The Trial of Airships
One of the most progressive features of the St. Louis Exposition will be the proposed trial of air ships, in which the winner will receive a prize of one hundred thousand dollars in gold. The event will take place immediately above the ground of the Washington University, where, under the direction of a committee of aerial experts, a figure eight-shaped course will be marked out by means of anchored balloons. The length of the course is to be ten miles. The winner will be the one whose air ship, in a series of trials, covers the required distance in the shortest average time.
There will also be twelve other prizes, amounting to fifty thousand dollars in all, for the performance of some special accomplishment upon the part of the contestant.
Mr. Santos Dumont, to whom we look to take a leading part in the event, states that at least one hundred and fifty air ships will be entered.
Such liberal inducements as these should do much to develop the science of aerial navigation.