Robart Monoplane.
Tabuteau, almost on New Year’s eve, broke all distance records by a flight of 363 miles in less than eight hours; while Barrier at Memphis probably reached a speed of eighty-eight miles per hour (timing unofficial). With the new year came reports of inconceivable speeds by a machine skidding along the ice of Lake Erie; the successful receipt by Willard and McCurdy of wireless messages from the earth to their aeroplanes; and the proposal by the United States Signal Corps for the use of flying machines for carrying Alaskan mails.
Vina Monoplane.
McCurdy all but succeeded in his attempt to fly from Key West to Havana, surpassing previous records by remaining aloft above salt water while traveling eighty miles. Lieutenant Bague, in March, started from Antibes, near Nice, for Corsica. After a 124-mile flight, breaking all records for sea journeys by air, he reached the islet of Gorgona, near Leghorn, Italy, landing on bad ground and badly damaging his machine. The time of flight was 5-1/2 hours. Bellinger completed the 500-mile “accommodation train” flight from Vincennes to Pau; Vedrine, on April 12, by making the same journey in 415 minutes of actual flying time, won the Béarn prize of $4000; Say attained a speed of 74 miles per hour in circular flights at Issy-les-Moulineaux. Aeroplane flights have been made in Japan, India, Peru, and China.
One of the most spectacular of recent achievements is that of Renaux, competing for the Michelin Grand Prize. A purse of $20,000 was offered in 1909 by M. Michelin, the French tire manufacturer, for the first successful flight from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand—260 miles—in less than six hours. The prize was to stand for ten years. It was prescribed that the aviator must, at the end of the journey, circle the tower of the Cathedral and alight on the summit of the Puy de Dome—elevation 4500 feet—on a landing place measuring only 40 by 100 yards, surrounded by broken and rugged ground and usually obscured by fog.
The flight was attempted last year by Weymann, who fell short of the goal by only a few miles. Leon Morane met with a serious accident, a little later, while attempting the trip with his brother as a passenger. Renaux completed the journey with ease in his Farman biplane, carrying a passenger, his time being 308 minutes.
This Michelin Grand Prize is not to be confused with the Michelin Trophy of $4000 offered yearly for the longest flight in a closed circuit.
Speeds have increased 50% during the past year; even with passengers, machines have moved more than a mile a minute: average motor capacities have been doubled or tripled. The French men and machines hold the records for speed, duration, distance, and (perhaps) altitude. The highest altitude claimed is probably that attained by Garros at Mexico City, early this year—12,052 feet above sea level. The world’s speed record for a two-man flight appears to be that of Foulois and Parmalee, made at Laredo, Texas, March 3, 1911: 106 miles, cross-country, in 127 minutes. Three-fourths of all flights made up to this time have been made in France—a fair proportion, however, in American machines.
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