Evening star., 1936-08-02

biplane, which was used by
L As Harry N. Atwood in SEN
sational landing on the White House
lawn Is years ago, today looks back
across span Of quarter Of Q CEN
tury to his pioneering days in aviation
Waite today Is senior administrative
assistant in the maintenance section
Navy Bureau Of Aeronautics: still in
aviation though long since withdrawn
from the ranks of active pilots.
Waite purchased the Atwood plane
after the White House landing on July
IA, 1911. Atwood made the landing
after a flight from New York to
Washington which required a week
because of accidents at Atlantic City
and College Park, Md. The fight to
the White House was made from Col
lege Park with a stop at the polo
field, Potomac Park. Upon landing in
back of the White House Atwood re-
ceived from President Taft a medal
awarded by the Aero Club of WASH
ington.
Roy Waite was born October 8, 1884,
in Roxbury, Mass. the son of Mr..
and Mrs Horace Waite Most Of his
childhood was spent in Winthrop,
Mass His father was we'll known in
yachting and regatta circles and Roy
grew up on the water. He was q
graduate of the Massa chusetts Nauti-
cal School and spent two years in
European voyages under naval officers
on training ships.
THE first airplane I ever saw in
flight was that of Claude Grahame-
White, at meet at Squantum. Mass,
in 1910" Waite said. During that
meet I also saw flights made by Tom
Sopwith, Earl Ovington and Lieut..
Thomas de Witt Milling Of the Army.
I really became interested in the pos
sibility of flying myself later in 1910
while watching Harry Atwood and
Lincoln Beachey fly at q fair 1t
Brockton, Mass" g.
Had First Flight in 1911.
Waite joined the General Aviation
School, Boston, in 1911 and there
spent two months In construction
work on a Curtiss pusher type biplane.
He had his first flight in November,
1911, with Atwood. at Cliftondale,
Mass. He paid SIS for five minutes Of
flight instruction." which consisted
merely of riding as passenger and
observing the pilot, he recalls. He
was not allowed to touch the controls.
Waite had many flights, at IS q
minute, with Atwood, Arch Freeman
and Farnam Fish between November,
1911. and June, 1912, when he COM
pleted the purchase of Atwood's
Burgess-W Wright airplane. For days
he tried to get pilot to check him
out" without success.
Finally" he said, "I got tired
waiting and decided If was going to
learn to fly I would have to do it
myself. So, one fine morning climbed
into the seat on the wing and was
of on my first SOLO"
That first solo flight was made at
Saugus, Mass, during the month Of
June, 1912.
Waite said he also had difficulty in
arranging for his tests for a license
and there was a delay Of some months
after he was ready for examination.
When he finally passed his tests he
received license No 1875 of the Aero
Club of America, dated November 20,
1912.
Became Flying Instructor.
He set himself up as a flying In
structor and exhibition flyer and
owned and operated the Cliftondale
Aviation School, Cliftondale, Mass
in 1912 and 1918. He has a copy Of
a sales agreement with Burgess Co.
& Curtis, Marblehead, Mass. who
arranged the transaction for the At
wood plane 1t is noted that the air
plane was powered with q 35-horse-
power Wright motor and was "a Sec
ond-hand machine" The sales price
was $4,000. The airplane was listed
as model F, No. 20.
An interesting feature Of the con-
tract is an agreement on the part Of
the purchaser to pay the Wright
company 500 for each day or fraction
of a day the airplane was operated
and exhibited for profit. prize or re-
ward" and $50 for each day it was
publicly exhibited without being op-
Grated. 1t also bound the purchaser
to keep record of all exhibitions,
flights or contests in which the air.
plane might participate, these records
to be subject to inspection by the
Wright company monthly. The $100-
per-day royalty soon afterward was
reduced to $25 per day, Waite recalls.
On May 19, 1912, while employed
as mechanic for Atwood, Waite ac-
companied Arch Freeman on q flight
over Boston harbor, during which they
bombed fortif1cations and battleships
In one Of the worlds first demonstra-
tions of the airplane as q lombard
ment craft. Taking of from Atwood
Park at 4:25 am, they few across
the marshes and beaches to Fort
Heath, at Winthrop, where Waite
dropped three bombs made Of 16
ounces of flour packed In paper bags.
Inside each bag was q card from