The Billboard 1911-04-01: Vol 23 Iss 13 (1911-04-01)

18 The Billboard APRIL 1, 1911. AEROPLANES AND FLY ERS AVIATION MEETINGS Advent and Utility of the Airship as an Amusement and Baltimore TZontemplates Another Meet This Spring—st. Exhibition Feature—The Aviation Meet—A Showman’s Point of View (Written expressly for The Billboard by Wm. Judkins Hewitt.) Man’s desire to conquer the the beginning of time. is recorded as far air dates from The first attempt to fly back as twenty-three centu ries ago. The present impetus to mechanical fight is doubtless due to the experimental efforts of Lilienthal, Langley, Maxim and Chamute. The latter ably assisted the Wrights in their successful efforts to build and fly a heavjer than air machine in a given direction, irre spective of the trend of the wind and in defiance to the law of gravity. To defy the laws of gravitation is an achievement that should and does compel the interest and attention of the thinker and scientist, who has heretofore conceded to and accepted its defiance as inevitable. The acroplane, a heayier than air machine, has proved its right to*the contrary in a most thorough and convincing manner. I herewith quote verbatim a portion of an editorial from a prominent European journal devoted to the aeroplane and its kindred interests, which covers and records the facts, after the accomplisiment of a flight, in a most able manner: “The conquest of the air being complete—a man has ‘flown’—it is now only a matter of practice and the perfecting of mechanism before any distance may be covered and before the carrying of a passenger or passengers with as wreat an ease becomes a fact. Likewise, it is only a matter of time—how short, who can tell? -—before mankind will be able to ‘fly’ through the air under all conditions, irrespective of the state of the weather, and to ascend from any given spot and to descend at any desired place. Upon realizing these facts, the question is hound to occur to one: What will be the effect upon our present mode of travel, and what are the possibilities and limits of the new means of transport? Surely there must be some limits, or else the millennium has been reached, and when one comes to consider the facts, it is realized that these limits are indeed only too real, and all confining by the practical] points which they raise. Nevertheless, the aeroplane has arrived as a practical machine, and as a rapid means of transport it is doubtful if it can be surpassed. Having, then, realized the arrival of the aeroplane ag a practical method of fllght—if we are anticipating a little, so much the better—it is as well that we should discuss its possibilities and practical limits as a means of transport.” As to what progress has been made in the development of the aeroplane up to the present time, it will be noted that numbers of passengers have been carried, long distances have been covered, high altitudes have been reached, and its mechanism is being continually improved upon, which will in a very short time permit perfect flights under any and all wind and weather conditions, Glenn H. Curtiss has recently completed and demonstrated the hydroplane, which enables the fiyer to alight upon and ascend from the water. We are practically assured that it is possible to ascend and descend at any given point. A machine is now being built for a transcont!nental flight. which will permit it to rise from a railroad track. It is well that our attitude should be optimistie toward the aeroplane’s practicability and utility, “It is the newest thing under the eun.’’ It is many times referred to as the “‘millionaire’s toy.’’ The various experimenters have designed and constructed many different patterns and styles, which are known as ‘‘types.’’ The most practical in use, as has been demonstrated, are the various ‘types of the monoplane and biplane: those we are at present most familiar with are the Bleriot, Demoisele, Antoinette, Santos Dumont, Farman, Curtiss and Wright machines. It is in the competitive events in which the Long Flights Now Certain New York, March 23 (Special to The Billboard).—The Aero Club of America has just received the official conditions of the 1,000-mile aeroplane race around Great Britain for a prize of $50,000. which is to be held next July. The contest will commence on Saturday, July 22, and finish at the latest on August & The race is open to competitors of any nationality holding an aviator’s certificate from the International Aeronautical Federation. An entrance fee of $500 is required of each competitor toward the expenses of the Royal Aero Club in conducting the competition. The course is divided in five sections: First. Brooklands to Hendon, 20 miles; second, Hendon to Edinburgh, 343 Miles; third, Edinburgh to Bristol, 383 miles; fourth, Bristol to Brighton, 214 miles; fifth. Brighton to Brooklands, 40 miles. “The object of the contest,’’ it is stated, “has been to impose conditions to spur inven tors and designers to the production of a thoroughly practical. and efficient fiying machine. No gimcrack freak is likely to survive the severs test, which is not so much designed for swiftness as for strength and endurance.”’ MOISANT AVIATION SCHOOL. New York, March 22 (Special to The Billboard).—Philip Wileox has just accepted the position of general manager of the Aviation School, which is to be located at Garden City, Long Island. The school will start operations on April 1, using the old Garden City aviation field as the practice ground. By June 1 it is expected that the new field will be ready for use. This will be a tract of land 250 feet wide and five miles long. The instructors at the school will be M. Daniez, a graduate of the Bleriot school in France, and Lieutenant Reuhl, who received his training at the same place. Moisant | various ‘‘types’’ vie with each other public seems most interested. The odd shapes and apparently delicate construction of the average “‘plane,’’ makes them of absorbing interest to the mechanic, observant and inquisitive. Many of them possess remarkable durability and | attain wonderful speed in flight. Man flight is the realization of the dream of centuries. Think of it. It is wonderful to contemplate. It furnishes food for thought : most idle brain. To see man emulate the bird ‘‘on the wing’’ is indeed inspiring. To faintly conceive that there is no known limit to man’s accomplishment and daring is a guarantee of future achievement in this direction, In nearly every community you will find seme student of aviation, who is either building a model or a practiéal machine. Many are making flights in seclusion. flyers, from whom we will hear in time through some of their daring air exploits. It is to the conservative flyer that we look to in the future, as we have in the past, for the real progress in the development or the aeroplane and its possibilities. Longer distances at subdued speed, rather than higher altitudes, will be aimed at and accomplished. Not many of the present-day flyers are in any way attempting to follow the freakish daring as practiced by Johnstone, Moisant and Hoxey. These men were truly marvels in the manipulation of the bird machines. In time many laws will be passed to regnulate speed and altitude, It is rather interesting to note that most of the exhibition flyers were previously motor cycle riders, bicycle riders, automobile drivers dirigible balloon riders, acrobats and gymnasts. Many men in the show business, either as performers, promoters or managers, have taken to the aeroplane and aviation as the logical sequence to their profession. From the time Captain Thomas Baldwin made and introduced the parachute leap from a balloon, in San Francisco, in 1886, down to the present time, air craft of some kind has been (Continued on page 33.) ] that the j Augustine, Fla., Huntsville, Ala., and Dallas, Tex., Among Cities to Have Aerial Exhibitions Baltimore, Md., March 22 (Special to Billboard).—Although Col. Jerome H. Joyce is noncommittal on the subject, it is said that strong efforts are being made to have another | aviation meet in Baltimore City this spring. | if the plans mature, this meet will be more | successful than the one hed last fall. The to the | These are the coming | weather conditions are more favorable in the spring and the weather during the fall meeting proved disastrous to the promoters. If the dates can the meet will be held in May. Mr. Joyce is a great aviation enthusiast and as he is in close touch with the New York aero powers he can give Baltimoreans a greater show than the previous one. This proposed meet can be handled more satisfactorily and the great expense entailed in making the pre liminary preparations for the last meet can be avoided. Halethorpe will be used as before. PLANS AVIATION MEET. Huntsville, Ala., March 24 (Special to The Billboard).—Ledge of Elks has closed a contract with the Aerial Exhibition Company, of New York and Chicago, for a series of aviation exhibitions at the Tennessee Valley fair grounds April 14 and 15. Three aviators will bring two machines here and several flights wili be made each day. This will be the first time that the people in this part of the country will have a chance to witness the performances of bir! men. ST. AUGUSTINE AERO MEET. St. Augustine, Fla., March 23 (Special to The Billboard).—St. Augustine will be a gay an’! interesting place during the first week of April for in addition to the speed boat meet, an aeroplane meet has also been contracted for. C. F. Hopkins, Jr., bas just closed a contract with the Curtiss Exhibition Company for an aviation meet here on April 2, the flights to be made at South Beach. The contract calls for Passing overhéad—operator and passenger. A close race between Johnston and Brookins. No International Calendar This Year New York, March 22 (Special to The Bill board).—At the last annual conference of the International Aeronautic federation it was decid ed not to adopt an international aviation calendar for the year 1911, but to allow the clubof each country in the federation to arrange an aviation calendar, irrespective of what the other countries proposed to do. Many of the prominent aviators in Europe have asked for information concerning the organization of aviation meets in the United States, and there is no doubt that some of the foreigners will of meets can be arranged. 400 licenses to aviators. In other European countries there has been a proportionate increase in the number of air-men and it is, there| fore, certain that the foreign aviators will require much less in the way of money guaranties than was the case in 1910. Under the existing arrangements with the Aero Club of America, all records made at meets held by the affiliated clubs and sanctioned by the national council will be received by the | International council will be received by the | International Aeronautic federation and classi| filed as world’s records. It is unofficially announced that not fewer | than eleven German universities and technical | schools will institute leetures on aeronautics | this summer. Special attention will be given | to technical coctems connected with the fiy, ing machine, its structural principles and prac tical management. Lectures will be given at Berlin, Breslau Giessen, Goettingen and Strassburg universi| thes, and at the technical institutes in Charlot | tenberg, Aachen, Brunswick, Dantzig, Stuttgart | and Munich. The professors will deliver such | courses of lectures at Charlottenburg and Dant| zig, and three at Munich. | At Charlottenburg Major Parseval, the inventor of the first German semirigid airship. will give one of the aeronautical courses, while _ at Strassburg the lecturer will be Prof. Herge sell, president of the International Aeronautic Commission, and himself a practical aeronaut who some years ago conducted the German studies of the higher atmosphere by means of self-registering balloons. Charles Williams reports big business on his return engagements over the Interstate time. The Aero Club of France has already granted tors. visit this country if a series | Aviation at Appalachian Expo. Knoxville, Tenn., March 24 (Special to The Ril!board).—An international] aviation meet is to be one of the features of the Appalachian Exposition for 1911. This announcement was made by Sanford H, Cohen, assistant to President L. D. Tyson. Many of the principal aviators of the world are to be present. World contests will be held and world’s records are expécted to be broken. This feature is not yer fully arranged, but it is announced as a certainty. The dates will later be fixed and other details arranged. Mr. Cohen will meet Glenn Curtiss, the business manager of the Wright brothers, and other avia in New York. within the next week to arrange the final details. Every type of aerial machine will be represented, the biplane, monoplane, the beavier be arranged and sanctions obtained | The | two aeroplanes and two expert aviators, with a guarantee that at least four successful exhib tion flights will be made. This aeroplane meet coming as it does just | two days before the big sneed boat races wil! occur at a time when St. Augustine is filled with visitors and it should be a signal success. The flying machines will be on exhibition at South Beach during the morning of April 2 and several trial fights will be made during the mornin~ hours. The exhibition ascensions will | take place in the afternoon at a time when the than air machines, the dirigible airships, bot air | ballons and other types of the Mghter than air machines. Glenn Curtiss’ biplane, equipped with his latest invention for alighting and arising from the water, will be tried out in Chilhowee Park lake. The Atlanta to Knoxville trip by air, prolast year, will be in the aviation meet this year, This feature, Mr. Cohen said, is being planned on an extensive scale, and wil] bring thousands to the exposition who would not otherwise he here, It will draw people from all parts of the United States and probably some from Europe, he sald. Another feature planned is the appearance here of E, R. Hutchison of Elmira. N. Y., with his hot air balloons and parachute leaps. Mr. Houtchison is regarded as one of the most sensational aerial performers in the world. making no less than seven parachute leaps from one balloon. Last year Baldwin made three and this is the largest number of drops ever seen here, and largest, with the exception of Mr. Hutchison’s, in the world, With the collection of aeroplanes, dirigible balloons and hot air balloons, the exposition management expects to present the biggest at traction of this kind ever seen In the South and possibly in America thus far. Prizes with which to draw the aviators here will not be lacking, and are already assured, Mr. Cohen stated. The Siheilakes are taking a much-needed rest at their home in Mobile, Ala., after a 32 weeks’ engagement with the Wm. Triplett Company. weather conditions are found to be most favorable. THE DALLAS MEET. Dallas, Texas is to have another aviation meet, the Curtiss Aviation Company having been engaged by the Young Men's Business Club to give an exhibition in Dallas from May 10 to 14, inclusive. The deal was closed last week for this com pany of flyers to appear in Dallas by a committee from the Young Men’s Business Club. consisting of C. L. Norsworthy, Temple Wheel er, Eli Sanger, Ike Lorch and M. A. Sacksteder. WILL DROP BOMBS ON SHIP. Buffalo, N. Y., March 22 (Special to The Billboard).—Military Day is being planned for the star feature of the Glenn H. Curtiss aviation meet, to be held in this city the week of June 18, in connection with the Head Camp Convention of the Modern Woodmen of America. A sensational program is planned, whereby Curtiss, McCurdy, Ely, Beachy and others will drop bombs from the clouds upon the outlined deck of a battleship laid out upon the middle of the aviation field, either at Highland Park or Kenilworth Park, The aim of the aviators will be to drop bombs into pipes representing the funnels of a war ship. Every such shot will count for a bullseye. The Canadian militia will be In camp at Niagara-on-the-Lake and the officers, together witb the officers of Fort Niagara, Fort Porter, the 74th and 65th Regiments will be invited to be present and witness the tests, AVIATOR DOES NEW FEAT. San Antonio, Tex., March 20.—Lieutenant Ben D. Fovlis won the distinction of delivering the first war message by aeroplane last week. Accompanied by Phil Parmlee, he flew from Fort Sam Houston to Leon Springs, twenty-six miles distant, delivered a sealed message to the commandant and flew back to Fort Sam Hous ton. The trip to and from was made at more than a mile a minute. Officers at Sam Houston say the machine moved so fast it would have been impossible for any modern weapon to have been used effectively on the aeroplane. BALLOONIST DROWNED. Berlin, March 20.—The German balloon Dusseldorf, which left Krefeld yesterday morning was blown into the Zuyder Zee. The Pilot, Paul Kayfer, one of the best known aeronauts in Germany, was drowned and his passenger was rescued injured and in a half-drowned condiltion The death of Kayfer is the seventh balloon fatality during the last three months and has resulted in a general agitation against the sport. War Plane in First Tryout Washington, D. C., March 22 (Special to The Rillboard).—With representatives of the War and Navy departments and military and naval attaches from # number of foreign legations looking on, the aeroplane just purchased by the War Department to be used In the Mexican border maneuvers was given its initial and successful demonstration here last week. The machine, which is what Curtiss designates his ‘“‘military type,’’ was given @ thorough tryout by J. A. D. McCurdy, who made two ascents, on each trip circling several times the big lot to the south of the state, war and navy building. Among the most Interesting of the small group of spectators were the Japanese military and naval attaches, AERIAL LAW. ~—_—— New Haven, Conn., March 22 (8 al to The Billboard).—A bill for the regulation of aviation is now before the legislature of Connectient. It provides for the licensing of aviators just as chauffeurs are licensed, and it makes it a misdemeanor for a bird-wman to fly over another's property in the State without a license. Before much flying can be done, it can be readily seen, the airship man will have to have his ‘‘number."’ Possibly such a law is a little premature, but should its adoption find favor in Connecticut, ft will not be long before the majority of the states will have enacted similar legislation. Then comes the question of enforcement. constable armed with a telescope, to ascertain high-flying license numbers, may become & feature of our landscape, or perhaps the ‘‘bicycle cop’ will be superseded by the ‘‘aerial bull.”"