Evening star., 1926-12-03
SIR ALAN GOTHAM
REACHES CAPITAL
Arrives for Lecture Here in
Tiny Plane With Wife.
Forced Down at Bel Air.

Like a butterfly, with bright ret
body and shiny silver wings, d.
Haviland moth airplane landed at Boil
ing Field at 11:20 o'clock this morning
bringing Sir Alan and Lady Gotham
British air enthusiasts and explorers
from Philadelphia to Washington.
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham hoppe'
out of the plane with cold noses AM
smiling faces. The first thing. Si
Alan said was, I'VE should have beer
here an hour sooner but we talked t.
the mayor Of Philadelphia too long
Also there was a 45-mila wind blow
ing against us and we used up all oul
petrol, so we were forced to land on
farm near Bel Air, Md, for replenish
ment of our fuel. There was mar
in an auto there, but he had no pc
troll on the farm, so we had to go tt
the town and secure fuel and return
to the plane. We were there ar
! hour"
Lady Gotham said, "The weather
was terrible yesterday. 1t was simply
freezing. Today it was not so bad
but we travelled at 1000 feet the en-
tire distance"
Presented to President.
The distinguished British flyer and
his wife were received at Boiling Field
by Lieut.. l.. J. Maitland, representing
F. Trubee Davidson. Assistant Secre-
tary of War for Aviation; Comdr. b.
G.. Layton, representing E. p. Warner,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for
Aviation: Maj. G. E. Lowell, acting
commanding officer at Boiling Field
representing, Gen. M. M. Patrick,
chief of the Army Air Corps; Capt. c.
F. Wheeler, operations officer Boiling
Field; John oliver La Gorce, vice pres
ident Of the National Geographic
Society; Franklin Fisher. chief of the
| illustrations division of the National
Geographic Society; George w.
Hutchison, associate secretary Of the
society; Wing Comdr. T. G. Hether'
ington, air attache of the British EN-.
bassy, and ]. B. Pond, in charge OF
Sir Alan's lecture tour.
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham left Boil
ing Field in the company Of Comdr.
J Hetherington for the White House,
where they were presented to Presi'
dent Coolidge at II o'clock.
At l o'clock today Sir Alan was
entertained at luncheon given by
DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor, president OF
| the National Geographic Society, anC
the members of the board of trustees
at the Cosmos Club. Lady Gotham
was rendered luncheon by Mrs. Gil
bert Grosvenor at her home.
Sir Alan will lecture before the
National Geographic Society this eve
ming on his fight from London tc
Cape Town. Members of staff of the
British embassy and high officials OF
the United States Army and Navy
will be guests at the lecture.
The Britisher's first attempted
fight in this country with the moth
plane on Thanksgiving day was un
successful. He planned to fly from
Quarantine to the Battery at New
York, but 1t was impossible to start
the engine and the plane had to be
towed in by n tug. Sir Alan had
planned to demonstrate a plan for
speeding up the mails by transferring
them from liners at Quarantine to
| airplanes.
Sir Alan brought two packages OF
mail with him in the plane today
| One was from New York and the
other from Philadelphia. Both were
addressed to DR.. Edward c. Worden
Of the Air Service, in the Munitions
Building.
Leaving Philadelphia at $40 o'clock
this morning, Sir Alan and Lady Cob
ham were expected at Boiling Field
about 10 o'clock. Maj. M. F. Har
mon and Capt. E. G. ReinartZ went
up in an observation plane and flew
to near Elkton, Md, but did not see
| the moth, which arrived an hour and
| 20 minutes later.
! The De Haviland moth plane
! piloted by Sir Alan, is the first of its
kind to be brought to the United
/ States. It is consigned to K. B. Wal
, ton of Bristol, Pa. 1t is a two-seated
i plane. having a four-in-line cylinder
engine air cooled, with dual ignition
| 1t also has dual control, hand
starter in the cockpit, a luggage com
| partment and the wings can be folded
| in and the machine run into a
| garage.
It's range of flight is 3h hours and
| 1t goes 20 miles to the gallon of gaSo
| line; also, its speed range is from 90
| to 80 miles an hour. The De Haviland
| moth won the Kings Cup race this
! year, an annual event in England. In
| this race it ran l .480 miles at 90.4
| miles per hour, with the throttle wide
open for Is hours % minutes and 40
seconds.
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham are
| flight enthusiasts and one of the OBJ.
| jects of their trip is to promote avia
ton in every line of transportation
work, according to friends who have
4 talked with tnefn since tHeIT arrival
| in the United States. They plan to
return to New York tomorrow, going
as far as Bristol, Pa, in the plane,
which they will leave at the Huff
Daland airport, continuing from there
on the train.
Those invited to the luncheon
| included: Porter Adams, president
! National Aeronautic Association;
| Senator Hiram Bingham of Con-
necticut. William d. Boutwell,. Ed
ward T. Clark, secretary to Presi-
J dent Coolidge: Comdr. Joel 7. Boone
Maj. Gen. c. f. c. G.. Charlton, mill
tary attache. British embassy; Henry
Getty Chiffon, charge d'affaires
British embassy; Rear Admiral
! Colby NJ. Chester, DR.. Frederick V.
Coville. F. Stuart Crawford. Secre-
tary of War Davis, John Joy Edison
Franklin L. Fisher. DR.. John Foote
| Or. ]. Howard Gore, Ralph Graves
Gen. A. w. Greely. Melville Grosve-
nor, Maj, H. r. Harmon. chief in
formation section, Army Air Corps