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Show ! WATER FLYING (iAiNING FAIR A SrORT THIS IS BECAUSE HYDRO-AEROPLANE j HAS GREATLY REDUCED ELEMENT OF i! DANGER IN AVIATION .- .- -.- . ; 1 9 u a I JUST now when it has become apparent ap-parent that the aeroplane entails too great a risk for the sportsman, sports-man, inventors of Eying machines the world over are turning their attention at-tention to the hydro-aeroplane. This comparatively new air craft has given a fresh impetus to the business busi-ness side of flying by reducing the element ele-ment of danger so that the aviator may feel it prudent to go for an air sail without first making his will. Although Al-though the water plane did not come into use until about 18 months ago, It has rapidly gained in popularity from the fact that It has not been the Overwater flying about New York Is not an unusual spectacle. Thousands of persons almost daily for two weeks last winter watched Frank Coffyn in his Wright hydro-aeroplaue skim the surface of the water of the bay from the battery, drift into the air with a moving picture machine, hurdle bridges, circle Miss Liberty, spiral over ferryboats and drop back on the water with the ease of a gull. He had one or two mishaps, but was always towed back safely. The nearest approach to real danger dan-ger occurred when on one of these flights Coffyn dropped his camera in river. .j ' ty In July of 1D05 Voisin was trying out f;'::--Wv(&i: ':l --:-.y ' ; j ; a B'eriot In which the pilot was seat- '.,!. fi':tiVy: -:i ' ' sS-ir e3 'n a cagelike apparatus. The ma- I Vv?i: I chine became submerged and for some seconds he was fastened underneath .;fysK";;!::S:i-:-?'-::-.s :SS:::::5:S;i::SSs' iiSiiiuLL. ' : ' the water. He did not like this ex-;".::?:SiSS: ex-;".::?:SiSS: perience and after that the machines . ' v. were flown over land. TSS ' tR Then in 1911 along came Glenn H. S riSsligiOTip: ffekt&tSf" r'fer'iX'A Curtiss with a satisfactory solution of - t ill! teMf & the prob,em- It was not until January, 1911, ,. i i. . '. f :.!.; U'WMyMt: cause or a single fg?U:y& fatality or serious F ' h. UJv accident. It Is gp!l$-; true there have been plenty of spills and duck- &Wiii lngs and coun-' SiSilSflR terparts of acci- ii:l;sfc dents In which S - aviators have rlsSliSSsS lost their lives In land machines, ll;illP but the pilots of iiiB;?i the water ma- PSpSsW chine have suf- j?ami; : - s::" ym:--(Sm?'---: :. - yw'w fered nothing 1 1 ' "jrlS- worse than a wet- 'jhlMfsT coe-r fjyiojg itst jY-z?&ofsizve? ting. cause of a single fatality or serious accident. It Is true there have been plenty of spills and duckings duck-ings and counterparts coun-terparts of accidents acci-dents In which aviators have lost their lives In land machines, but the pilots of the water machine ma-chine have suffered suf-fered nothing worse than a wetting. There have been seme striking illustrations il-lustrations of this. For instance, on February 10 Hugh Robinson while flying fly-ing at Antibes, near Nice, France, started out to give a demonstration In rough weather. When he attempted attempt-ed to come down the shore was crowded crowd-ed with spectators and he was forced to descend on the water. As he wai about to settle a big wave rolled up and hit the tail of the machine, pitch ing him out head first. Robinson escaped es-caped with a drenching. Two years before John B. Moisant was killed in just such a fall on land. Wnile making a flight of 370 miles along the Mississippi river Robinson's motor stopped out over the river. He reached the water, drifted shoreward and was towed back to the starting point by a boat. It Is this margin of safety that makes the hydro-aeroplane popular with the sportsman, who heretofore has hesitated about taking up flying for the reason that the sensation did not justify the risk. Aeroplane builders build-ers both in Europe and America have awakeney to the situation and are turning out machines fitted with floats or hydros. The aeronautical organizations throughout the country have been impressed im-pressed with this clean record of the hydro-aeroplane and are doing their utmost to promote thus form of flight As a consequence schools are being established along water-fronts to supplant sup-plant the aerodromes on land. This alone should insure a liberal patronage patron-age when it Is considered that the Aero Club of America and Its affiliated clubs alone have a membership of 8,-000 8,-000 and the Aeronautical of New York has about 300 members. On a rainy day last May Mr. Collier, with Walter Brookins as plot, flew from Seidler's Beach to the flagship Washington, anchored off Ninety-sixth street, to deliver an Invitation to Admiral Ad-miral Osterhau3 to attend the Aero show then in progress of the Grand Central Palace. Previous lo that Admiral Ad-miral Osteahans had contended that no flying machine was worth to than ten cents, bat he completely changed his mind. The 32-miles was made In 30 minutes, min-utes, good speed being made on account ac-count of a following wind. By motor the trip requires two hours and by train upward of an hour and a quarter. the water several hundred feet below. The machine fortunately did not hit a ferryboat and consequently there was only the loss of a camera. It was while making these fights that Coffyn demonstrated the feasibility feasibil-ity of communicating with ships in case of emergency. He flew down the harbor and overtook the Italian liner Axona and landed a passenger without with-out the slightest difficulty. Coffyn afterward aft-erward said he could have caught the boat 50 miles outside New York just as easily. It would also seem that the water machine would be valuable for life-saving life-saving purposes along the coast. During Dur-ing the Chicago aviation meet last August an aviator lost control while flying and was pitched into the water. Three-quarters of a mile away Aviator Hugh Robinson was performing circles In a Curtiss machine. Seeing his fellow fel-low flier in distress, he flew to the rescue res-cue at a mile a minute, reached the spot, landed on the water alongside the submerged aeroplane and offered to give the plot a lift. All this In less than one minute. On another occasion Naval Aviator Herbster while carrying a passenger over San Diego Bay had some mishap mis-hap in alighting and turned over. This was about half a mile from the shore. Long before motor boats could reach the spot Harry Atwood had launched his machine from the beach and In less' than a minute was to the rescue of Mr. Hefbster and his passenger. Neither was hurt, and both preferred to stay by their machine, which was upside down in the water, until a motor mo-tor boat came to tow it to shore. A Hammondsport physician who had received an urgent call to see a patient pa-tient across Lake Keuka, not being able to get a boat at once, found an aviator to take him there. The patient pa-tient was in a serious condition, and the time saved was important. This new aircraft is not limited to the water. It can fly at a speed of 60 miles or more, skim the water at 50 miles and run over the ground at 35 miles. It therefore marks the conquest con-quest of three elements air, water and earth. The hydroaeroplane Is essentially an aeroplane equipped with floats to take the place of wheels. Almost every builder has his own ideas for a hydro, and hardly any two are exactly alike. America is far ahead of Europe In the matter of hydroaeroplanes, ni: much so that this water plane may be . said to be an American invention. I While experiments were conducted in Europe since 1905 only one machine, the Fabre hydroaeroplane, as much as left the water, and it was wrecked after aft-er a few short trials. That was in 1910. The first complete success was attained at-tained by Glenn H. Curi-ss in the early part of 1911, and fo- nearly a year he practically had te field to himself. The idea of the hydroaeroplane, hydroaero-plane, however, seems to have originated originat-ed with William Kress, an Austrian inventor. After 27 years of experimenting experi-menting he completed a machine fitted with cylindrical floats of aluminum which .vere tried out at the TJnter-Tuil-r.erbach chantiers in 1S9S and 190L It never left the water. In 1902 and 1903 the Wright brothers made some experiments, but they were terminated terminat-ed by the breaking of a dam near Dayton, Day-ton, Ohio. Other inventors followed, but without with-out any pronounced success. Among those notably were Parseval, Du-faux Du-faux brothers. Archdeacon, Gabriel, Voisin and Bleriot. The last three collaborated in their experiments, Voisin Voi-sin acting as pilot of the machines, which were tried out over the Seine river. In July of 1905 Voisin was trying out a Bleriot in which the pilot was seated seat-ed in a cagelike apparatus. The machine ma-chine became submerged and for some seconds he was fastened underneath the water. He did not like this experience ex-perience and after that the machines were flown over land. Then in 1911 along came Glenn H. Curtiss with a satisfactory solution of the problem. It was not until January, 1911, that a hydroaeroplane was ready for trial. The first tests were failures, and for two weeks daily the machine was set afloat to undergo some new change, some knowledge being gained from each test. Assisting with the experiments were Lieut. Theodore Ellyson of the navy and Lieut. Paul Beck, Lieut. John C. Walker, .Jr., and the late E. M. Kelly of the army; Hugh Robinson and C. C. Witmer, aviators of the camp. The men wore bathing suits usually usual-ly and no one thought anything of wet clothing orcold feet. The success suc-cess which came January 26 was a surprise even to Mr. Curtiss. On this day the machine was taken out for its usual inspection and much to the delight and surprise of Mr. Curtiss, the pilot, it leaped Into the air. The success was electrifying. The spectators ran along the beach shouting shout-ing and the ships that caught sight of the man gull sent exultant blasts. This event marked the success of a new flier. There were daily flights thereafter, with and without passengers. The navies of the world were quick to recognize its value as an auxiliary. It had hardly attained success before the United States navy acquired an hydroplane for experimenting and It has since added others. An aviation section in charge of Capt. Washington Washing-ton Irving Chambers has since been established at Annapolis. Other nations na-tions failing to develop a reliable aeroplane followed in line and ordered or-dered machines from America. |