The First Aviation Day of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Is Marked by Successful Demonstrations by Both Wright and Curtiss—Dirigible Balloons Come to Grief Very Quickly.
Yonkers, N. Y., Sept. 25—As the Clermont came within sight of the docks here the water in her boilers became exhausted and the engine became overheated. Her machinery was stopped, while a tug put a line aboard and towed the craft ashore.
New York, Sept. 29.—Wilbur Wright circled the great statue of Liberty at the entrance of New York harbor in his aeroplane today. while in the upper part of the city two dirigible balloons failed ingloriously in their task. This, the first day of flight of the Hudson-Fulton celebration, was a victory for the heavier-than-air machine.
Both Wright and Glenn H. Curtiss soared successfully from the aerodrome on Governor’s island in their motor propelled biplane, while both great dirigibles. manned respectively by Captain Thomas Baldwin and George L. Tomlinson, and entered in the New York World’s $10,000 New York-to Albany race, were forced to descend, because of a mechanical difficulty, before they were well under way.
Wilbur Wright made three sensational flights and Curtiss made one brief, though successful, test spin of 30 seconds’ duration. Baldwin, with his dirigible, landed in the Hudson river, less than an hour after the start, while Tomlinson, after remaining in the air from 11: 36 a. mi. until 12:30 p. m., came down to earth near WhIte Plains, N. Y., .i2 miles from his starting point.
Neither of the dirigible pilots was injured, nor was their craft seriously damaged.
First to Fly.
Curtiss was the first to leave the earth and at a time when dawn had hardly broken. He passed the night on Governor’s island and at 7 o’clock rose, but only for a brief flight. Two hours later Wright made his first ascent, encircling Governor’s island and remaining in the air for seven minutes. After an hour’s rest. Wright again went aloft, this time remaining in the air for six minutes and 30 seconds, attaining a Speed estimated at 50 miles an hour, and, with a glorious sweep, cut over the bay, passing entirely around the great emblem of liberty.
Wright made a third flight at 5:30 this afternoon before a big crowd. The Wright machine showed greater speed than that of Curtiss, but the Curtiss flyer seemed to keep its equilibrium better and remained on an even keel. Wright met with one slight mishap when his machine struck the ground on landing, considerably jarring it.
Wrights action in circling the statue of Liberty today is taken as a challenge to Curtiss, for Curtiss, it will be recalled, was the first to mention such a flight. Front now on It Is expected that the two aviators will strive to outdo the other, although neither will do anything reckless.
Has Mishap.
Tomlinson was the first to start on the dirigible balloon trip, which he hoped would end at Albany. He got away at 11:36 and headed north on the east side of the Hudson. Baldwin arose at 11:52, shot out directly over the middle of the Hudson and began traveling toward the state capital. In a few minutes he was lost to view in a slight mist. A puff of wind snapped one of his rudder ropes and he was forced to begin his descent on the water, 250 feet off the Jersey shore and opposite Nineteenth street. The balloon came down easily, Baldwin throwing out dragnets, and sailors from the battleships Rhode Island, New Jersey and North Carolina swarmed to his rescue in launches. Baldwin swung himself into a boat, without getting wet.
Meantime. Tomlinson, at a great height, about 300 feet, had been going northward overland, when both his gasoline and oil tanks began leaking. Fearing an explosion, he was forced to come to earth near White Plains.
The Daily Missoulian, Missoula, MT, September 30, 1909