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 red
body and shiny silver wings, De
Haviland moth airplane landed at Boil
ing Field at 1920 o'clock this morning
| bringing Sir Alan and Lady Cobham
British air enthusiasts and explorers
from Philadelphia to Washington
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham hoped
out of the plane with cold noses and
| smiling faces. The first thing Sir
Alan said was, 1--WE should have been
here an hour sooner, but we talked to
the mayor of Philadelphia too long
Also there was a 45-mile wind blow
ing against us and we used up all our
petrol, so we were forced to land on
farm near Bel Air, Md, for replenish-
ment of our fuel. There was a man
/ in an auto there, but he had no pc
troll on the farm. so we had to go to
the town and secure fuel and return
to the plane. We were there aR
hour"
Lady Gotham said, 1.-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 t1eld
by Lieut. l.. J. Maitland, representing
+. Trubee Davidson, Assistant Secre'
tarv of War for Aviation; Comdr. Is.
G. Layton, representing E. 2. Warner,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Tor
Aviation: Maj G. E. Lowell, acting
commanding officer at Boiling Field.
representing, Gen. NJ. 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.
Hutchinson, associate secretary of the
society: Wing Comdr. T. G. Hether-
ington, air attache Of the British En-
bassy, and j. B. Pond, in charge OF
Sir Alan's lecture tour.
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham left Boil
ing Field in the company of Comdr.
Hetherington for the White House,
where they were presented to Presi-
dent Coolidge at II o'clock.
At 1 o'clock today Sir Alan was
entertained at a luncheon given by
; DR. Gilbert Grosvenor. president OF
the National Geographic Society. and
the members of the board of trustees,
at the Cosmos Club. Lady Gotham
was rendered luncheon by Mrs. Gill
bert Grosvenor at her home.
Sir Alan will lecture before the
National Geographic Society this eve
ming on his fight from London to
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
flight 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 it was impossible to start
the engine and the plane had to be
towed in by a tug. Sir Alan had
planned to demonstrate a plan for
speeding up the mails by transferring
them from liners at Quarantine tc
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. Worder
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 few
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. 1t is consigned to X. B. Wal
ton of Bristol. Pa. 1t is a two-seated
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
it goes 20 miles to the gallon of gaso-
line: also. it's speed range is from 40
to 90 miles an hour. The De Haviland
moth won the Kings Cup race this
year, an annual event in England. In
this race it ran 1.480 miles at 90.4
miles per hour, with the throttle wide
open for 16 hours % minutes and 40
seconds.
Sir Alan and Lady Gotham are
flight enthusiasts and one of the OBJ
iects of their trip is to promote avia-
ton in every line of transportation
work. according to friends who have
talked with them since their 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-
dent Coolidge: Comdr Joel T. Boone,
Mai. Gen. c. F. c. G. Charlton. mill
tary attache. British embassy; Henry
Getty Chiffon, charge daffaires,
British embassy; Rear Admiral
Colby NJ Chester, DR.. Frederick V.
Coville. F. Stuart Crawford, Secre-
tarv of War Davis, John Joy Edison.
Franklin L. Fisher, DR.. John Foote,
DR.. j. Howard Gore. Ralph Graves,
Gen. A. w. Greedy, Melville Grosve-
nor. Maj. Fl. r. Harmon, chief in
forpoatiAs, section Army Air COrpx