The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-04-14

They broke first the American and
then the world records for sustained
flying and set a mark some more
than five hours better than any pre-.
vious figure. Their feat brought
back to America a record which
went to France in 1923. Their plane
was American built, the fliers Amer
leans and the flight was made over
American soil.
The official landing time was
12:42:05 pm, which meant the rec
ord set for sustained flight was 81
hours, II minutes, rs seconds. They
had broken the old record by 5 hours,
SO minutes. 26 seconds. The shat
tered mark was As hours, II minutes,
SO seconds, held by Landry and
Droughin of France.
Fly Steadily
The plane, which last night had
broken the American record and
soon after daylight had passed the
worlds record for sustained fight,
circled steadily around the field dur
ing the night, the morning and at
noon still was flying at an altitude
Of about $500 feet and a. speed Of
about seventy miles per hour.
It's circles over the field gradually
narrowed until about 12:40 It began
swooping lower and lower. This was
turned into a glide and the plane
came down easily on the west side of
the Roosevelt Field hangers.
Thousands Cheer
A crowd of many thousands
cheered wildly as police fought to
hold them back.
G. M. Bellanca, builder Of the
plane, dashed on to the field in an
automobile and. at wild speed, wav-
ing his arms and shouting, drove
toward the plane, anxious to be the
first to greet the airmen.
Getting Nowhere
For two days and two nights the
tired, determined airmen had flown
in circles above Roosevelt and Mitch
ell Fields, with occasional brief ex-
cursions outside their orbit. In bril-
liant sunlight and in the soft radi-
ance of an unclouded Easter moon
their gray-fuselaged, cream. winged
plane had pursued it's monotonous
course, speeding onward, getting no.
where, but putting the seconds and
minutes and hours behind It.
American Record Falls
The first reward for the tired avi-
ators came at 9:34:40 o'clock last
night, when they set a new Ameri.
can record. The old record, sc hours
and 4 minutes, set by Lieutenants
MacReady and Kelly. United States
Army, had stood four years almost
to the day. 1t was set April Is
and II, 1928.
At varying speeds and at varying
heights. Acosta and Chamberlin
kept up their round above the fields
-spurred in the monotony of
changeless ground below by
thoughts Of the greatly different,
but in some respects perhaps easier,
flight they hope to make--a non
stop trip from New York to Paris
for the $4,000 Orteig prize.
Alternated at Controls
They took turns at the con-
trolls and both piloted the big
machine-its wing spread Is forty
six feet six inches-perfectly, as far
as watchers on the ground could
judge.
Late yesterday afternoon report
ers in another airplane flew near the
Bellanca plane. and saw Chamberlin
stretched on the mattress, apparent
ly asleep. Acosta. at the controls,
looked tired and his face was grease
covered and furrowed with trickles
OF perspiration, but he smiled and
waved happy greeting.
Designer OF Alert
Most interested of all watchers was
Bellanca, who left the field for only
a few hours during the fight. He
chewed a pencil and figured on a
pad almost constantly. calculating
the amount of gasoline used, the
amount remaining, and the chances
of achieving success. He announced
a few minutes after the new record
was set that the same plane, recon-
ditioned, would start It's attempted
New York-to-Paris nonstop fight
near the first OF next month"
'The same pilots may make the
trip" he said.