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Show HOWLING WESTERN GALE STOPS FLIGHTS NEW YORK, Oct. 27 Such are the caprices of October weather that Ralph Johnston and Arch HoxRey of tbo Wright team of aviator went up for altitude at Belmont park this afternoon aft-ernoon and brought down the record of the dav for distance. Tho fifth day of the International Aviation meet opened full of promise and closed In a howling western gale that filled the air with whirling autumn au-tumn leaves, slammed down tho benches In the grandstand, ripped out the canvas screens that bar the view of those who have not paid, but hope to see: and sent such a skirmish line of dust dancing around the track that the lamps had to be lighted outside the hangars for the mechanics to find their way about. It was a furious end to a day of postponements, disappointments disappoint-ments and scattered feats of the most daring airmanship that has yet been witnessed by an American crowd. Wind Proves Too Strong for, Flight. Officially, flights for the Gordon Dennett elimination trials to pick an American team which shall defend the International trophy won at Rheims last year by Clenn II. Curtiss, opened at 9 o'clock this morning, but nobody cared to come out for them In the wind that was blowing. At half past one o'clock the special prize of $1V 000. offered by Thomas F. Ry.v for a flicht from the nld to the Statue of l iberty and return, was open tn any aviator, but none of them dared try It. They chose to take advaniace instead in-stead of the latest largesse allowed them bj the committee permission to compete between l:P.O and ?.:45 o'clock any afternoon during the meet providing only that they should finish before 5:30. That narrowed tho program down to one hourly event for distance and altitude Latham, in an Antoinette monoplane, for distance and Hoxsey and Johnstone of the Wright team, for altitude, were the only ones to j brave a gale of from twenty to twon-1 ty-flve miles an hour. Do Not Understand the Eagle. Johnstone and Hoxsey tried to set their wings and oar Into the gale without effort, but they showed that the way of an eagle In the air is still one of the things men do not understand. under-stand. They kept their pole beautifully, beauti-fully, but although the speed of the biplane they were flying la normally 35 mtles an hour and their engines were running wide open, they were pushed stead;.l out of view and down over the edv;e of the horizon The upper up-per gale they wero jamming must have been more than forty miles an hour, but as neither was willing to come flown before the other, they stuck it out until forced to land by sheer competition of the elements. Made Two Long Flights. Both wore driven miles off their course. Word came from Hoxsey first, that he had landed at Brentwood. Brent-wood. L I , about 25 miles distant Johnstone was carried 55 miles to Middle Island, L. I. These were the two longest fp.phts of the day. Each telephoned in that they hoped to fly back to the course tomorrow. For the first hour the distance event, the f-nly routine number remaining on the prournm, the sole entrant was Latham La-tham in an Antoinette. He Finished the hour wilh only 14 laps. 21.7miles in 55 minutes, IS. 50 seconds and the fipuros show how fierce vvas bis bat Me with the gale, but they cannot bring out as did the visual image itself his beautiful maneuvering One thousand feei above the grandstand he Journeyed Journey-ed his wav around the turns by sheer resourcefulness and nerve. The gale was so obstinate (hat he had to point head into It nnd steer due north in order or-der to edge sidewise. like a ferryboat in a run of tide, and make distance to the west. Swiss Aviator Gives Flight. A special eveut for distance and altitude al-titude was added to the program to amuse the crowd, but It was long before any ne came ut for jt Finally, Audernars, a Swiss. In a tiny Demoiselle, Demois-elle, danced over the course; but it was not a day for a yellow butterfly and after two rounds Audeinars learned learn-ed prudence and went back to the hangar. If he had slatted just one minute earlier, he lnlsht have wou the easiest money of the . meet $250 for first In hourly distance with nc lap, but the bomb banned before he was three-quarters of the way around. To Biookins, instead, fell the easy money. With a flight lasting only twenty minutes in which he rose to an altitude of C'.O feet, he brought down $50o for first place In a special event for altitude and duration. It could not be called a contest, because be-cause he had no competition, but Brookins felt he had earned tho money. "Twenty-five dollars a minute may seem bic;h pay," he said. "but. I went out o prove the ability if an American Ameri-can machine to ride a gule that no foreigner would dare." Wind Storm Ends Contest. A few moments alter be landed came the wiud storm and all of the contests were called off. The records of Johnstone and Hoxsey for altitude will not be available until their barograph baro-graph readings have been brought back to the aviation Ibid tomorrow. Willi Incomplete figures it is impossible impossi-ble to give out today's full summaries, but so far as they are avaiable, they are as follows; First hour, distance event Won by Latham (Antoinette). II laps, 21.7 miles: tlnje 55 minutes, 4S 50 peconds. No other stariors. First hourly altitude; undetermined. Special event fur altitude and durationWon dura-tionWon by Brookins f Wright); time 20 minutes, height 050 fcct( unofficial) un-official) No second or third. Standing of the prize winners Hoxsey Hox-sey (winnings today unknown). ?1.-625; ?1.-625; Grahame-White. $1,700; Iithara, ?1,400; Moissant, $1,200; Johnstone (winning today unknown). ?S75; Drexel. ?800; De Lessens, $050; Aub-run. Aub-run. $(J50; Radley, $500; Brookins, $050; Ely, $100; McCurdy, $50; Wil-lard, Wil-lard, $50. |