The starter in this exciting race for cloudland was Hubert Latham, already the official holder of the world’s altitude record. At Bouy, on January 7th, in presence of official witnesses, he rose in his Antoinette monoplane, describing a great upward spiral till his barometer recorded 1,050 meters; then returned to earth with like ease and precision, landing softly near his hangar, before his assistants, transported with enthusiasm. He had touched the goal of Gallic ambition, having driven his aëroplane to the height of one kilometer.
Latham’s tenure of the world’s altitude record quickly passed to his doughty rival, Louis Paulhan. At Los Angeles, on the twelfth of January, Paulhan, mounted on a Farman biplane, ascended 4,165 feet, as against Latham’s record of 3,444 feet. This was a great step upward, due not only to Paulhan’s prowess and dexterity, but also to the science and constructive skill of the less spectacular gentlemen in the designing room, workshop and laboratory.
Latham strove again for the world’s altitude record and gained it on July 7th at the second Rheims tournament, by driving his Antoinette to a height of 4,541 feet.[53] But again his victory was soon eclipsed; for two days later, Walter Brookins at Atlantic City ascended 6,175 feet in a Wright biplane. An American was thus the first to fly above one mile, as a Frenchman had been first to pass the 1-kilometer limit. The 2-kilometer and 2-mile elevations were exceeded before the close of the year, as shown by the following table, which also manifests a fair distribution of honors among various nations and types of machines:
| Feet | Aviator | Aëroplane | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,445 | Latham | Antoinette | Betheny Plain | January 7 |
| 4,165 | Paulhan | Farman | Los Angeles | January 12 |
| 4,541 | Latham | Antoinette | Rheims | July 7 |
| 6,175 | Brookins | Wright | Atlantic City | July 9 |
| 6,604 | Drexel | Blériot | Lanark, Sc. | August 11 |
| 8,271 | Morane | Blériot | Havre, France | September 3 |
| 8,406 | Chavez | Blériot | Issy | September 8 |
| 9,104 | Wijnmalen | Farman | Mourmelon | October 1 |
| 9,714 | Johnstone | Wright | Belmont Park | October 31 |
| 10,499 | Leganeaux | Blériot | Pau | December 9 |
| 11,474 | [54]Hoxsey | Wright | Los Angeles | December 26 |
Such lofty flights have proved a severe test of both the aëroplane and the pilot. In the lighter atmosphere the engine must turn the propeller at higher speed to secure the same thrust, and the aëroplane must sail faster to support the same weight as at the lower levels. Thus more power is required on high, though the explosive medium, being less dense, is less capable of exerting power. The driver has, therefore, to jockey his machine with assiduous care and alertness, at a time when he is least fitted for exertion, owing to fatigue, cold, and it may be, physical discomfort due to the great change of atmospheric pressure. But still, both aëroplane and pilot are capable of ascending well above any levels thus far attained.
After the triumphant altitude flights of 1910 the aëronautical skeptics could no longer contend that the aëroplane was useless in transportation and warfare, because of its inability to fly above high land or the usual range of the guns of battleships and coast fortifications. Most of the important mountain passes lie below 10,000 feet. The safe elevation for motor balloons menaced by terrene guns is taken to be much less than two miles, and in military practice they usually operate below the one-mile level. The aëroplanes, therefore, may not only cross mountain ranges, but may also scrutinize, or grievously molest, land forces, marine squadrons and perhaps even the great gaseous cruisers of the atmosphere, which they can far outspeed, and may even destroy.
The increase in speed of flight during 1910 was also quite remarkable. The official record by which Mr. Curtiss won the Bennett Aviation Contest at Rheims, in 1909, showed a speed of 47.04 miles an hour. Still higher velocities, ranging from 50 to 60 miles an hour, were reported later in that season from England and France. In 1910, however, at the Rheims aviation meet, Morane, with a Blériot monoplane, covered the 20-kilometer course in 12 minutes 45.2 seconds, or at an average speed of 66.2 miles an hour, showing a gain of forty per cent on Mr. Curtiss’s speed of the preceding year. Still better was achieved at the international tournament held at Belmont Park in 1910. Le Blanc in a 100-horse Blériot monoplane, especially designed for speed, covered nineteen laps of the 5-kilometer course at an average rate of 61 miles an hour, and his fastest lap at the rate of 71.68 miles an hour, thus exceeding Curtiss’s speed of the previous year by fifty per cent. Other spurts during the latter part of 1910 were reported to have attained nearly 80 miles an hour over a closed circuit, though perhaps not a level one. The best results were achieved with machines having high power engines, small surfaces and slight forward resistance.
The advance in long-distance flying in 1910 more than kept pace with the progress in speed. The best achievement at the close of the preceding year had been Farman’s flight of 144 miles at an average rate of 35.06 miles an hour in a closed circuit. At the Rheims aviation meet in 1910, Jan Olieslaegers, in a Blériot monoplane, driven by a Gnome engine, covered 244 miles in a rectangular course, at an average speed of 48.31 miles an hour. At Buc, on the 28th of October, an aviator of three months’ practice, Maurice Tabuteau, in a Maurice Farman biplane, driven by a Rénault engine, flew over a closed circuit, covering 288.8 miles at an average speed of 47.9 miles an hour. At Pau on December 21st, M. G. Leganeaux, in a Blériot monoplane, flew for the Michelin Cup, covering 516 kilometers or 320.6 miles in six hours and one minute, or at an average speed of 53¼ miles an hour—a splendid showing. Finally, at Buc, on December 30th, Tabuteau, flying for the annual Michelin prize, covered 362.66 miles in a Maurice Farman biplane with an 8-cylinder 60-horse Rénault motor. The average speed in this very long flight was 47.3 miles an hour, or practically the rate by which Curtiss won the international contest of the preceding year. Of course a considerably better showing of both distance and velocity could have been made on a longer course.
The world records for cross-country flying and for endurance and load illustrate both the increasing perfection of the machine and of the pilot’s skill and confidence. At Los Angeles, on January 19th, Mr. and Mrs. Paulhan, in a Farman biplane, flew together 21 miles overland from the aviation field to Redondo and Hermosa Beach and return. On January 31st Van der Born made a world’s duration record with a passenger on a Farman biplane, flying 1 hour 48 minutes 50 seconds. On March 5th, Henri Farman, who had previously twice broken the world’s duration record for a pilot with two passengers, set a new and astonishing pace at Mourmelon, by carrying Mr. Hevardson and Madame Frank in easy flight for 62.5 minutes on his new biplane. In France, on April 3d, Emile Dubonnet on his Tellier monoplane flew from Juvisy to La Ferte-Saint Aubin, a distance of 109 kilometers or 70 miles in 1 hour and 50 minutes, thus winning the ten-thousand-franc prize offered by La Nature for the first straightaway flight of 100 kilometers to be effected in less than two hours, over a previously indicated course. This fine record voyage was achieved in a machine never before thoroughly tried. At Chalons-sur-Marne, on April 8th, Daniel Kinet, a Belgian, mounted with a passenger on a Farman biplane driven by a 50-horse Gnome engine, broke the world’s record for duration and distance for two persons by flying round a closed circuit 2 hours 19¼ minutes, covering a distance of 152 kilometers, or 94 miles. On April 17th, H. Farman, with a passenger in his biplane, voyaged from Etampes to Orleans, 28 miles. Next day, Paulhan, mounting the same machine, flew 108 miles, and the following day 42 miles. This tour established a new cross-country record for total distance, for single stage distance with one passenger, and for duration and single stage distance with two passengers. During the same month Farman made a new record for four passengers by carrying three gentlemen for 1 hour and 4 minutes on his new biplane, spreading 47.6 feet. On June 9th, two French officers, Lieutenant Fequant piloting and Captain Marconnet observing, flew on a Farman biplane from Bouy to Vincennes, 145 kilometers, in two hours and a half, thus breaking the world’s cross-country distance and duration record for a pilot with a passenger. On June 13th, Charles K. Hamilton, in a Curtiss biplane, flew from New York to Philadelphia, a distance of 86 miles in 103 minutes, and returned the same day, thus completing 172 miles in one day. This was an exhibition flight made for The New York Times and the Philadelphia Ledger, for a sum reported to be $10,000. It was a sequel to Glenn H. Curtiss’s memorable flight on June 5th, down the Hudson River from Albany to New York, for the New York World’s $10,000 prize. Hamilton’s average speed was 50 miles an hour going and 51 miles returning. On August 29th, at Lille, Louis Bréguet is reported to have carried with him on a biplane of his make, five passengers, who, together with the gasoline, weighed 921 pounds. It may be added that the Bréguet biplane of that date was advertised and guaranteed to carry a cargo, or extra load, of 250 kilograms. It thus appears that by 1910 the aëroplane had grown powerful enough for an aërial cab service, and that it could carry sufficient explosive gelatine to derange a battleship.
The contest for cross-country records continued unabated all that memorable year. During the first three days of September, Jean Bielovucic, a youth of twenty-one, mounted on a new type of Voisin biplane, with but a few days’ practice, flew from Paris to Bordeaux, covering 540 kilometers, or 336 miles, in four stages, comprising altogether 6¼ hours on the wing. In spite of severe weather, at times, he beat the regular express train and established a new world’s record for cross-country straightaway distance flying with stops. On August 17th, Alfred Le Blanc, finished a six-stage tour round a hexagonal circuit northeast of Paris, with the finish at Issy, near Paris, covering a total distance of 785 kilometers, or 440 miles, in 12 hours 56.4 seconds effective time. On September 7th, Weyman flew with a passenger from Paris to Clermont near the Puy de Dome, covering 205 miles in one day, while trying for the Michelin prize of 100,000 francs, for a flight to the Puy de Dome inside of six hours. On December 18th, Thomas Sopwith, competing for the longest flight across the Channel and into Belgium, on a British-built aëroplane, flew from the Isle of Sheppy across the Channel, and landed at Beaumont, Belgium, covering a distance of 174 miles in 3.5 hours. At Buc, on November 27th, Laurens, in a 60-horse R. E. P. monoplane, flew with his wife 53 miles at an average speed of nearly 50 miles an hour. On December 22d, Lieutenant Cammerman, a French army officer, won the L. Weiller prize by flying across country with a passenger, 147 miles in 4 hours and 2 minutes.