were to have
flown against entrants from Grea,
~ fnt r.
Cup. which Lieuts. David Rittenhouss
and Rutledge Irvine of Washington
won at Cowes. England, last year
Accidents TO the foreign planes at the
| last minute made necessary a can.
| collation. of the worlds seapIans
classic, and Baltimore, which hac
! made gigantic preparations for thu
event, was disappointed. but the Navy
decided the arrangements should bt
utilized, and therefore, in conjunction
with the record breaking events
staged a performance OF naval avia
tion by throwing into the air scores
of planes illustrating every branch OF
| naval aviation activities.
Prior TO and during the specd trials
OF the Curttss racers, the prides o,
the Navy's scouting planes-PN-7s-
| were droning around a course smash
ing old and establishing new record.
Tor weight carrying, duration anc
| speed. The audience was more or les:
unaware of this. but the net resul
was to push American naval aero
nautics just step farther in adyanc,
OF the remainder of the worlds eff
forts. One Pm tthis plane is a boa
| seaplane with two 450-horsepowe,
| Wright motors and a maximum spec,
OF more than 100 miles an hour) fiow1
by Lieut.. o. B. Hardison of the scout
| 40 minutes with a load weighing
tons, over course measuring 1e.
| miles and at a speed Of 7o58 mile,
| an hour. The previous duration rec
ord with this weight was 81 minutes
The other Pm, flown by Lieut.. Geore,
X. Henderson, also of the scoutins
Meet, carrying a -kilogram load
new Tor hours and 8 minutes,
| duration record, and establish ed
speed records for ESQ, 500 and .O0I
kilometers of IS miles an hour. Thj,
plane would have done better had 4
not cut couple of pylons which
disqualified that particular trial.
Navy Men Enthusinstic.
While enthusiastic over the results
or the speed planes, Naval officer
look time to explain that their per
lormance was not the best the Nav,
could offer-they have an ace in tn,
hole. 1t is Al Williams Curtiss race
with which he won the Pulitzer rae,
for land speed planes last year, con
verified into a seaplane. 1t has don,
much better than 200 miles an hour
but 1t has no crank on the side will
| which to be started in the water, an,
1T is dangerous to attempt turnint
over 475 horsepower motor by spin
ming the propeller. Facilities wer
not available at Baltimore for start
ing it on land, and it therefore wa
not entered in the contest today
The days aerial festivities begal
at 10 o'clock this morning and a
$50 pm, just as dark was falling
the last plane in a Douglas TORPEDO
plane race landed. Washington pilot
contributed largely to the success
of the entertainment sandwiched II
between the record-breaking trial
and gave to thousands of person
from all over Maryland and the Dis
trict of Columbia a splendid exhi
bition of airplane plotting.
Opening the days program was al
| aerial pageant. 1t consisted of 4
pass in review" of De Havilands ant
Voughts from Quantico. Va; Voughtl
from Anacostia; Martin bombers from