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TKANSCRIPT, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1910 



PROGRESS IN AERONAUTIC^ 



REFLECTIONS ON THE SQUANTUM 

 MEET 



The Great Feature Was the Surprising 

 Showing Made hy the Wright Aeroplane, 

 and the Two American Aviators, John- 

 stone and Brookins, in Comparison with 

 Their Renowned English Rival, Grahame- 

 White — Superiority of Johnstone De- 

 cisively Demonstrated— Cause of Curtiss's 

 Failure to Make a Better Showing — A 

 Discussion of the Different Events 



IT is astonishing how quickly people 

 have "caught on" in the a'viation game. 

 To one who travelled every day back 

 and forth to the field at Squantum among 

 the crowds which attended the flying, it 

 was remarkable to note the advance in 

 knowledge shown. On the first day, go- 

 ing out to the meet, there were but a 

 small fraction who knew a balloon from 

 an aeroplane, and those who were able 

 to differentiate between the types of 

 heavier-than-air machines were a minus 

 quantity. On the way home from the i 

 meet on Thursday night, however, the 

 writer heard nothing but Wrights, Far- 

 mans, Bleriots, and Curtlsses, learnedly 

 discussed, with a remarkable knowledge 

 shown of the strong points of each. Such 

 an education of the general public in less 

 than two weeks is astonishing, and shows 

 not only a close watch kept on the flying 

 itself, but also a study of the newspapers 

 which printed accounts of the flights. I 



The deep and general interest thus 

 aroused should be a matter for rejoic- 

 ing among those who are interested In 

 the development of the flying machine. 

 It Is a proof, if proof be necessary, that 

 the aeToplane has come to stay, and that 

 many additional minds will be brought 

 to bear on the solution of those difficul- 

 ties which now prevent its general use. 

 There have been few, indeed, who have 

 for long held the idea that the flying ma- 

 chine would ever become practicable, 

 but none of those beholding with their 



own eyes the ren 



larkable perfor 





at Squantum can 1 



onger doubt it. 





There is a poi 



nt in this com 



lection 



which indicates m 



ore than anythii 



lg else 



the growing rellal 



lility of the aer 



3 P lane. 



It has received bi 



it little attentio 



n, and 



deserves to be brought out. Not many 

 are aware, possibly, that during six whole 

 days of the meet but one of the Wright 

 biplanes was in commission. That is to 

 say, after Jonstone came down from hi.s 

 duration and distance trials last week 

 Brookine took the very same craft up in 

 the altitude and duration contests. A 

 week ago today, for instance, Johnstone 

 was in the air a little more than two 

 hours and three minutes. A short quar- 



| ter o< an hour after he landed Brookins 

 ascended In the »ame craft, and not only 

 reached a height of more than a mile, but 

 remained aloft for fifty-seven minutes. 

 Both of these flights occurred after the 

 craft had already made a trip with a pas- 

 senger. 



What the Wright aeroplane is capable 

 of under more favorable conditions was 

 shown last Monday when Johnstone had 

 a machine all to himself. For more than 

 three hours he circled the course, with 

 the ease and regularity of a taxicab. It 

 was on Monday, too, during this flight, 

 that Johnstone showed the most brilliant 

 bit of airmanship seen during the meet. 

 With Grahame-Whlte, who had been gen- 

 erally conceded to be the master-pilot 

 among the aviators present, taking the 

 air ahead of him, in an aeroplane of more 

 than twice the power of the Wright and 

 admittedly a faster craft, Johnstone un- 

 dertook to catch his rival. Skilfully 

 banking on his corners, jockeying aloft 

 i into the wind, and sliding down before 

 It, the American gradually cut down the 

 quarter of a lap separating the two ma- 

 chines, finally passing the Englishman 

 after an exciting race in front of the 

 I grandstand. It was a splendid perform- 

 j ance, showing not only the superiority of 

 ! the aviator, but that o* the Wright aero- 

 plane over the Farman under the condi- 

 tions obtaining. Finally, after Grahame- 

 Whlte had been lapped a second time, he 

 abandoned the contest and sought the 

 upper currents in a climb for the alti- I 

 tude contest. As the English aviator is 

 conceded to be among the best abroad, it 

 will be seen that Johnstone is a man who 

 will compare favorably with anyone now 

 flying. 



It must be admitted by all fair-minded 

 observers at the meet that the aero- 

 plane of the Wright brothers has shown 

 itself supreme in all of those events it 

 has entered. It is steadier in flight; is 

 easier to handle; responds to its controls 

 | more quickly by far; can be kept in the 

 air at less speed; and can be landed- near- 

 er to a designated spot than any other 

 machine on the field at Sqim.ntum. And, 

 finally, its greatest superiority is to be 

 found in its efficiency, producing its re- 

 sults with less than half the power of 

 any of its competitor.?. 



Up to the time of the present meet, in 

 the contests abroad, the Wright flyer has 

 failed to show well in comparison with 

 other types. This may be attributed 

 largely to the fact that in Europe a large 

 premium is set on speed, a quality for 

 which the Wrights have not striven, 

 seeking rather reliability At Squantum! 

 however, in all but the speed contests, 

 reliability counted chiefly, owing to the 

 system of scoring, which awarded points 

 for the best performances on each day. 

 Thus the Wright aeroplane was enabled 

 to compete under fair conditions, and 

 the result may be seen In the events 

 in which it captured first place, those 

 for duration, distance, slow lap, altitude, 

 and accuracy. 



The most striking commentary upon the 

 reliability of the Wright type, however, 

 is only brought out when we consider 

 the totals made by Johnstone. Using 

 the same machine throughout he was in 

 the air for nearly thirteen hours, during 

 the meet proper, which closed Tuisday night, 

 and travelled a distance of 344.75 miles. In 

 all, he made but ten flights, or an aver- 

 age of more than an hour in time, and 

 of more than thirty-four miles in dis-, 

 tance, for each. Furthermore, he was 

 not forced to descend once, and could un- 

 doubtedly have flown further than he 

 did in every case. 



THE WORK OF GRAHAME-WHITE 

 Johnstone's nearest competitor was 

 Grahame-White, with a total distance of 

 215 miles, and a total time in the air of 

 about ten hours. The Englishman, how- 

 ever, made many more flights, and his 

 average was consequently not so high. 

 But it must be said in all fairness 

 that Grahame-Whlte, like Johnstone, was 

 at all times master of his craft, and was 

 not compelled to alight. No one can deny 

 that he was the most spectacular figure 

 at Squantu m, particularly du ring the 



t^arly part of the meet. It must also: be 

 aTrmitted, however, that his work was 

 largely for the benefit of the crowd, a 

 fact which the committee in charge was 

 quick to realize. Furthermore he Was 

 equipped with two machines, the Blfiriot 

 and the Farman. As the former has 

 shown Itself to be the fastest of all air 

 craft he really had no competition iri 

 those events which made speed the chief 

 requirement. The speed contest and the 

 Boston Light flight were his for the ask- 

 ing. But granting his willingness to 

 please the spectators, which really does 

 not concern his ability as an aviator, it 

 cannot be said that he demonstrated his 

 superiority over Johnstone as an air- 



1 pilot. The latter's control over Ms 

 craft was well-night perfect, while 

 Grahame-White had one bad score 

 against his record when his Farman 

 came to grief on landing a week ago 

 Friday. But a real comparison of the 

 two could only be made by seeing the 

 two in the same machine. Brookins, as 

 a climber was certainly superior to the 

 Englishman, reaching an altitude 1300 

 feet greater than the latter In his heat 

 attempt, in spite of the fact that the 

 Bleriot in which Graham-White reached 

 his greatest height holds the last four 

 records made, of 6600, T054, 8471 and 

 S792 feet respectively by Drexel, Morane, 

 Morane, and Chavez. The latter, who 

 holds the present title, used a craft al- 

 most identical to Grahame-Whlto's, each 

 being provided with the 50 horse-power 

 Gnome motor. Hence his failure to beat 

 Brookins's mark was not because his 

 machine was unequal to the task. Cur- 

 tiss's misfortunes make it impossible to 

 compare his ability with that of the 

 British flyer. When we bring the mat- 

 ter right down to a basis of actual per- 

 formance, therefore. It will be seen that 

 Grahame-White was beaten by two 

 American aviators, Brookins and John- 

 stone. 



