Evening star., 1927-09-09

American property had the Navy, in
1924, declared "fy-over" when the
British plane was eliminated from
the contest by an accident prior TO
sailing for America. Lieut.. David
Rittenhouse, L. S. n. had won the
trophy for the first time at Cowes.
England, in 1923. a "hy-over" would
have beena second victory, and Lieut..
James r. Dooiitt,es y success in 1925
would have brought about the three
victories in five racing years--neces-
sary for permanent possession.
Instead the Navy refused to take
advantage of its rights and declare a
"fiy-over" in 1924. In 1925 the Italian
team asked for a months postpone
ment and it was granted. Italy won
the race. The National Aeronautic
Association, late in July, asked for a
postponement of 80 days to enable
Lieut.. Williams to get ready, but the
Aero Club OF Italy, promoters of this
years event replied that because
England would not agree to the post
ponement, Italy was unable to make
the change in date. The additional 30
days. it was emphasized at the Navy
Department today, would have made it
possible for Lieut.. Williams TO have
gotten all the bugs out of the ship
and reach Venice in time for the race.
Moffett Is Disappointed.
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett,
chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics,
was keenly disappointed over the out
come of Williams efforts to get into
the race.
The admiral has been an ardent adj
vocate of racing, and when the de-
partment withdrew from high-speed
racing early this year, he threw his
entire support behind Williams. This
included the loan of the Packard en-
gine, the most powerful in the world,
and virtually the entire facilities of
the Bureau of Aeronautics.
While the seriousness of the pom
toon trouble did not come to light un-
til today, airmen here who have been
following Williams project closely in
recent weeks suspected something
was wrong, despite the pilots opti-
mistic announcements following MS
numerous test flights that things were
running satisfactorily. If they were as
satisfactory as Williams painted them
they wondered why he had not put
the plane over the 3-kilometer speed
course and produced some Official ng-
ures as to its speed. The answer was
given today with the pontoon diff
Guilty.
Meclaan MICS Are Transferred.
The fact that Williams thought he
would be able to get away at the last
minute was demonstrated here yes"
terday when orders were given by the
Navy Department to the four me-
chanics from the Naval Air Station
here, who have been assisting the
pilot for more than a month. to re-
port to Trenton. A spare engine
md the reserve pontoons already had
been placed aboard. The Anacostia
mechanics are Aviation Chief Ma
chinist Mates J. G. Kelly, r.. w.
Gowan, c. r. May and G. F.. Tran
berry.
When Lieut.. Williams takes aoff
from Mitchell Field in his converted
land plane he will be at the scene of
his flights made early in November,
1929, which resulted in his establish
ing a new world speed record of 266
miles per hour in "A Navy Curtlss
racer. TO accomplish this he dived
the plane from 5000 feet almost verti-
cally and then flattened out. His
competitor in the trials, Lieut.. II. j.
Brow, did likewise, and had not Ad-
miral Moffett stopped the flying when
he did airmen agree that either or
both planes might have been torn to
pieces by the terrific strains brought
10 bear upon their wings.