Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-30
AIR RACESSETT|NG
ATTENDANCE MARK
10000 Paid Admissions in.
First Four Days of CIeve-
land Meet.
BY JOSEPH 3. EDGERTON.
Aviation Editor ~ The Star.

|
| CLEVELAND, Ohio, August SOFA
of the most amazing features of fas
national air races nsw in progress LSrs
has been the tremendous daily attsnG-
ance. The crowds exceed those at Cry
previous 'aeronautical meet, and oa It
least one day have been the laiYrt
ever gathered in this country. During
the first four days Of the races the .,tal
paid admissions totaled 100000 Accord
ing to preliminary totals compiled by
the race committee.
On Wednesday, when the Navy dirigi-
BILE Los Angeles arrived and the Graf
Zeppelin passed over the city, the paid
admissions totaled 100000.
These figures, mind you. are only the
PAID admissions and represent only
| those who have witnessed this great air
show from grandstand seats. 1t is be-
lieved that at least this many more have
witnessed the events from vantage
points around the field.
Cliff Henderson. managing director of
the show, has estimated that at one
time Wednesday afternoon there were
10000 persons gathered around the
field.
Every Seat Filled.
Every seat in the stands was occupied
on that afternoon and thousands Of
! folding chairs were set up in front Of
! the stands. Thousands sat on the
ground. not even sparing the elaborate
grass plots and flower beds in front of
! the stands. Other thousands were
standing
The crowds on other days, while not
so large, still have been far above the
| average at any previous aviation event.
| On the doI. 1aef
PAID admission totaled 10000. Monday
they were 10000. but Tuesday they had
| climed back to 100000 linen came the
great throngs Of Wednesday. Yesterday
the total probably was nearly 10000.
Add to these hosts of grandstand
! patrons the thousands who sat in auto
moolIes packed in solid ranks along the
mics OF roads around this great mile
! square airport and the yet greater num-
perS who came on foot or b. street car
ano bus and who stood around the field
ana you can begin to appreciate some
thlng OF the hold these races have taken
On the imagination of Ohio people and
their guests from many States in the
Union.
Endure Heat and Dust.
Not only have the people turned on.
IN groves for this aeronautical classic
out they have endured considerable dis
comfort IN getting here and after they
nave arrived: Sunday and Monday
were blazing hot days. with no breath
a great deal of fine dust drifting over
tne held during greater part Of the
afternoons. Yet the crowds STAYED in
the heat and dust, engrossed with the
snow before them, for more than five
hours.
five hours of the show and an eyt,.
nour TO watch the mooring of the Navv
origloles Los Angeles, some $4,000 Of
tne spectators hung around the field
untli nearly midnight to watch the
Graf zeppelin pass overhead.
They were on hand when the trans
conIinentai nonstop endurance fight
OF capt Ira c. Eaker of Boiling Field
was brought to an abrupt close by the
plunglng Of a fve-gallon cylinder of
on from the refueling plane through
lde upper wing Of his Boeing mail
plane and into the fuselage.
These crowds know good f1ving and
can sit through as much of it as anv
one AT one time the announcer asked
al those in the grandstands who f1ao
noWn in a1rplanes to raise their hands.
II appeared that nearly half of them
many expected to fly before the week
enoed. The response must have been
decidedly hardening to the MANY air
transport operators in the crowd.
wonderful air show has repaid the
| crowds Tor their waiting. There vas
one picture especially which would be
olhlcult to reproduce. Against a slate
gray sky the great Los Angeles drove
across the field at top speed, a Navy
Vought CorSair fighting plane hover
ing below, attempting to hook to a
| trapeze suspended from the dirigible.
He succeeded and the first transfer Of
a passenger from an airship to an air
plane in flight took place. Over the
Los Angeles lowered a fussy little
brood of three pony blimps, like hun
cry little chicks around their lean,
businesslike mother hen.
Senior Juan de la Cierva was just
taking of the field in his peculiar look
ing autogyro plane, its paddles
churning slowly.
Lindbergh Present.
Between the autogyro and the Los
Angeles roared Col. Charles A. Lind
bergh in Navy fighting plane at the
head of section of Navy high hat
fighting planes from the carrier U. S.
S. Saratoga. Of to the left .circled
Anthony H. G. Fokker's new amphibian
plane. with a single-pusher motor
mounted above the wing.
Upon the field, if you had eyes for
them, were airplanes of every possible
type, ranging from the dinky little
Heath bullet monoplane, tiniest plane
on the field, to the new Condor trans
port plane, the largest commercial
passenger plane now operating in the
country.
For sheer variety, the like of this
picture, which lasted but few seconds,
probably will not be seen for many
months. Every day, however, there has
been some spectacle worthy of remem-
bering The crowds love it all, and it
is safe to say that the weeks attend
ance will be in the aggregate the great
est series of crowds the country has
| ,nnur, for lonr time il at all