BLAZES COURSE TO LIGHT 



Grahame-White, the English Aviator, 

 Opens the Contest for the $10,000 Prize 

 with a Magnificent Flight 



Visions of a future when the paths of the 

 air shall be as free to human beings as are 

 those of the earth arose before many a one 

 who witnessed the remarkable flight ol 

 Claude Grahame-White, the English avia- 

 tor, when late yesterday afternoon he rode 

 In his Bleriot monoplane over land and sea, 

 twice making the round trip between the 

 aviation field at Squantum and Boston 

 Light, and setting a mark of 40m 1 3-5s In 

 the first attempt to win the $10,000 prize 

 offered by the Boston Globe. With such 

 nonchalance and absence of theatricality 

 did the British expert accomplish his task, 

 so perfectly did his plane perform and so 

 completely was it under his jontrol that to 

 those who watched it seemed that the con- 

 quest of the air. In ancient tiroes attributed 

 only to divinity, and in modern the aim 

 for which men of all civilized nations have 

 been striving, seemed completed. 



Grahame- WniU had Informed the com- 

 mittee that, with the wind at ten miles an 

 hour or less, he would attempt to win the 

 grand prize of the meet In his monoplane. 

 The wind was gradually dropping and 

 when, a little after four o'clock, it was In 

 the neighborhood- of seven or eight miles 

 an hour, the conditions seemed excellent. 

 Mr. Grahame-White was satisfied and it 

 was announced that he would first make a 

 speed test of three laps around the pylon* 

 on the field, and then would set off for 

 Boston Light. With no fuss whatever, the 

 monoplane wag wheeled onto the field, In 

 perfect trim, the aviator garbed In a dark- 

 brown suit mounted to his seat above the 

 planes, like a race horse driver climbing 

 into his sulky. There were no false starts 

 and jockeylng.however, for once the motoi 

 was started, the plane rose from the ground 

 as easily and smoothly as a gull rising from 

 the water 



Before the great crowd realized that the 

 supreme test of the aviation meeting was 

 being started, Grahame-White was In the 

 air. He crossed the starting line at just 

 4.29 o'clock on the speed test, rounded the 

 pylons, one after another, banking and 

 skimming gracefully, and all the time de- 

 veloping high speed. Three times he went 

 around the field, in the speed test, then at 

 4.35 he circled It a fourth time. As he 

 came down over the heads of the spectators 

 they gave him a cheer, 



,&& off to the eastward, well up 

 ur and heading away ov 

 ridge of Squantum. It might have been 

 some giant dragonfly humming its way 

 the marsh, for the operator e°uW not 

 be seen from the ground, being hidden by 

 the wings and body °J^i8jrfr 



Wltil 



i the aviation field, 

 • the wire from Hull, 

 <"-r>v,» T/iB-ht sees him." and a minute oi 

 two later he wa* reported there. It seemed 

 Incredible that he could have mode the 

 trip so ouickly, for it was less than eight 

 minutes after he started that he passed 

 thn first timing point at the Light. He 

 £d hid a Uttfe. difficulty in locating the 

 t 4~i,i. ut.? Vib.i1 sone somewhat out or his 

 "»"•. but whence had fixed its position 

 he swung wide, describing on the sky a 

 great circle that brought him back to the 



l instant later 



the higher 



still in I 



Fr ^ ' 



northerlv side of the Light, which he 

 palsef or, the return trip a minute and a 

 half after his arrival. 



TTaml'lar now with the topography of 

 the harbor and at a high altitude that gave 

 him a b-oad view, Grahame-White straight- 

 ened away for the return trip and took a 

 bee line for aviation field. His motor was 

 going perfectly and, although lie had the 

 sun in his eye?, he did not close the 

 throttle a jot. The crowd had not time 

 to settle itself in Its places after the ex- 

 citement attending the news of Grahame- 

 White's arrival at the Light before some- 

 body gazing with strong glasses down 

 across Squantum shouted "There he 

 comes," and as the news spread eyes were 

 strained into the distance. Many looked 

 close to the ground and it was some 

 seconds before most of the people saw the 

 faint speck up against a lead-colored cloud. 

 He was coming fast, having attained a 

 speed as great as seventy miles an hour, 

 and just a trifle under eight minutes after 

 he left the Light he was rounding the pyion 

 on the field with the first leg, and half the 

 race finished. Hats were waved and cheers 

 broke out spontaneously as the flying ma- 

 chine floated around the pylon, making- a 

 turn with a wide radius, and set off again 

 to what yachtsmen would term the outer 

 mark. But such a difference! In yachting 

 the wind governs the craft; inlying, the 

 aviator cut straight across the wind with 

 no perceptible effect, and without beat or 

 luff or taok 6et straight for his destination. 



On his second trip Grahame-White took 

 a course farther to the south than on his 

 initial trip. He became a speck In the 

 distance. Meantime Ralph Johnstone in a 

 Wright biplane had descended from the 

 half-mile height to which he had soared, 

 and was plugging around the course on an 

 endurance trial, while Roe with his trl- 

 plane had succeeded in skimming a few 

 feet off the ground. These things occupied 

 the crowd momentarily. Then Grahame- 

 White was again reported from the light 



They wen 

 ofilane a.ga.' 



against a floating cloud, th 



dot 



growing big- 

 high over 

 Squantum and gradually descending. The 

 race was finished . when Grahame-White 

 passed the No. ft pylon on the field, but he 

 circled the field and then gracefully alight- 

 ed, while the band played "God Save the 

 King," the spectators cheered and the pho- 

 tographers descended upon man and ma- 

 chine like a horde of pests attacking a 

 fallen monster. Grahame-White was duly 

 photographed, congratulated and cheered, 

 and the thousands of people on the field 

 were convinced that the navigation of the 

 air is no longer a problem. 



The complete course is approximately 

 thirty-three miles, and Grahame-White 

 covered it in just a little more than forty 

 minutes. As he unquestionably flew much 

 more than the course mileage, making 

 turns and in getting out of his course, his 

 average speed was approximately a mile 

 a minute. The times of the flight were aa 

 follows : 



Distance Elapsed 

 Time 



Mite 



Start 



Goes around < 

 Reached Bost' 

 Turned light 

 Reached pyloi 



Reached Boston Ligt 



Turned light 



Turned sixth pylon.. 

 Crossed finish line.. 



15 3-5 



7.62 

 7.62 



.54.54 2-5 7.58 2-5 



.885 4.55 1.05 3-5 



7.62 5.0S.25 8.25 



... 6.05.50 2.25 



7.62 5.14.15 2-6 8.25 2-6 



.385 5.15.17 1-5 1.01 4-6 



■83.000 40.01 3-5 



