Mr. Frank W. Coffyn took a most interesting series of moving pictures of New York City from the water front, portraying the Battery, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the famous Statue of Liberty in the harbour. Mr. Coffyn used a hydroaeroplane for this purpose, which made his flights comparatively safe. In fact, such a feat would have been well nigh impossible for a machine that could not land on the water, for there are no places where an aeroplane can land in the business section of New York unless the aviator should land on one of the large buildings, and then he would have great difficulty in getting away again. [6]
Great care has to be exercised to keep the machine on an even keel, so that the operator can manage the roll of film.
| [6] | The first start from a roof-top was made on June 12, 1912, when Silas Christoferson in a Curtiss biplane rose from a platform built on the roof of the Hotel Multnomah, Portland, Ore., and flew safely away.–AUGUSTUS POST. |
LIFE-SAVING
Another branch of the government service that will no doubt be greatly aided by aeroplanes are the Life Saving Stations along the coast, whose regular equipment might well include an aeroplane to fly to wrecks and carry a line from shore to ship when the high seas make it impossible to launch a lifeboat. It might be impracticable to go out during the period of severe storm, but there is always a calm in the air after a storm, as well as the proverbial calm before one, while the high seas in which a lifeboat cannot live are still running. The aeroplane or the hydroaeroplane, dashing through the air, even through high wind, would bring the line that means life to helpless men clinging to a wreck.
I am awaiting with earnest expectation the first time that an aeroplane actually saves a life; when that takes place, it will have conquered the heart of the people as well as fascinated its intellect, aroused its awe, or compelled its admiration. The first period of enthusiastic acceptance of the new machine has been succeeded in the mind of the general non-flying public by an admiration not at all like affection.
Realising how many lives have been given to its development, feeling that the aviator takes, as they call it, "his life in his hands," the crowd at a flying-meet feels with all its great and growing interest, an attraction in which figures not a little fear and distrust. The first time that an aeroplane saves a life as it can and will do many times it will have begun to conquer this public distrust. That is why the exploit of the hydroaeroplane already described, in coming first to the aid of the aviator in the water, had a value far greater than its apparent importance. [7]
| [7] | A very important service was rendered only a short time ago by the hydroaeroplane which might easily have served to save a human life if the accident had been more serious than it actually was. Mr. Hugh Robinson the instructor of the Curtiss hydroaeroplane school was having Sunday dinner at the hotel in Hammondsport, where Dr. P. L. Alden, one of the well-known physicians of that place, was also eating dinner, when the doctor received a telephone message that Mr. Edwin Petrie's little son had fallen from the steps of the Urbana Wine Company at Urbana, five miles down the lake, and had a compound fracture of his thigh with a serious hemorrhage. It was a very serious injury and the little fellow was in intense pain, and Mr. Petrie asked the doctor to come as quickly as he possibly could. Dr. Alden realised the urgency of the situation and knew that delay might mean serious results from hemorrhage, so he went immediately over to Mr. Robinson and asked if he would take him across the lake in the hydroaeroplane right away. Mr. Robinson said, "I will be ready in five minutes; just as soon as you can get over to the field." Dr. Alden got his bandages and instruments and hurried down to the shed where Mr. Robinson had already gotten out the hydro; he jumped in and they were off without a moment's delay. They covered the five miles in five minutes, at times running on the surface of the lake because the wind was blowing so strong; as they ran up on the beach the doctor jumped out and hastened to his patient. The boy was so much interested in the fact that he was the first patient to be treated by a hydroaeroplane doctor, and so fascinated at hearing Dr. Alden tell about the trip, that he forgot for the moment the seriousness of his condition and allowed the doctor to reduce the fracture without an anesthetic. When all that could be done just then had been done, Dr. Alden and Mr. Robinson returned in the hydroaeroplane as rapidly as they had come on their errand of humanity, and at last accounts young Mr. Petrie was getting well as fast as he could so he could have a ride in the hydroaeroplane himself!–AUGUSTUS POST. |
EXPLORING AND ESCAPE FROM DANGER
The aeroplane will find one of its important uses not only in taking pictures of inaccessible spots, but also in crossing otherwise impassable places, especially in times of pressing need when fire, earthquake, volcanic eruptions that leave beds of molten lava, explosions, pestilences, floods, or other devastations occur, and quick assistance is necessary.