CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



the feat difficult for the aviator, and it is usually neces- 

 sary to inspire oxygen carried in a tank. All in all, 

 the feat of bestriding a ton of steel and canvas and 

 lifting the unwieldy hulk above the clouds seems 

 little less than miraculous. 



A high record of another type was gained (also in 

 France) by Pierre Gougenheim in piloting an eighty 

 horse power biplane carrying four additional pas- 

 sengers to the height of 2461 feet. The feat was ac- 

 complished in a heavy wind, and a greater altitude 

 would have been reached but for a shower. 



In September, 1913, M. Pegoud twice performed 

 the astonishing feat of voluntarily describing a letter 

 S in the air, flying upside down for several hundred 

 yards in so doing. 



The speed possibilities of the aeroplane are sug- 

 gested by the 105.5 miles an hour made by Jules Ved- 

 rines at Chicago in 1912 over a course of 124.8 miles, 

 in a 140 horse power monoplane. In the matter 

 of endurance flights and long distance journeys 

 through the air there are new records almost weekly. 

 One aviator has flown from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific; another has gone from Paris to St. Peters- 

 burgh; and the flight from Paris to London is 

 almost commonplace. In June, ,1913, M. des Mouli- 

 nais made a 933-mile flight from Paris to Warsaw, 

 his time in the air being ten hours, and his average 

 speed, 93 miles an hour. M. Guillaux flew 859% 

 miles in a day; and, on September 15th, 1913, with a 

 pessenger, 118 miles in fifty minutes. M. Letorl flew 

 590 miles without a stop; and in America Mr. C. M. 

 Wood made on August 8th, 1913 a nonstop flight 



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