Evening star., 1925-10-09
IA u. S. OBSERVATION PLANES
BEATEN BY FRENCHMAN In RACE
Foreign Made Air Craft
First and Fourth in
MineOla Races.
Average Speed l29 Miles.
Many Thrills Mark
Firs;-Day Events.
BN FREDERICK Il. NEELY.

MITCHELL FIELD. MINEOLA
LonS Island. October 9.-The pres
1ge OF American aviation suffered a
severe blow yesterday evening when
France, pitting two planes against a
field of IA American stock, captured
first and fourth places i'll the Liberty
engine builders race for military OBJ
SerVation planes.
The victory was both a surprise and
= disappointment to aeiona utical
America. gathered here FOR the an
nual airplane ella sSic of the world.
The surprise came when the winning
plane. Il BreSuet. powered with a i63-
horsepower Renaujt motor and pilot
Ell by Capt. II. I.e Naitre of the
French army. made an average speed
aruuni a lSo-mile course of only l29.l
miles per hour. Americau airplanes
OF the military observation type in
previous meets had made better
speeds. hut The hest they could do
was l3>.3. snecifcally made by Lieut..
+. l.. Eaylcy "t 'rissy Field. san
Francisco. tying one Of the new
Douglas observation planes whicL
was reputed to have made l36 miles
an hour.
.Anacostia Flyer Third.
The Navy, represented by Lieut..
George Il. Henderson Of the naval air
station at Anacostia. captured third
place in IA De Hatiland service plane
with a speed Of 1919. Fourth place
was taken by Capt. Pelietier D'Oisy,
who flew from Paris TO Toxic last
year, with an average speed Of 1874.
and fifth place went TO Lieut.. L. K.
NcReynoldS Of Boiling Field. also in
a De Taviiand. with a speed ot l26l
miles per hour.
Lieut.. Henderson made a valiant
tight to keep the French from captur-
ing the trophy. and for time it look
ed as if either he or Lieut.. McReynolds
would take the prize. Lieut.. Hender-
son led the field on the first lap and
later passed Capt. D'Oisy. Lieut..
McReynolds shot forward in the fifth
lap 10 l34 miles an hour. only TO be
cut down on succeeding laps. due to
the loss Of all his Streamline tape,
which had been placed about the wires
and other rough" spots on the plane.
Flown ON Twelve-Mile Course.
The race. over l2-mile triangular
course, was started in three sections.
Lieut.. T. y. Jeter in Il De Haviland
of the Bureau Of Aeronautics. Lieut..
Ford O. heXl Rogers in a Nought
UO-l. of the Anacostia station. Lieut..
Henderson and the TWO French pilots
We're in the first section. Although
he has not been flying De Havila nos
very long. having spent most of his
air time in big boats" Lieut.. liender-
son put up q beautiful exhibition Of
hvins. All the planes stayed about
100 feet above the ground in order
10 round the three pylons, and when
ever the two French Breguets came
along Lieut.. Henderson either was
q head or IN, hatu-aer
Toward the end of the race. how
ever. the second French Breguet.
flown by Capt. Lemaitre. put on more
speed and settled the issue. Covered
with oil and carbon film. Lieut.. Hen
derSon climbed out of his plane and
announced that Capt. Lemaitre passed
him with such speed he thought he
was standing still. I'm confident,
though" he said, that D'Oisy used
up all the speed he had and I am
proud that I beat him. But don't
think anybody knows how fast that
other Bregget was except the pilot"
Another dangerous contender for the
prize was 4 piece of work credited d.
rectly 70 Col. William Mitchell. II was
De 1aviland filled with A Liberty
motor. remodeled into the air-cooled
type and installed in the plane upside
down. II was Col. Mitchell, then G.an.
NlltIelI, " itO SIEScSlPb illlS 'fEi1lSt
in the Liberty. and McCook Field. ut
Dayton. Ohio. set TO work on the idea
The plane was flown by Lieut.. T.. =.
Gaines and toward the close was gain
ing every minute when the motor. for
some unknown reason. ceased working
and the plane was forced down in a
field. Lieut.. Gaines was slightly in
iured. according to reports reaching
the operations office.
Lieut.. Palmer Gets Thrill.
Other Washington entrants in the
race had plenty of excitement if they
didn't win recognition. Lieut.. G ID
Palmer. radio officer of the Naval Air
Station, was entered in a Nought E,-a
and on the first seven laps averaged
about 125 miles an hour. On the
eighth lap the motor coughed and
ENTERPRISE Serial