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Show with th; flyers. The past week was a notable one among the navigators of the air. There was more accomplished, accom-plished, perhaps, in the seven days than in any equal length of time since flight by man was proved to be a possibility. The week started with the successful suc-cessful flight by M. Bleriot across the English channel, from Calais, in France, to Dover, in England. Eng-land. In a way this was the most noteworthy flight that had ever been successfully concluded. The channel at the . point used for crossing is only twenty-two miles wide, and the entire length of the flight did not exceed twenty-five miles. A few days after M. Bleriot's successful crossing of the channel, Hubert Latham made the attempt, but landed in the water, after he had traveled about twenty miles, within a couple of miles of the English Eng-lish coast, where he was rescued by the French torpedo tor-pedo boats that were accompanying the flyer. While all this was going on on the other side-of side-of the water, the Wright brothers were not idle. In their tests at Fort Myer Orville Wright met all the requirements of the government and turned the machine over to the war department for the contract con-tract price of $25,000, and in addition received a bonus of $5,000 for exceeding the speed requirements require-ments of the government in the aeroplane. The tests were delayed by unfavorable weather, and extensions ex-tensions of time were granted in order to give the aviators every opportunity to come up to the requirements. re-quirements. High winds prevented the tests taking place on schedule time, but the delay was taken advantage ad-vantage of, and when the weather was favorable the machine was sent against every time and distance record by heavier-than-air machines, carrying a passenger. The results of the week naturally placed M. Bleriot and the Wright brothers before the world as the leading aeroplanists, and the managers of the Seattle fair were quick to see the advantage of having them appear in competition races at the fair grpunds. To make such a competition worth while to the aviators, they offered a purse of $25,-000 $25,-000 to secure the attraction. While the science of air navigation has not yet been reduced to a finality, final-ity, such a race at the fair would undoubtedly attract at-tract the attendance of thousands of people to see the machines. However, it would hardly be necessary neces-sary to make the exhibition a competition to attract attention. The competition, feature would, of course, add greatly to the prestige of the winner, but the Wrights have not shown a disposition to fight for honors, and it may be they will not accept ac-cept the terms of the exposition management. M. Bleriot has signified his willingness to enter such a race if the Wrights will challenge him. But it is doubtful if the science of aerial navigation would be promoted by such a competition, and the liability liabil-ity of accident would probably delay rather than further the final solution of the problem. Count Zeppelin brought out his dirigible balloon bal-loon during the week and sailed from Frederichs-hafen Frederichs-hafen to Frankfort, Germany, a distance of 220 miles, at an average speed of twenty-one miles an hour, alighting in the Air Navigation Exposition grounds, where he f'as greeted by 100,000 people, and received a guard of two regiments of soldiery. This accomplishment of Count Zeppelin is not equal to one of his previous performances in distance traveled, but it is designated his most successful f flight, in that he encountered advene winds, hail and rain, and successfully combated the elements. At one point in the flight the wind was so strong that progress was delayed for twenty-five minutes though the machinery was working perfectly and. at a speed that under ordinary circumstances would have sent the balloon through the air at a speed of approximately forty miles a,n hour. Announcement has also been made that members mem-bers of the signal corps of the United States army will attempt to travel from Fort Omaha to Boston early in October in order to wrest from the French the record of 1,205 miles in a free balloon. Fort Omaha has been selected as the starting point because be-cause it is said the only plant in the United States for the manufacture of hydrogen gas is located there. A thousand cubic feet of hydrogen gas will lift from thirty to forty pounds more than will nn equal amount of ordinary coal gas. The French record of 1,205 miles was made with a hydrogen gas balloon. Altogether the week was a notable one in aeronautics. aero-nautics. The accompliHliments of the aeroplanists were the most remarkable and the most satisfying of any so far. Certainly distinct progress was made, and the world is free with its congratulations of the successful ones, and is free with its sympathy sym-pathy for Latham, the mau whose flight ended in disaster in the waters of the English channel. |
