The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-05-25
THOUSANDS LOOK |AS GIANT PLANES RACE FOR TROPHY Unlisted Competitor Has First Place Tn 50
 Mile Race LIEUTENANT BROW WINS SECOND RACE Leap From Parachute By Sergeant Hillburn
 Thrills Crowd

DASh LO o4EullAS1tSA1s OAACc cCuOCO with the roar of liberty motors. Wings of the smoothly keeled air. machines flocked into the face of the sun. Three, four. q dozen or more planes lazily circled over the downtown streets. The Southern air meet had an suspicious opening Saturday.
 Five thousand odd, counting those with hilltop reservations, wit messed the spectacle of the avia- tion meet at Roberts field. which turned out to be as much and per- haps more than It was heralded. The promises of the advance no- tices and the program were carried out as far as possible.
 Handicapped by strong wind which threatened to blow away everything not securely fastened down, there were a few of the events which were slot staged. There were no captive Baisons freed to be attacked by ambitious hsi- ators, as planned; there was no lady holding the lucky ticket taken aloft, as promised; but these two mere incl dentals were lost to the five thousand possible. The crowd would have been threatening weather which held forth during tho forenoon,
 Plane CFnales
 
 A T-2 DoaSlas plahe eraskea into ths wells of the Alabama State Fair grounds early Saturday afternoon when its pilot, Lieutenant Coniey, connected with the naval station at Pensacola, made forced landing due to engine trouble.
 Although the ship was badly wrecked, both Conley and his passenger, Lieut.. B. c. Trumbo, Birmingham national guardsman, escaped with only slight in- juries.
 Major Roy S. Brown, in a Martin bomber. which was following Conley in formation, landed on the field and car ried both men back to Roberts field.
 Fifty Mile Race
 Outstanding of the events of the day was the 50-mile Bromberg and Coca Cola trophy paces which went, 50 far as the day was concerned, to Captain H. $. Page, marine, commanding Equadron Six at Pensacola. Captain Page was an outsider in the race; in fact, his name was not even listed among entries on the program, but be- fore the first lap of the derby had trans pired he was distinctly in the limelight.
 Driving yought plane and taking the corners of the four-legged course with an uncanny power of banking him self almost perpendicular, Page out flew his contemporaries. During the early stages of the journey he was com tent to job along in his place, but mid way he opened up and fought his way, passing ship after ship.
 And then at the end of the trial the crowd got thrill No. 28. A slight smoke appeared to drift from his plane, but only for an instant. Captain Page went into a ''slide-slip" or some other aeronautic term, and eluded all chance of a fire. Sweeping pack over the field he slid to earth, the ship crippled but no material damage done.
 Page Is Winner
 Pages time for the 52-mile course was 26 10. On his heels came Lieu tenant Hickey from Chanute Field at Hantoul, Ill. Hickey, in a Dehaviland, finished 20 seconds behind the flyipg Votsht. Major Brown from Montgom- cry placed third. All three of these contestants made better time than leaders of the second race, which went to Lieutenant Brow, who,. besides other things, holds the worlds record for speed at 260 miles per hour. Brow's ship, Vought, was easily the class of the field, but his time for the distance was 2s :23.
 lieutenant Keene, another navy pillt, came in second, closely pursued by Lieutenant Kincaid of Montgomery. For the average observer, the races proved the most thrilling part of the program but there were also some other stunts which drew manifest attention, A parachute leap by Sergeant Don Q, Hilburn of the One Hundred Sixth Observation squadron, the organization sponsoring the meet, at a distance around 2,000 feet, went over exceptions ally big.
 During the early portion of the meet onlookers experienced q sensation when, while Lieutenant Gooch and Lieutenant Hassellman, of the Pensacola air sta, tion, were exhibiting mock air com