| The Aeronautic Society of New York |
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Stanley Y. Beach, F. E. Rickman, F. C. Shneider, H. W. Walden, and F. H. Lindsay. A show of seven such machines, all of which had been built in the Society's workshops at the Park, was no mean accomplishment, and well merited the deep interest the visitor's displayed, and the praises they bestowed. Of course, there was also the Society's own "Curtiss" machine, the beautiful appearance of which created a sensation among the inexpert, while the experts all congratulated the Society, and acclaimed the machine the finest that had ever been produced During the afternoon Mr. Curtiss made a few short, straight hops. Mr. Shneider in his machine pluckily had himself launched from the catapult in the hope of giving Curtiss a lead; but the motor balked, and he was unable to rise. At dark, Mr. Curtiss made a turn in the air at the bottom end of the track, the first turn ever made with a flying machine in the air in New York City; and those who had stayed were aroused to a high pitch of enthusiasm and delight. Some good work was done with the gliders in towed flight, the best being that of Riley E. Scott and W. H. Aitken. W. H. Martin's big monoplane glider did not work so well as had been expected from his reports of it. The apparatus was very unstable and unmanageable, and Mr. Martin landed on top of the fence, putting his machine out of commission, but escaping himself with only a slight injury to his hand. This accident made it impossible for Mrs. Martin to make the flight agreed upon with her, and robbed the program of another attractive feature. W. H. Aitken also failed to give his promised display from the top of the square wooden tower, which had been specially erected for that purpose. Dr. Greene started upon an ascension in the dirigible; but the thing refused to dirige when wanted to, and the doctor was only saved from knocking Aitken off his perch on top of the gliding tower by the nimbleness of A. Leo Stevens, who was among the spectators, and who, forseeing the danger, managed to get hold of the trail line just in time. In the descent the propeller shaft was broken; so another attempt could not be made The model contests produced work of a high order. The best was that by a mono- plane device of Edward W. Smith, which made fine flights and showed excellent stability. Dr. Thomas' wind-wagon, redesigned and rebuilt, was put through its paces by Chas. M. Crout, and gave a surprising demonstration of speed. Prof Pickering's also did good work---but it was mostly in the form of severe exercise for the operator. Two hot-air balloons for parachute leaps were sent up. One carried a young New York banking clerk, who took the place of Frank Woodruff, who was overcome by sun- stroke. The other took up Miss Mary Hunter, who was tutuored by Johnny Mack. This one rose to a height of well over 3,000 feet; and the girl, who was dressed in a white walk- ing costume, but had strapped on a cork life-belt lest she should be carried out over the Sound, made a beautiful descent, landing just on the edge of the Park. Under the direction of A. E. Horn, a large number of Public School boys, and espe- cially those of School No. 77, gave a capital display of kite-flying, most of the lads showing very great skill both in design and handling. It was one of the features of the contests that the kites were made by the boys themselves. No end of amusement was created by a novel event conceived by Dr. Greene and named the Balloonatics' Race. A small balloon of just sufficient lift to make a man light on his feet was used and strapped by a special bridle to the entrant's back. With this assistance, or incumbrance, the competitor had to jump over a number of obstacles. The effect was very ludicrous. The greatest amount of fun was caused by A. E. Horn, who also won the race. As at the November Exhibition, WIlliam J. Hammer acted as Referee and gathered around him a distinguished band of Judges, including Charles M. Manly, Hudson Maxim, Prof. David Todd, J. Bernard, Walker, Robert Whitaker, Prof. A. J. Henry, Orrel A. Parker, F. T. Birdsall, F. A. Scheffler, Charles Wake, S. D. Mott, Capt. Homer W. Hedge, W. M. Mohr, Israel Ludlow, Earl Atkinson, Edward Durant, L. E. Dare, A. and C. Witte- |
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