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Grand Forks, North Dakota, Thursday, July 13, 1911 GRAND FORKS AVIATORS ARE SUCCESSFUL Made Last Evening by Thomas McGoey Demonstrated Last Evening It Is Flyer. Thomas McGoey of Grand Forks, in his Kenworthy-McGoey flying machine, made seven successful flights at the state fair gounds last evening, with about 100 enthusiastic spectators cheering the first successful flight made in a North Dakota machine by a North Dakota Man. Word had been passed about last evening that the flight was to be attempted and at 7 o'clock, with weather conditions ideal, the machine was wheeled out into the big open space at the fair grounds and "cranked up." Everything was in first class order, but McGeoy did not attempt to fly the first time down the field, being satified with merely "feeling her out" and getting his bearings. The second time the machine was started, however, he worked the elevator easily and the aeroplane gracefully rose to a height of about 40 feet and floated for about 100 yards. Then the local aviator see-sawed up and down and skimmed lightly over the surface, sometimes a few feet up, other times touching and then shooting to a height of 15 or 20 feet. When the end of the field was reached, the engine was stopped, the machine turned around and before the evening's practice was over seven successful flights had been made. The Kenworthy-McGoey mahcine now seems an assured success--at least last night's flights demonstrated beyond a doubt that the experimental stage was no more. It is only a question of a week or 10 days of practice, until Aviator McGeoy will be able to successfully turn around in mid-air and make all the turnings and writhings necessary to cover a swallow-like flight--all this, of courses, provided there is no accident, but this possibility seems as remote with McGeoy as with the average aviator, since his first attempt was far beyond the usual success of a beginner. The propeller on the local machine rotates 1200 times a minute, the engine that causes these revolutions having been especially made at Rochester, N. Y., for the aeroplane. A little incident last evening shows the terrible force the propeller cuts the air with. While going down the field on one of his flights a ruler dropped out of McGoey's pocket into the propellor. The ruler was cut into little two or three inch pieces and some of the spectators picked them up for 400 feet or more from the path of the aeroplane. As the successful ending of his first evening in the air, McGeoy turned the machine sideways in the air and landed over by the main building, where she was stored for the night. The flights in the future will be as private as possible to avoid the danger of accidents. With a large crowd at liberty on the grounds it is difficult to skim around and practice rurning, and probably many attempts will be made in the early hours of the morning or at unexpected, intervals during the day. Immediately upon seeing the immense success of the aeroplane, F. G. Kenworthy, who is financing the venture, wired to several points where contarcts have been pending and received word that the feature would gladly be contracted for at those cities. Due to the fact that the papers have not been signed as yet, the names are not ready for publication. Grand Forks people and North Dakotans in general will congratulate the local aviators, if their future successes are in proportion to the first evening of real North Dakota flying. The local venture has been watched by thousands with interest and the stick-to-it-iveness of the local men in the face of many reverses has been the subject of considerable favorable comment. |
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UP PASSENGER Grand Forks, North Dakota, Thursday, October 12, 1911 McGoey Will Give Fine Exhibition in Duluth Duluth News-Tribune: Thomas McGoey, who made two successful biplane flights at Superior last Sunday, will make another attempt at Athletic park next Sunday, and he has offered to take any volunteer iwth him, who should a accompanjy him. The flight will be made between 2 and 5 o'clock in addition there will be a football game between the Adams and Jefferson teams, and thousands of people are expected to be present and witness the events. This is the fist attempt to make an aviation flight in Duluth. Mr. M McGoey is the man who made two most successful flights in Superior last Sunday. Thousands of Duluth people journeyed across the bay to see him, and the flights were probably witnessed by 10,000 people. Everyone who saw the flghts returned most enthusiastic regarding them. Mr. McGoey has promised to make two flights if everything is favorable, and possible more. He will also give an exhiition of steering the machine along the ground, and perform several other stunts that will show the crowd how an aeroplane works. The machine is now in Superior and will be brought here Friday or Saturday. "We'll stay here until we fly," said F. G. Kenworthy, Mr. McGoey's manager and partner. "We'll do it Sunday if it isn't blowing a hurricane, and if it is, we'll give rain chacks, good for the next day. There isn't a better aviator in America today than Tom, and if you don't believe it, ask any person who saw him fly at Superior. He can fly when 90 per cent of them wouldn't leave the ground. This flight means more to us than it does to any of the spectators, as we have our reputation at stake." |
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Thomas McGoey Grand Forks, North Dakota Collection of Jerry Blanchard, 8-8-08 |
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Thomas McGoey Aeroplane Collection of Jerry Blanchard, 8-8-08 |
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Monday, October 16, 1911 Newsclipping courtesy of Alvin Grady, 9-20-06 |
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UNDER UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS |
Aviator Thomas McGoey Thrills Immense Crowd at Athletic Park. Air was "Full of Holes" He Says After Alighting. |
 McGOEY JUST BEFORE HE LANDED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON |
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Despite the dark and threatening sky, the eager crowd of perhaps 15,000 people who held the
aviator's course down to a narrow track, the treacherous air currents, which kept him continually on the alert, and other conditions
which were anything but conducive to ascending and descending in a flying machine, Aviator McGoey made a flight, which for skill in
aerial maneuvers and accuracy in descending, has seldom been surpassed. Only aviators, perhaps, can understand just what condition the air was in yesterday, when McGoey shot into it. As he described it, it was "full of holes" and conflicting currents which made the aerial journey one beset with many dangers. The spectators saw none of the discomforts; the birdman only seemed to glide swiftly and smoothly along. Even more sensational than his soaring in the air were his getaway and descent. Both showed to advantage the remarkable skill and undaunted nerve of the aviator. |
McGoey jumped into his machine yesterday afternoon, knowing that he had to rise from a space
smaller than he had ever attempted before, and in doing
so he had but a small margin, despite the fact that a section of the fence of the ball park had been torn down. In his getaway he just
barely skimmed over the heads of a portion of the bystanders, who, too astonished and too frightened to run, simply stood still and
watched him, some dropping to the ground. When he struck the upper stata of air the machine had run along for about five blocks, and most of this way only a few feet above the ground. In the air he seemed to at once be able to elevate his machine with ease and was soon out of sight near the hills at West Duluth. At one time McGoey claimed that he was about 800 feet high. Descending within a few rods of the crowd, he passed over them, showing to advantage the working of the mechanism of the plane in the air. This was the occasion for a round of cheers from the sea of upturned |
faces. After a few circles he swooped down over
the same course that he had risen, and as the plane struck the ground and bounded for several rods, the emergency brake cutting
deep into the terra firma, the crowd held its breath, expecting every minute that the plane would smash itself and the rider against the
grandstand. But it didn't . McGoey succeeded in stopping his air machine within a few feet of the grandstand. The crowd swarmed
around him and the cheering was intense. It took a crowd of men to keep back the eager people and save the machine from being
crushed. A second flight, which had been planned, was impossible, because of the disorder in the lines which reigned after the descent.
Unable to get the people back in place again, the bird-man decided not to attempt a second trip in the air. Aviator McGoey, with his manager and machine, will leave today for Calumet, Mich. |
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