PROGRESS IN AVIATION CHANUTE. 155 



the biplane, he accepted, that design, although he did not like the stiff, 

 horizontal lines, and introduced bird-like transversal curves. Then 

 he added a motor ; this was applied to the No. 9 machine, in which he 

 still had these transversal curves in the wings; he had the propeller 

 in front, and instead of twisting the wings he used fins at the rear, 

 which are adjustable. He obtained some very fair results. This ma- 

 chine is shown in plate 13, figure 1. On the 5th of September, 1909, 

 he borrowed a Voisin machine and undertook a trial flight at Bou- 

 logne, preliminary to attempting to cross the British Channel, where 

 it is about 40 miles wide, but, in making a turn, his machine tipped 

 over unduly to the left. He undertook to alight, but in doing so his 

 left wing struck a lump of earth, or hummock, when the wheels 

 rolled into a ditch, the machine turned turtle, and poor Ferber was 

 killed, to the profound sorrow of all interested in aviation. He is the 

 third victim thus far this year,^ but the wonder all along has been 

 that so few accidents have occurred. There have been thousands of 

 flights made — for instance, 1,300 were made in one week at the Rheims 

 tournament — but thus far only three deaths have occurred. 



More people kept coming into the field, and among the later ones 

 is Mr. Hubert Latham, with a monoplane called the " Antoinette." 

 Mr. Latham has risen to sudden prominence by some daring feats. 

 Mr. Levavasseur designed and built this monoplane and engaged Mr. 

 Latham to operate his machine. With it Mr. Latham got some very 

 fine flights, such as that shown in plate 13, figure 2, taken at Rheims. 

 On the 6th of June, 1909, he went across the country 10 miles from 

 Juvisy. On the 19th of July he attempted to cross the British Chan- 

 nel, but was unsuccessful. On the 2Tth of July he tried it again, and 

 flew 20 miles, or within 1 mile of Dover; the motor then gave out 

 and he fell into the sea, the rescue being shown in plate 14, figure 1. 

 On the 26th of August, at the meeting at Rheims, he flew 96 miles in 

 2 hours and 18 minutes, and won the second prize for distance. On 

 that occasion he rose 508 feet, a record which has since been beaten by 

 Paulhan and Rougier, who have developed an extraordinary aptitude 

 for high flights. On his first attempt, on the 10th of July, 1909, 

 Paulhan was able to fly 1.25 miles. On the 19th of July he flew 12 

 miles across country ; on the 7th of August, 23 miles ; on the 24th of 

 August, 18 miles on a Voisin machine, and on the 25th of August he 

 flew 81 miles at Rheims, winning third prize for distance. He has 

 since made very fine flights in various meets. Plate 14, figure 2, is 

 from a photograph taken at Juvisy. 



The next man to reach prominence is Mr. Sommer. On the 4th of 

 Au,gust, 1909, he flew 2 hours: on the 27th of August, 37 miles at 

 Rheims; on the 10th of September, 18 miles over troops in review; 



1 Since then Aviator Fernandez was killed at Nice, Dec. 6, by a fall in his aeroplane. 



