Show afy t f i T S FAME III i curtiss long interested in aviation had little time to prepare for contest in which he captured international aviation cup his remarkable biplane new york dy hla achievement in winning the international aviation cup at rheams recently glenn H curtess has jumped into worldwide renown in aerial circles that his victory a as u surprise even to his closest friends in this country la ex pressing it mildly when mr left for france on august B his machine had never been tried out and he admitted that he was afraid he was taking a big chance with the limited time left him to get in condition at rheams and try out his motor thoroughly but after two or three days tuning up on the field the machine performed admirably at aery ap bearance pe arance and when he established a world r record tor speed at eight minutes 32 2 5 seconds for the circuit hla american friends predicted that ha would win and he became a favorite at rheams if there is mo thing that curtica docs know thoroughly it Is something about motors he was an enthusiastic motor cyclist a few years ago and held many speed records he ha been manufacturing motor bicycles for several years at his factory in hammondsport Hammond sport N Y quickly real lying the future of aerial flight ho was one of the earliest in america to devote careful attention to the manufacture of aero motors ie was tn by prof alexander graham dell to become one of the six members of the batters lat areval experiment association cia tion and with the exception of the experiments carried on at baddick baddeck Bad deck nova last winter the greater part of their work in solving problem of aerial flight was done at him mond sport it was there that the four aeroplanes aero planes designed by members ot the association were built and tried out the third machine which was the most notable previous to the long distance flights of the silver dart over curtess at wheel of his flying machine the ice it baddick baddeck last winter was the june bug it was with that ida chine that curtess challenged for the scientific american cup and won la one minute 42 seconds he was only required to go one kilometer ot a mile when the aerial asso elation was disbanded last spring mr curtess directed his attention to making practical aeroplanes aero planes at ham mond sport and the machines he has turned out embody many of the ideas gained from bla work with the association the first machine which he completed was purchased by the aeronautic society of new york city mr curtess gave some creditable alons with it at morris park in july and then transferring his flying ex perl ments to the hempstead plains near myneola Ml neola made his best flight in this country of 52 minutes 30 seconds on july 17 last covering 29 miles which la now the record flight for the scientific american cup for 1900 mr curtess machine which he took to europe la a duplicate of the one he used here with the ex of the motor and therein liea the secret of his success instead 0 lulng a tour cy ader motor he built a special ight ci ander one gatei coded cooed it develops CO horse power and weighs complete about 20 pounds he carries a thirteen gallon gasoline tank and a three gallon oil tank the fuel weighing 60 pounds the engine develops propeller thrust of aso pounds against pounds on the old june bug his machine a biplane Is about 30 feet wide with a total expanse of surface of feet the total weight ol 01 the entire machine ready for flight Is pounds about pounds beav ler than the first machine used at myneola it la interesting to note that cur use was the second choice of the aero club of america efforts had been made to induce one of the wryght brothers to represent america but they declined on account of other autlee mr curtess ans definitely notified of bla acceptance by the aero club within six weeks of bla dopart uw 0 europe |