II 111 I THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK V Copyright, 1910, by The Pictorial News Co. CURTISS' HUDSON UIVEIi FLIGHT OVER THE STATUE OF LIBERTY THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK BY GLENN H. CURTISS AND AUGUSTUS POST WITH CHAPTERS BY CAPTAIN PAUL W. BECK, U. S. A. LIEUTENANT THEODORE G. ELLYSON, U. S. N. AND HUGH ROBINSON With Numerous Illustrations from Photographs NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1912, by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages^ including the Scandinavian October, 1912 TO MBS. MABEL G. BELL WHO MADE POSSIBLE THE AERIAL EXPERIMENT ASSOCIATION THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHORS 259861 CONTENTS PAET I BOYHOOD AND EARLY EXPERIMENTS Augustus Post CHAPTER PAGE I THE COMING AIRMEN AN INTRODUCTORY CHAP- TER 3 II BOYHOOD DAYS 8 III BUILDING MOTORS AND MOTORCYCLE RACING . . 18 IV BALDWIN'S BALLOON 29 PAET II MY FIRST FLIGHTS Glenn H. Curtiss I BEGINNING TO FLY 37 II FIRST FLIGHTS 41 III THE "JUNE BUG" FIRST FLIGHTS TOR THE SCIEN- TIFIC AMERICAN TROPHY AND FIRST EXPERI- MENTS WITH THE HYDROAEROPLANE .... 51 IV FIRST FLIGHTS IN NEW YORK CITY .... 57 PAET III MY CHIEF FLIGHTS AND THE WORK OF TO-DAY Glenn H. Curtiss I THE RHEIMS MEET FIRST INTERNATIONAL AERO- PLANE CONTEST 65 v vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE II HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION FlRST AMERICAN- INTERNATIONAL MEET, Los ANGELES .... 80 III FLIGHT DOWN THE HUDSON RIVER FROM ALBANY TO NEW YORK CITY 91 IV THE BEGINNING OF THE HYDROAEROPLANE . . . 112 V DEVELOPING THE HYDROAEROPLANE AT SAN DIEGO THE HYDRO OF THE SUMMER OF 1912 . . . 129 PAET IV THE REAL FUTURE OF THE AEROPLANE Glenn H. Curtiss, Capt. Beck, Lieut. Ellyson and Augustus Post I AEROPLANE SPEED OF THE FUTURE 155 II FUTURE SURPRISES OF THE AEROPLANE HUNTING, TRAVEL, MAIL, WIRELESS, LIFE- SAVING, AND OTHER SPECIAL USES 168 III THE FUTURE OF THE HYDRO 187 IV FUTURE PROBLEMS OF AVIATION 193 V THE AEROPLANE AS APPLIED TO THE ARMY Capt. Paul W. Beck, U. 8. A 205 VI THE AEROPLANE FOR THE NAVY Lieut. Theodore G. Ellyzon, U. 8. N 219 VII GLIDING AND CYCLE- SAILING A FUTURE SPORT FOR BOYS, THE AIRMEN OF TO-MORROW Augustus Post 227 PAET V EVERY-DAY FLYING FOR PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR Glenn H. Curtiss, Au- gustus Post and Hugh Bobinson I TEACHING AVIATORS How AN AVIATOR FLIES . 235 II AVIATION FOR AMATEURS . . 254 CONTENTS vii CHAPTER PAGE III How IT FEELS TO FLY Augustus Post . . . 263 IV OPERATING A HYDROAEROPLANE HughRoUnson . 272 PAET VI THE CURTISS PUPILS AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE CURTISS AEROPLANE AND MOTORr-Augustus Post I PUPILS 281 II A DESCRIPTION OF THE CURTISS BIPLANE . . . 287 III THE CURTISS MOTOR AND FACTORY . . 296 ILLUSTRATIONS CURTISS 7 HUDSON RIVER FLIGHT OVER THE STATUE OF LIB- ERTY Frontispiece FACING PAGE CURTISS THE BOY AND CURTISS THE MAN 20 CURTISS WINNING WORLD'S MOTORCYCLE RECORDS ... 21 THE BALDWIN ARMY DIRIGIBLE, WITH EARLY CURTISS MOTOR 30 WIND WAGON AND ICE BOAT WITH AERIAL PROPELLER . . 31 THE AERIAL EXPERIMENT ASSOCIATION 38 STARTING TO FLY FIRST PUBLIC FLIGHT IN AMERICA; THE "JUNE BUG," JUNE, 1908; BALDWIN IN GLIDER . . 39 THE FIRST MACHINES THE "WHITE WING" AND "RED WING" 52 CURTISS 7 FIRST FLIGHT FOR THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN TROPHY 53 WINNING THE GORDON BENNETT CONTEST IN FRANCE . . 74 PRESIDENT TAFT WATCHING CURTISS FLY, HARVARD MEET, 1910 75 THE ALBANY-NEW YORK FLIGHT START ; OVER WEST POINT 92 THE HUDSON FLIGHT OVER STORM KING 93 THE HUDSON FLIGHT STOP AT POUGHKEEPSIE ; FINISH, AT GOVERNOR'S ISLAND 106 THE EVOLUTION OF THE HYDRO; THE FIRST HYDRO IN THE WORLD; DUAL CONTROL HYDRO OF 1911; LANDING IN HYDRO AT CEDAR POINT, OHIO 107 ELY LANDING ON THE U. S. S. "PENNSYLVANIA" .... 120 CURTISS AND HYDRO HOISTED ON U. S. S. "PENNSYLVANIA"; ELY LEAVING "PENNSYLVANIA" 121 ix x ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE DIAGRAM OF CUBTISS FLYING BOAT OF 1912 146 THE EVOLUTION OF THE HYDRO THE FLYING BOAT OF SUM- MER 1912; THE 1911 HYDRO 148 HYDRO FLIGHTS CURTISS OVER LAKE ERIE; WITMER RIDING THE GROUND SWELLS 149 CAPTAIN BECK AND POSTMASTER-GENERAL HITCHCOCK CAR- RYING THE MAIL 174 STUDENTS OF AERIAL WARFARE BECK, TOWERS, ELLYSON, MCCLASKEY; WITH CURTISS AND ST. HENRY . . . 175 ELLYSON LAUNCHES HYDRO FROM WIRE CABLE .... 224 HUGH ROBINSON'S FLIGHT DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI . . . 225 AUGUSTUS POST FLYING; AEROPLANE SHIPMENT .... 264 CURTISS PUPILS J. A. D. MCCURDY RACING AN AUTOMOBILE; LIEUTENANT ELLYSON ; MR. AND MRS. W. B. ATWATER . 265 CURTISS PUPILS C. C. WITMER, BECKWITH HAVENS, J. A. D. MCCURDY, CROMWELL DIXON, CHAS. K. HAMILTON, CHAS. F. WALSH, CHAS. F. WILLARD 282 LINCOLN BEACHEY FLYING IN GORGE AT NIAGARA . . . 283 DIAGRAM OF CURTISS AEROPLANE, SHOWING PARTS . . . 290 DIAGRAM OF CURTISS MOTOR, SHOWING PARTS .... 291 CURTISS MOTORS, OLD AND NEW 300 AT THE AEROPLANE FACTORY, HAMMONDSPORT .... 301 PART I BOYHOOD AND EARLY EXPERIMENTS OF GLENN H. CURTISS BY AUGUSTUS POST THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK CHAPTER I THE COMING AIRMEN AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER THE time lias come when the world is going to need a new type of men almost a new race. These are the Flying Men. The great dream of centuries has come true, and man now has the key to the sky. Every great invention which affects the habits and customs of a people brings about changes in the people themselves. How great, then, must be the changes to be brought about by the flying machine, and how strangely new the type of man that it carries up into a new world, under absolutely new condi- tions ! Each year there will be more need of flying men; so that in telling this story of a pioneer American aviator, his struggles, failures, and suc- cesses, it has been the desire to keep in mind not only the scientific elders who are interested in angles of incidence, automatic stability and the like, but also the boys and girls the air pilots of the future. It is hoped that there will be in 3 4 THE OUKTISS AVIATION BOOK these introductory chapters for whose writing, be it understood, Mr. Curtiss is not responsible a plain unvarnished story of an American boy who worked his way upward from the making of bicy- cles to the making of history, an inspiration for future flights, whether in imagination or aero- planes, and that even the youngest reader will gain courage to meet the obstacles and to over- come the difficulties which Glenn H. Curtiss met and overcame in his progress to fame. Here is a man who is a speed marvel who has beat the world at it. First on land, riding a mo- torcycle, next in a flying machine, and finally in a machine that was both water and air craft, which sped over the surface of the sea faster than man had ever travelled on that element, and which rose into the air and came back to land with the speed of the fastest express train ; a man who traveled at the rate of one hundred and thirty-seven miles an hour on land, fifty-eight miles an hour on the water and who won the first International speed championship in the air. More than that, they may see what sort of a boy came to be the speed champion and to know some of the traits that go to make the successful airman, for it is said of the great aviators, as of the great poets, they are born flying men, and not developed. The successful flying man and maker of flying machines, such as Glenn H. Curtiss has shown himself to be, realises how dangerous is THE COMING AIRMEN 5 failure, and builds slowly. He builds, too, on his experience gained from day to day; having in- finite patience and dogged perseverance. And yet a great aviator must be possessed of such marvelous quickness of thought that he can think faster than the forces of nature can act, and he must act as fast as he thinks. He must be so completely in harmony with Na- ture and her moods that he can tell just when is the right time to attempt a dangerous experiment, and so thoroughly in control of himself that he can refuse to make the experiment when he knows it should not be made, even though urged by all those around him to go ahead. He must feel that nothing is impossible, and yet he must not at- tempt anything until he is sure that he is ready and every element of danger has been eliminated, so far as lies in human power. He must realise that he cannot change the forces of nature, but that he can make them do his work when he under- stands them. Some of these qualities must be in- bred in the man, but the life-story of Glenn H. Curtiss shows how far energy, courage, and tire- less perseverance will go toward bringing them out. It is from among the country boys that the best aviators will be found to meet the demands of the coming Flying Age. They have been getting ready for it for a long time long before the days of Darius Green. Does any one now read "Phae- 6 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK ton Bogers," that story of the inventive boy back in the eighties, and recall the " wind- wagon" which was one of his many inventions? There were many like him then, and there are more like him now; always tinkering at something, trying to make it "go," and go fast. And there are many of these who are building up, perhaps with- out knowing it, the strong body, the steady brain, courage, perseverance, and the power of quick decision the character of the successful airmen of the future. The history of aviation is very brief, expressed in years. In effort it covers centuries. First come the inventors, a calm, cautious type of men, holding their ideas so well in trust that they will not risk their lives for mere display and the ap- plause of the crowd. Then the exploiters, eager for money and fame ; men who develop the possi- bilities of the machines, always asking more and getting more in the way of achievement with each new model built. Though covering a period of less than a half score of years, aviation already has its second generation of flyers, pupils trained by the pioneers, young and ambitious, eager to explore the new element that has been made pos- sible by their mentors. From the country dis- tricts, where the blood is red, the brain steady and the heart strong, will come many an explorer of the regions of the air. Just as the city boy in de- veloping the wireless telegraph strings his anten- THE COMING AIEMEN 7 nae on the housetops and the roofs of the giant sky- scrapers, so will the country boy develop his glider or his aeroplane in the pasture lands and on the steep hillsides of his own particular terri- tory, and we shall have a race of flying men to carry on the development of the flying machine until it shall reach that long dreamed-of and f ought-f or perfection. CHAPTER II BOYHOOD DAYS GLENN HAMMOND CUETISS was born at Hammondsport, New York, May 21, 1878. His middle name shows his connection with the pioneer family for which the town is named. Then Hammondsport was a port for canal boats that came up Lake Keuka ; nowadays it is an air- port for the craft of the sky. It is a quaint little town, lying on the shores of a beautiful lake that stretches away to Penn Yann, twenty miles to the north. Glenn's old home was called Castle Hill. It was nearly surrounded by vineyards and fruit trees. It was once the property of Judge Ham- mond, who built the first house in Hammondsport. On this site now stands the Curtiss factories. All about Hammondsport are the great vine- yards that have made the town famous for its wine, for Hammondsport is in the very heart of the grape-growing section of New York State. These vineyards give the boys of Hammondsport a fine opportunity to earn money each year, and Glenn was always among those who spent the va- cation time in tying up grape vines, and in gather- ing the fruit on Saturdays and at other odd times. 8 BOYHOOD DAYS 9 Some of the neighbours ' children picked winter- green and flowers, and sold them to the summer excursionists. One time Glenn was invited to go with them. He sold six bunches for sixty cents. His mother applied the amount toward a pair of shoes in order to teach him the use and value of money. He was then three years old and wore a fresh white dress and a blue sash. Glenn was afterwards taught how to prune and tie vines and gather fruit and at harvest time he was often seen with pony and wagon making a fast run to the station to get the last load of grapes on the train. With the care of his sister and the work on the home vineyard, life was not all play, for Glenn was "The Man of the House," after his father's death, which occurred when he was four years old. At this time, he went with his mother and sister, to live with his grandmother who lived on the outskirts of the village. Hammondsport is divided by the main street, and the boys of the two sections, like the boys in cities, were always at war. The factional lines were tightly drawn and many were the combats between the up-town boys and the low-town boys. The hill boys had a den in the side of a bank that sloped down from Grandma Curtiss ' yard, walled in with stones of a convenient size. This gave them good ammunition and a great advantage in time of battle. 10 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK Among the members of the up-town gang were, "Fatty" Hastings and "Short" Wheeler, "Jess" Talmadge and "Cowboy" Wixom and Curtley, as the boys called Curtiss. He was captain of the band, because he had a sort of ownership of the den. Thus the war waged until one day they punctured Craton Wheeler's dog "Pickles," which so infuriated the enemy of the lower village that they were on the point of storming the fort in the hillside from above, and would no doubt have done so had they not chanced to trample upon Grandma Curtiss ' flower beds which caused this indignant lady to issue forth and put the en- tire gang to rout. The cave continued to be a safe refuge for the hillside gang until "Fatty" Hastings grew too big to squeeze through the en- trance and sometimes got stuck just as the gang was ready to sally forth against the enemy, or blocked the whole crew when they were in retreat. During the winter months Glenn gave his hand to making skate-sails, and became very proficient at it, and when summer came and the boys went on bird-nesting excursions in the woods, he was usually the daring one who allowed himself to be lowered by a rope over the cliff's edge or climbed to the topmost limbs of the big hickory trees. At school, mathematics was young Curtiss 's strong point, and when finally he came to pass his final examinations in the high school, he topped his class in that study with a perfect score of one BOYHOOD DAYS 11 hundred, and in Algebra he stood ninety-nine. It is reassuring, however, to find that in spelling he was barely able to squeeze through with a per- centage of seventy-five. Glenn sometimes slipped up on the figuring, but the principle was usually right; he had figured that out beforehand. The boys of Hammondsport used to say that Glenn would think half an hour to do fifteen minutes' work. One wonders what they would have said, if they had been told that in after years he was to think and plan and scheme for a year, and then when he was all ready, to wait hour after hour, day after day, to accomplish something requiring a little more than two hours ' time ; like his flight from Albany to New York, the first great cross- country flight made in America. When Curtiss was twelve years old his family went to live in Kochester, New York, so that his sister might be able to attend a school for the deaf at that place. He went on working at Eochester after school hours and during vacation time, first as a telegraph messenger, then in the great East- man Kodak works, assembling cameras. He was one of the very first boys hired by that establish- ment to replace men at certain kinds of work, and while the men had received twelve dollars a week, Glenn received but four dollars. Before long, however, he had induced his employers to make his work a piece-work job, and had improved the process of manufacture and increased the produc- 12 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK tion from two hundred and fifty to twenty-five hundred a day. He was thus able to earn from twelve to fifteen dollars a week. It was while em- ployed in the camera works at Eochester that Curtiss saved the life of a companion who had fallen through the ice on the Erie canal. When praised for his act of bravery he simply re- marked: "I pulled him out because I was the nearest to him." All during the time that Curtiss was working for others for wages, he continued to tinker making things and then taking them apart. Once he told some of his companions that he could make, out of a cigar box, a camera that would take a good picture. Of course they laughed at him and bet that he couldn't do it. But Glenn did do it, and a picture of his sister with a book was produced and is still unf aded, and in good condition, in pos- session of his family. He constructed a complete telegraph instrument out of spools, nails, tin, and wire and this so impressed the lady with whom the Curtisses boarded that she remarked to one of her friends that " Glenn Curtiss will make his mark in the world some day; you mark my words.'' This particular lady tells of the time that Glenn used to talk of airships, and he was not yet sixteen years old. Curtiss was fond of all sorts of sports, taking part in the games the boys would get up after school and on Saturdays. He BOYHOOD DAYS 13 liked to play ball, to run, jump, swim, and to ride a bicycle. His time was too much taken up, however, with more productive efforts, such as the wiring of dwellings for electric light or telephones, to per- mit of much time being given to boyish sports. He was most original and had a keen sense of humour. He was fond of an argument, and had one striking characteristic ; once he had made up his mind as to the why and wherefore of a thing, he could never be induced to change it. To il- lustrate this trait ; one day an argument arose be- tween Glenn and another boy as to whether or not a whale is a fish, Glenn holding that it could be nothing but a fish. The other boy finally reen- f orced his argument by producing a dictionary to show that a whale is not a fish, whereupon Curtiss asserted that the dictionary was wrong and re- fused to accept it as authority. Curtiss was always eager for speed to get from one place to another in the quickest time with the least amount of effort. He was obsessed with the idea of travelling fast. One of the first things he remembers, says Curtiss, was seeing a sled made by one of his father's workmen for his son beat every other sled that dashed down the steep snow-clad hills around Hammondsport. He begged his father to let "Gene" make him a sled that would go faster than Linn's. "Gene" made 14 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK the sled and Glenn painted it red, with a picture of a horse on it. Furthermore, he beat every sled in Hammondsport or thereabouts. The bicycle became all the rage when Curtis s was growing into his early teens and nothing was more certain than that he should have one as soon as he could earn enough money to buy it. And when he got it he made it serve his purposes in delivering telegrams, newspapers, and such like. He developed speed and staying powers as a rider, and soon thought nothing of making the trip from Eochester to Hammondsport to see his grand- mother, who still lived in the old home in that vil- lage. The roads of New York were not as good as they are nowadays, when the automobile forces improvements of the highways, but Curtiss rode fast nevertheless. In fact, he managed all his regular work this way. His idea was first, to find out just how to do it, and then do it. Then he would find out how fast a certain task could be performed, and get through with it at top speed. The surplus time he devoted to tinkering with something new. Grandmother Curtiss finally prevailed upon him to go back to Hammondsport and live with her. For a time after his return he assisted a lo- cal photographer and his experience in photogra- phy gained at this time has since proved of great value to him, and, incidentally, to the history of aviation; for in photographing his experiments BOYHOOD DAYS 15 Curtiss' pictures have a distinct value, as much for being taken just at the right instant, as for their pictorial detail. Following his photo- graphic employment, Curtiss took charge of a bi- cycle repair shop. It was a little shop down by the principal hotel in Hammondsport, but Curtiss foresaw the popularity and later the cheapness of the bicycle, and he believed the shop would do a good business. James Smellie owned the shop, but Curtiss' mechanical skill soon asserted itself and he became the practical boss. This was in 1897. George Lyon, a local jeweler, was a com- petitor of Smellie 's in the bicycle business, and got up a big race around the valley, a distance of five miles over the rough country roads. When Smellie heard of the race he made up his mind that Curtiss could win it and went about arrang- ing the equipment of his employe. That race has passed into the real history of the town of Ham- mondsport. Everybody in the town and the val- ley was there, and great was the excitement when the riders lined up for the start. They started from a point near the monument in front of the Episcopal church and within a few moments after the crack of the pistol they were all out of sight, swallowed up in the dust clouds that marked their progress up the valley. After a long interval of suspense a solitary rider appeared on the home stretch, hunched down over his handle-bars and riding for dear life, without a glance to right or 16 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK left. It was Curtiss, who probably has never since felt the same thrill of pride at the shouts of the crowd. The next man was fully half a mile in the rear when Glenn crossed the finish-line. This was Curtiss ' first bicycle race, but later he acquired greater speed and experience and rode in many races at county fairs in the southern part of New York State. What's more, he won all of his races. This was good for his bicycle business, which thrived in the summer, but languished in the winter. During the dull period Curtiss took up electrical work, wiring houses, putting in elec- tric bells, and doing similar work of a mechanical nature. An incident is told of his mechanical skill at this time that illustrates his inquisitive mind. An acetylene gas generator in one of the stores got out of order one day, and no one in the store could tell just how to repair it. Curtiss had never seen a gas generator, but that did not deter him from going at it. He studied it out in a little while and then put his finger on the trou- ble. After that the generator worked better than ever. A little later he decided to build a gas gen- erator after his own ideas. He started with two tomato cans and built it. This was the first appearance of Curtiss' two tomato cans. They played an important part in his subsequent experimental work, figuring all the way through from this first gas generator to the carburetor of a motorcycle, and at last to enlarge BOYHOOD DAYS 17 the water capacity of Charles K. Hamilton's en- gine on his aeroplane so that he might cool his engine better in making the record flight from New York to Philadelphia and return in the same day. In this first case the two tomato cans de- veloped into an acetylene gas plant with several improvements, and his own home and shop were lighted by it. Later the plant was enlarged so as to furnish light for several business houses of Hammondsport. CHAPTER in BUILDING MOTORS AND MOTORCYCLE RACING IN the spring of 1900 Curtiss embarked in the bicycle business for himself, opening a shop near his old place of employment. This shop soon came to be known as the " industrial incu- bator," because experiments of many kinds were tried there a hatching-place for all sorts of new machines. The first one developed was destined to open up to Curtiss a new field of action, one that furnished the opportunity for new speed rec- ords, and enlarged the scope of his activities be- yond the limits of the little town and the valley, and spread before him possibilities as wide as the boundaries of the continent. Curtiss had ridden a bicycle in races, and got the utmost speed out of it; but the bicycle, as a man-propelled vehicle, did not travel fast enough to suit him. He therefore set about devising means for increasing its speed possibilities. One day Smellie, his old employer, came into Curtiss' shop, tired out and perspiring from his efforts in pedaling his bicycle up the hill. " Glenn," he said, "I'm going to give the blamed thing up until they get something to push it." That was Cur- 18 MOTOES AND MOTOECYCLES 19 tiss' cue, and it promptly became Ms problem getting something to push it! He determined to mount a gasoline engine on a bicycle, and at once began to search for the necessary castings. Fi- nally he secured them and began the task of building a motor. Unfortunately, the man who sold him the castings sent no instructions for building a motor, so the problem was left to Cur- tiss and to those who interested themselves in his work. They studied and planned and made ex- periments, learning something new about motors all the while. Eventually, with the assistance of local mechanics, the castings were " machined" and the motor assembled. Curtiss afterward described it as a remarkable contrivance ; but it did the work. This motor had a two-inch bore and a two-an-a-half-inch stroke, and drove the bicycle wheel by a friction roller pulley. First, Curtiss made the pulley of wood, then of leather, and finally of rubber. It was tried first on the front wheel and then on the rear one, and so numerous were the changes in and additions to its equipment, that the bystanders and there was the usual number of these saw only the humorous side of the thing and declared that it looked like a sort of Happy Hooligan bi- cycle with tin cans hung on wherever there was room. The tomato can again came to the front in Curtiss' experiments, and now served to fashion a rough and ready sort of carburetor, filled with 20 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK gasoline and covered over with, a gauze screen, which sucked up the liquid by capillary attraction. Thus it vaporized and was conducted to the cylin- der by a pipe from the top of the can. Then came the first demonstration of a bicycle driven by power other than leg muscles, and it at- tracted almost as much attention in Hammonds- port as the first bicycle road race which Curtiss had won some years before. The newfangled machine, which the village oracle declared could not be made to go unless the rider put his legs to work, did not promise much of a success on its initial trip. Curtiss started off for the post-office, but had to pedal all the way there, the motor re- fusing to do its part. Coming from the post-of- fice, however, it began popping and shoved the wheels around at an amazing rate, while Curtiss sat calmly upright and viewed the excited citizens of Hammondsport as he sped by. That was the beginning of Curtiss' motorcycle; but the ambitious inventor did not rest with the first success. "Work at the " incubator" went on unceasingly. The young mechanical genius car- ried on his regular duties during the days but spent most of the nights in his experiments. Curtiss would not have said that he worked nights, but that he spent his evenings in "doping out" the best way to build something. He has never changed his habits in this respect. He still "dopes out" something for the next day or the (A) POST CARD SENT BY CURTISS TO HIS WIFE, JANUARY 24, 1907 (B) CURTISS MAKING WORLD'S MOTORCYCLE RECORD, ORMOND BEACH MOTOES AND MOTORCYCLES 21 next month while "resting" from his daylight du- ties; though the process would now be expressed in somewhat more scientific terms. In truth, one may say that Curtiss worked all the time. In of- fice or shop hours, like other persons, he did what he had to do ; while at other times he did what he wanted to do. Curtiss was different only in that he wanted to do those things which other people would call labor. Experimental work was recrea- tion to Curtiss, and because of this mental atti- tude he was able to stick at a task day and night and keep up ^ steam" all the while. Curtiss seldom planned on paper. Plans seemed to outline themselves in his active mind, and when, later, he became an employer of a num- ber of men, he simply outlined his ideas, describ- ing just what he wanted to accomplish, and left it to their ingenuity. Sometimes one of his assist- ants would ask him a question and after standing for minutes as if he had not heard, Curtiss would suddenly reply and outline a task which it would require all day to carry out. Once Curtiss had decided that a certain course of action would bring certain mechanical results, it usually turned out that way, and because of this and the further fact that he was as good a workman as he was a designer, the men he had gathered around him grew to regard his judgment as final and there- fore went ahead with absolute confidence as to the results. 22 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK There was a remarkable spirit of cooperation in the " industrial incubator. " This spirit con- tinued through the early years of Curtiss' first business successes, and it obtains to-day in the big Curtiss aeroplane and motor factories at Ham- mondsport. The alertness of the men around Curtiss, and the atmosphere of cooperation may be due, in some measure, to the curious interest they always hold as to what he will do next and there is certain to be something happening out of the ordinary. Thus, work with Curtiss seldom becomes monotonous and without its surprises. To go back to the first motor Curtiss built; it was quickly found to be too small, and he secured another set of castings, as large as he could get. With these he constructed a motor with a cylin- der three and a half by five inches, and weighing a hundred and ninety pounds. This machine proved to be a terror. It is true that it exploded only occasionally, but when it did it almost tore itself loose from the frame. But it drove the mo- torcycle as fast as thirty miles an hour and gained such a remarkable reputation in Hammondsport that a story is still told in the town of the time Curtiss made his first trip with it, when it carried him through the village, up over the steep hills, through North Urbana and as far as Wayne, where it ran out of gasoline and came to a stop of its own accord. Thus Curtiss went ahead with his work to con- MOTOES AND MOTOBCYCLES 23 struct and improve his motors, and improvement came with each successive one. The third motor was better suited to the needs of the bicycle and furnished better results. Meantime, Curtiss be- gan to receive inquiries and even some orders, and business took a decidedly favorable turn. Judge Monroe Wheeler took a great liking to the young man, who used to come over to his office to get the judge's stenographer to typewrite his let- ters, and helped him to establish credit at the local bank, and in other ways. Half a dozen fel- low-townsmen became interested enough in Cur- tiss' motorcycle experiments to put money into the business, and within a short time a little fac- tory was built on the hill back of Grandma Cur- tiss' house. It was an inconvenient place to put up a factory, and all the heavy material was hauled up to it with some difficulty, but the light, finished product, which in this case could go under its own power, rolled down the steep grade with- out trouble. In spite of these little obstacles; in spite of the fact that Hammondsport is located at the end of a little branch railroad which seems to the visitor to run only as the spirit moves the engineer in spite of every handicap, the business grew rapidly. Curtiss was, by this time, happily married and Mrs. Curtiss helped with the office work at the factory, which stood then, as it does to-day, at the very back door of the old Curtiss homestead on 24 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK the hillside. Curtiss used to take out his best motorcycle in these days and go off alone to all the motorcycle races held in that section of the State. Incidentally, he scooped in all the prizes, for he had the fastest machine, and he was a fin- ished rider. On Memorial Day in 1903, Curtiss ventured far afield for an event that brought him his first notices in the big newspapers of New York City. He entered and won a hill-climbing contest at New York City, on Eiverside Drive, and immediately afterward mounted his wheel, rode up the Hudson to another race, at Empire City Track, and won that also. This gave him the American championship. Later, at Providence, E. L, he established a world's record for a single-cylinder motorcycle, covering a mile in fifty-six and two-fifths seconds. While this was phenomenal speed, it was as noth- ing in comparison with the record he was soon to establish. He built a two-cylinder motor and on January 28, 1904, at Ormond Beach, Florida, he rode ten miles in eight minutes fifty-four and two-fifth seconds, and established a world's record that stood for more than seven years. Curtiss was not content even with this. He wanted to travel faster than man had ever traveled before. He had built a forty horse-power, eight-cylinder motor for a customer who wanted it to put in a flying machine which he was building, and in or- der to try out the motor Curtiss built an especially MOTORS AND MOTORCYCLES 25 strong motorcycle, using an automobile tire on the rear wheel and a motorcycle tire on the front wheel. On a strong frame the big forty horse- power motor was mounted. It was not given a thorough try out at Hammondsport, for it was winter and snow lay deep on the roads. With the aid of some of his shopmen, Curtiss took the freak machine out on the snow-covered roads, merely for the purpose of seeing if it could be started as it was geared in the machine. It proved that it would start all right, and so it was hurriedly boxed and rushed to the train, which was actually kept waiting several minutes. Cur- tiss was going South to make new records, and even the railroad men on the little branch road from Hammondsport to Bath, felt an interest in his undertaking. This, by the way, is typical of the way things are done at Hammondsport. When there is need for rushing matters, the men work night and day without complaint. These last-moment rushes are often due to the giving of much thought to the details before commencing to build, and sometimes because, in building, im- provements which must be incorporated suggest themselves. Curtiss' rule, as he expresses it, is: "What is the need of racing unless you think you are going to win ; and if you are beaten before you start, why take a chance?' ' But there are other considerations for the builder of racing machines to take into account. If your competitors know 26 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK what you are doing, and they will know, somehow, if you give them a little time, they will go you one better. Therefore, this belated activity at the Curtiss factory is not always without its motive. Take, for instance, the first big International race for the Gordon Bennett aviation trophy, which Curtiss won at Eheims, France, in 1909. In spite of the fact that Curtiss ' motor was built in a great hurry, barely giving the necessary time to finish it and reach Eheims for the race, Bleriot, the chief French builder of the monoplane type, changed his motor as soon as he had read a de- scription of the one Curtiss was to use. The motorcycle which Curtiss had built and mounted with the eight-cylinder motor proved to be a world-beater the fastest vehicle ever built to carry a man. It was taken to Ormond Beach, Florida, where it was tried out on the smooth sandy shore, which stretches for miles, as level as a billiard table and almost as hard as asphalt. Here, on January 24, 1907, Curtiss mounted the heavy, ungainly vehicle and traveled a mile in twenty-six and two-fifth seconds, at the rate of one hundred and thirty-seven miles an hour! This stands to-day as the speed record for man and machine. Curtiss, without goggles and with no special precautions in the matter of costume, simply mounted the seat, took a two-mile running start before crossing the line, and was off. Bend- ing so low over the handle-bars that he almost MOTOES AND MOTOBCYCLES 27 seemed to be lying flat and merged into a part of the machine itself, he flashed over the mile course in less time than it takes to read these dozen lines. This speed trial was the culmination of weeks of study, work, and experiment. Day after day, and even at night, Curtiss had schemed and worked; now to get the weight properly placed and bal- anced; here to strengthen the frame and over- come the danger from the torque, and the tendency to turn the machine over, and finally to obtain the right sort of tires and to put them on securely. Ordinary tires, on wiieels revolving at such an amazing speed, would have been cast off the rims like a belt off a pulley, by the centrifugal force. These and a thousand other details were worked out so thoroughly that the machine, when ready, required very little testing out. In describing the trial Curtiss said that he could see nothing but a streak of grey beach in front of him, a blur of hills on one side, and the white ribbon of foaming surf on the other. The great crowd that watched the smoking, whirring thing that flashed by as if fired from a great gun, caught but a fleeting glimpse of Curtiss. The record could not be accepted as official, be- cause the motor was too big and powerful to be classed as a motorcycle engine. It therefore stands as an absolutely unique performance, un- equalled, and not even approached as regards speed, until three years later, when Barney Old- 28 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK field, driving a two hundred horse-power Benz automobile, covered a mile over the same course in twenty-seven and thirty-three hundredths sec- onds. Curtiss had developed, improved, and exhausted the motorcycle as far as speed possibilities were concerned, and was soon to give it up for some- thing of far greater potential possibilities the aeroplane. CHAPTEE IV BALDWIN'S BALLOON THOMAS SCOTT BALDWIN was engaged in building a dirigible balloon in Califor- nia when he chanced to see a new motorcycle, the motor of which seemed to be exactly what he wanted to propel his new airship. He learned that it was the design and product of a man named Curtiss, at Hammondsport, N. Y., with whom he entered into correspondence. The re- sult was that Captain Baldwin went to Ham- mondsport for a personal interview with the man who had turned out the motor. Baldwin expected to find, as he afterward said, a big, important-looking manufacturer, and great was his surprise to find a quiet, unassuming young man, scarcely more than a youth. The jovial Baldwin and the unobtrusive Curtiss became great friends at once. They discussed motors of all sorts, but particularly motors suitable for diri- gible balloons, then in the first stage of develop- ment. When Baldwin asked Curtiss the price of one of the type then used in the Curtiss motorcy- cle, he was surprised at its cheapness, and ordered one on the spot. This was built at once and 29 30 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK proved successful. Later several other motors were built at the Curtiss factory for Baldwin, each one showing some improvement, and some of them designed to meet the increasing demand for a more powerful motor of light weight for use in dirigible balloons. As a natural consequence of Baldwin's success with the use of the Curtiss motor, it was but a short time until it came to be the best known motor in America for aero- nautic work. At the St. Louis World's Fair, in 1904, Captain Baldwin's " California Arrow," the only successful airship out of all those which were brought from Europe and every part of America to contest for big prizes, was equipped with one of Curtiss' motors. Baldwin's success at St. Louis was a triumph for Curtiss, and soon all dirigible balloons operating in this country were driven by Curtiss motors. Hammondsport was now to have a new sensation and to witness an experiment which eventually led to momentous developments. In order to test the power of the motors he was building for Cap- tain Baldwin, and for the purpose of determining the efficiency of his aerial propeller, Curtiss con- structed a "wind-wagon," a three-wheel vehicle with the motor and propeller mounted in the rear of the driver. When he took this queer contriv- ance out on the road for its first trial, the town of Hammondsport turned out to witness the fun. Consternation among the usually mild-eyed work Ss o < s f NEARLY UP IN THE AIR (A) The wind wagon Curtiss in 1904. (B) Ice boat with aerial propeller BALDWIN'S BALLOON 31 horses spread throughout the little valley as the ' ' wind- wagon " went scooting up and down the dusty roads, creating a fearful racket. Before the start was made an automobile was sent ahead to clear the way and to warn the drivers of other vehicles. The automobile, however, was quickly overhauled, passed, and left far in the rear by the whirring, spluttering, three-wheeled embry- onic flying machine. Protests by farmers, business-men and others quickly followed this experiment. They argued that it frightened the horses, made travel on the roads unsafe, and was "bad for business gener- ally/' As the machine had served its purpose with Curtiss, and had given Hammondsport its little diversion, the famous " wind-wagon " passed into history, and, like so many other of Curtiss' experiments, remains only in the memories of those who were directly interested or those who watched in idle curiosity. Other airships were built by Baldwin and Cur- tiss from time to time, and these were used suc- cessfully in giving exhibitions throughout the United States. The work of these two pioneers of the air had attracted the attention of the United States Government, in the meantime, and great was the elation at Hammondsport when an or- der came from the War Department at Wash- ington for a big dirigible balloon for the use of the Signal Corps. Baldwin was commissioned to 32 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK build the balloon and Curtiss the motor to propel it. This was an important undertaking, and both Baldwin and Curtiss appreciated the fact. It marked the beginning of Governmental and military interest in aeronautics in this coun- try, the possibilities of which were already en- gaging the attention of the military authorities of Europe. The success of this airship meant much to both men, and Baldwin and Curtiss worked all through the winter of 1904-05 to make it so, Baldwin, meanwhile, having moved to Hammondsport in order to be in touch with the Curtiss factory, where all the mechanical parts of his airships were being made. In order to meet the specifications drawn up by the War Department, the big airship was required to make a continuous flight of two hours under the power of the motor, and be capable of manoeuvr- ing in any direction. Curtiss realised that in or- der to fill these requirements a new type motor would be needed. He designed and set about building, therefore, a water-cooled motor, some- thing which had not been attempted at the Curtiss factory up to this time, and the success of which marked a long step in advance. Although Bald- win had built thirteen dirigibles, all of which had been equipped with motors built by Curtiss, and all of which had been operated successfully in ex- hibitions, the Government contract was his most ambitious undertaking. About the balloon itself, BALDWIN'S BALLOON 33 there was never any doubt; the thing that clung constantly in the minds of these men who were bending every effort to the conquest of the air, was : " Will the motor do its work in a two-hours' endurance test, and will it furnish the necessary power to drive the big airship at a speed of twenty miles an hour?" The conditions under which the trial was to be made were entirely unique. The motor had to be suspended on a light but substantial framework beneath the great gas-bag, and from this framework the pilot and the engineer had to do their work. The Army dirigible was completed on time and its test took place at Washington in the summer of 1905. Captain Baldwin acted as pilot and Cur- tiss as engineer. The airship met every specifi- cation and was accepted by the Government. A flight of two hours' duration was made over the wooded hills of Virginia, and this stands to-day as the longest continuous flight ever made by a dirigible airship in this country. PAET H MY FIRST FLIGHTS BY GLENN H. CUETISS CHAPTER I BEGINNING TO FLY IN 1905, while in New York City, I first met Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Dr. Bell had learned of our light- weight motors, used with success on the Baldwin dirigibles, and wanted to secure one for use in his experiments with kites. We had a very in- teresting talk on these experiments, and he asked me to visit him at Bienn Bhreagh, his summer home near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Dr. Bell had developed some wonderfully light and strong tet- rahedral kites which possessed great inherent sta- bility, and he wanted a motor to install in one of them for purposes of experimentation. This kite was a very large one. The Doctor called it an " aerodrome." The surfaces not being planes, it could not properly be described as an aeroplane. He believed that the time would come when the framework of the aeroplane would have to be so large in proportion to its surface that it would be too heavy to fly. Consequently, he evolved the tetrahedral or cellular form of structure, which would allow of the size being increased indefi- 37 38 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK nitely, while the weight would be increased only in the same ratio. Dr. Bell had invited two young Canadian engi- neers, F. W. Baldwin and J. A. D. McCurdy, to assist him, and they were at Baddeck when I first visited there in the summer of 1907. Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, of the United States Army, was also there. Naturally, there was a wide dis- cussion on the subject of aeronautics, and so nu- merous were the suggestions made and so many theories advanced, that Mrs. Bell suggested the formation of a scientific organisation, to be known as the "Aerial Experiment Association." This met with a prompt and hearty agreement and the association was created very much in the same manner as Dr. Bell had previously formed the "Volta Association' ' at Washington for develop- ing the phonograph. Mrs. Bell, who was most enthusiastic and helpful, generously offered to furnish the necessary funds for experimental work, and the object of the Association was offi- cially set forth as "to build a practical aeroplane which will carry a man and be driven through the air by its own power." Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was made chair- man; F. "W. Baldwin, chief engineer; J. A. D. McCurdy, assistant engineer and treasurer; and Lieut. Thomas Selfridge, secretary; while I was honored with the title of Director of Experiments and Chief Executive Officer. Both Baldwin and STARTING TO FLY (A) F. W. Baldwin makes first public flight In America. (B) The Bug," June, 1908. (C) Baldwin in Aerial Association's Glider June BEGINNING TO FLY 39 McCurdy were fresh from Toronto University, where they had graduated as mechanical engi- neers, and Baldwin later earned the distinction of making the first public flight in a motor-driven, heavier-than-air machine. This was accomplished at Hammondsport, N. Y., March 12, 1908, over the ice on Lake Keuka. The machine used was Num- ber One, built by the Aerial Experiment Associa- tion, designed by Lieutenant Self ridge, and known as "The Bed Wing." The experiments carried on at Baddeck during the summer and fall of 1907 covered a wide range. There were trials and tests with Dr. Bell's tetrahedral kites, with mo- tors, and with aerial propellers mounted on boats. Finally, at the suggestion of Lieutenant Selfridge, it was decided to move the scene of further experi- ments to Hammondsport, N. Y., where my factory is located, and there to build a glider. I had pre- ceded the other members of the Association from Baddeck to Hammondsport in order to prepare for the continuance of our work. A few days after my return I was in my office, talking to Mr. Augus- tus Post, then the Secretary of the Aero Club of America, when a telegram came from Dr. Bell, saying: "Start building. The boys will be down next week." As no plans had been outlined, and nothing definite settled upon in the way of imme- diate experiments, I was somewhat undecided as to just what to build. We then discussed the sub- ject of gliders for some time and I finally decided 40 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK that the thing to do was to build a glider at the factory and to take advantage of the very abrupt and convenient hills at Hammondsport to try it out. We therefore built a double-surface glider of the Chanute type. As almost every schoolboy knows in this day of advanced information on aviation, a glider is, roughly speaking, an aeroplane without a motor. Usually it has practically the same surfaces as a modern aeroplane, and may be made to support a passenger by launching it from the top of a hill in order to give it sufficient impetus to sustain its own weight and that of a rider. If the hill is steep the glider will descend at a smaller angle than the slope of the hill, and thus glides of a considerable distance may be made with ease and comparative safety. Our first trials of the glider, which we built on the arrival of the members of the Experiment As- sociation, were made in the dead of winter, when the snow lay deep over the hillsides. This made very hard work for everybody. It was a case of trudging laboriously up the steep hillsides and hauling or carrying the glider to the top by slow stages. It was easy enough going down, but slow work going up; but we continued our trials with varied success until we considered ourselves skil- ful enough to undertake a motor-driven machine, which we mounted on runners. CHAPTEB II FIRST FLIGHTS IT was my desire to build a machine and install a motor at once, and thus take advantage of the opportunity furnished by the thick, smooth ice over Lake Keuka at that season of the year. But Lieutenant Selfridge, who had read a great deal about gliders and who had studied them from every angle, believed we should continue experimenting with the glider. However, we decided to build a machine which we believed would fly, and in due time a motor was installed and it was taken down on Lake Keuka to be tried out. We called it the "Red Wing," and to Lieu- tenant Selfridge belongs the honour of designing it, though all the members of the Aerial Experi- ment Association had some hand in its con- struction. We all had our own ideas about the design of this first machine, but to Lieutenant Selfridge was left the privilege of accepting or rejecting the many suggestions made from time to time, in order that greater progress might be made. A number of our suggestions were accepted, and while the machine as completed 41 42 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK cannot properly be described as the result of one man's ideas, the honour of being the final ar- biter of all the problems of its design certainly belongs to Lieutenant Selfridge. Now that the machine was completed and the motor installed, we waited for favourable weather to make the first trial. Winter weather around Lake Keuka is a very uncertain element, and we had a long, tiresome wait until the wintry gales that blew out of the north gave way to an intensely cold spell. Our opportunity came on March 12, 1908. There was scarcely a bit of wind, but it was bitterly cold. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Selfridge was absent, having left Hammondsport on business, and " Casey " Baldwin was selected to make the first trial. We were all on edge with eagerness to see what the machine would do. Same of us were confident, others sceptical. Baldwin climbed into the seat, took the control in hand, and we cranked the motor. When we released our hold of the machine, it sped over the ice like a scared rabbit for two or three hundred feet, and then, much to our joy, it jumped into the air. This was what we had worked for through many long months, and naturally we watched the brief and uncertain course of Baldwin with a good deal of emotion. Rising to a height of six or eight feet, Baldwin flew the unheard-of distance of three hundred and eighteen feet, eleven inches! Then he came down ingloriously FIEST FLIGHTS 43 on one wing. As we learned afterward, the frail framework of the tail had bent and the machine had flopped over on its side and dropped on the wing, which gave way and caused the machine to turn completely around. But it had been a successful flight and we took no toll of the damage to the machine or the cost. We had succeeded ! that was the main thing. We had actually flown the "Bed Wing" three hun- dred and eighteen feet and eleven inches! We knew now we could build a machine that would fly longer and come down at the direction of the operator with safety to both. It had taken just seven weeks to build the ma- chine and to get it ready for the trial ; it had taken just about twenty seconds to smash it. But a great thing had been accomplished. We had achieved the first public flight of a heavier- than-air machine in America! As our original plans provided for the building of one machine designed by each member of the Association, with the assistance of all the others, the building of the next one fell to Mr. Baldwin, and it was called the ' ' White Wing. ' ' The design of the "Red Wing" was followed in many details, but several things were added which we believed would give increased stability and greater flying power. The construction of the "White Wing" was begun at once, but before we could complete it the ice on the lake had yielded to the spring 44 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK winds and we were therefore obliged to transfer our future trials to land. This required wheels for starting and alighting in the place of the ice runners used on the "Red Wing." An old half- mile race track a short distance up the valley from the Lake was rented and put in shape for flights. The place was called "Stony Brook Farm," and it was for a long time afterward the scene of our flying exploits at Hammondsport. It would be tiresome to the reader to be told of all the discouragements we met with; of the dis- heartening smashes we suffered; how almost ev- ery time we managed to get the new machine off the ground for brief but encouraging flights, it would come down so hard that something would give way and we would have to set about the task of building it up again. We soon learned that it was comparatively easy to get the machine up in the air, but it was most difficult to get it back to earth without smashing something. The fact was, we had not learned the art of landing an aeroplane with ease and safety an absolutely necessary art for every successful aviator to know. It seemed one day that the limit of hard luck had been reached, when, after a brief flight and a somewhat rough landing, the machine folded up and sank down on its side, like a wounded bird, just as we were feeling pretty good over a successful landing without breakage. Changes in the details of the machine were many FIKST FLIGHTS 45 and frequent, and after each change there was a flight or an attempted flight. Sometimes we man- aged to make quite a flight, and others and more numerous merely short "jumps" that would land the machine in a potato patch or a cornfield, where, in the yielding ground, the wheels would crumple up and let the whole thing down. Up to this time we had always used silk to cover the planes, but this proved very expensive and we de- cided to try a substitute. An entirely new set of planes were made and the new covering put on them. They looked very pretty and white as we took the rebuilt machine out with every expecta- tion that it would fly. Great was our surprise, however, when it refused absolutely to make even an encouraging jump. For a time we were at a loss to understand it. Then the reason became as plain as day; we had used cotton to cover the planes, and, being porous, it would not furnish the sustaining power in flight. This was quickly rem- edied by coating the cotton covering with varnish, rendering it impervious to the air. After that it flew all right. I believe this was the first instance of the use of a liquid filler to coat the surface cloth. It is now used widely, both in this country and in Europe. We had a great many minor misfortunes with the "White Wing," but each one taught us a les- son. We gradually learned where the stresses and strains lay, and overcame them. Thus, little 46 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK by little, the machine was reduced in weight, simplified in detail, and finally took on some sem- blance to the standard Curtiss aeroplane of to- day. All the members of the Aerial Experiment As- sociation were in Hammondsport at this time, in- cluding Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. We had established an office in the annex which had been built on the Curtiss homestead, and here took place nightly discussions on the work of the day past and the plans for the day to follow. Some of the boys named the office the "thinkorium." Every night the minutes of the previous meeting would be read and discussed. These minutes, by the way, were religiously kept by Lieutenant Self- ridge and later published in the form of a bulletin and sent to each member. Marvellous in range were the subjects brought up and talked over at these meetings! Dr. Bell was the source of the most unusual suggestions for discussion. Usually these were things he had given a great deal of thought and time to, and, therefore, his opinions on any of his hobbies were most interesting. For instance, he had collected a great deal of informa- tion on the genealogy of the Hyde family, com- prising some seven thousand individuals. These he had arranged in his card index system, in order to determine the proportion of male and female individuals, their relative length of life, and other FIKST FLIGHTS 47 characteristics. Or, perhaps, the Doctor would talk about his scheme to influence the sex of sheep by a certain method of feeding; his early experi- ences with the telephone, the phonograph, the har- monic telegraph, and multiple telegraphy. At other times we would do a jig-saw puzzle with pictures of aeroplanes, or listen to lectures on physical culture by Dr. Alden, of the village. Then, for a change, we would discuss, with great interest and sincerity, the various methods of mak- ing sounds to accompany the action of a picture, behind the curtain of the moving-picture show, which we all had attended. Motorcycle construc- tion and operation were studied at the factory and on the roads around Hammondsport. Mc- Curdy used to give us daily demonstrations of how to fall off a motorcycle scientifically. He fell off so often, in fact, that we feared he would never make an aviator. In this opinion, of course, we were very much in error, as he became one of the first, and also one of the best aviators in the coun- try. Atmospheric pressure, the vacuum motor, Dr. Bell's tetrahedral construction, and even as- tronomical subjects all found a place in the nightly discussions at the "thinkorium." Of course there were many important things that took up our attention, but we could not always be grave and dignified. I recall one evening somebody started a discussion on the idea of ele- 48 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK vating Trinity Church, in New York City, on the top of a skyscraper, and using the revenue from the ground rental to convert the heathen. This gave a decided shock to a ministerial visitor who happened to be present. When summer came on there were frequent mo- torcycle trips when the weather did not permit of flying, or when the shop was at work repairing one of our frequent smashes. " Casey " Baldwin and McCurdy furnished a surprise one day by a rather unusual long-distance trip on motorcycles. " Let's go up to Hamilton, Ontario," said Bald- win, probably choosing Hamilton as the destina- tion because he was charged with having a sweet- heart there. "All right," answered McCurdy. Without a moment's hesitation the two mounted their wheels, not even stopping to get their caps, and rode through to Hamilton, a hundred and fifty miles distant, buying everything they required along the way. They were gone a week and came back by the same route. A favourite subject of talk at the "thinkorium," at least between McCurdy and Selfridge, was on some of the effects of the "torque" of a propeller and whenever this arose we would expect the ar- gument to keep up until one or the other would fall asleep. After the nightly formal sessions of the mem- bers of the Association the courtesy of the floor FIEST FLIGHTS 49 was extended to any one who might be present for the discussion of anything he might see fit to bring up. Later we would adjourn to Dr. Bell's room, where he would put himself into a comfortable position, light his inevitable pipe, and produce his note books. In these note books Dr. Bell would write down everything his thoughts on every subject imaginable, his ideas about many things, sketches, computations. All these he would sign, date, and have witnessed. It was Dr. Bell's custom to work at night when there were no distracting noises, though there were few of these at Hammondsport even during the day- light hours; at night it is quiet enough for the most exacting victim of insomnia. Dr. Bell often sat up until long after midnight, but he made up for the lost time by sleeping until noon. No one was allowed to wake him for any reason. The rest of us were up early in order to take advantage of the favourable flying conditions during the early morning hours. Dr. Bell had a strong aversion to the ringing of the telephone bell the great in- vention for which he is responsible. I occasion- ally went into his room and found the bell stuffed with paper, or wound around with towels. "Little did I think when I invented this thing," said Dr. Bell, one day when he had been awakened by the jingling of the bell, "that it would rise up to mock and annoy me." While the Doctor enjoyed his morning sleep we 50 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK were out on " Stony Brook Farm" trying to fly. We had put up a tent against the side of an old sheep barn, and out of this we would haul the ma- chine while the grass was still wet with dew. One never knew what to expect of it. Sometimes a short flight would be made; at others, some- thing would break. Or, maybe, the wind would come up and this would force us to abandon all further trials for the day. Then it was back to the shop to work on some new device, or to repair damages until the wind died out with the setting of the sun. Early in the morning and late in the evening were the best periods of the day for our experimental work because of the absence of wind. On May 22, 1908, our second machine, the " White Wing," was brought to such a state of perfection that I flew it a distance of one thousand and seventeen feet in nineteen seconds, and landed without damage in a ploughed field outside the old race track. It was regarded as a remarkable flight at that time, and naturally, I felt very much elated. CHAPTER III THE "JUNE BUG" FIRST FLIGHTS FOR THE SCIEN- TIFIC AMERICAN TROPHY AND FIRST EXPERIMENTS WITH THE HYDROAEROPLANE FOLLOWING the success of the " White Wing/' we started in to build another ma- chine, embodying all that we had learned from our experience with the two previous ones. Follow- ing our custom of giving each machine a name to distinguish it from the preceding one, we called this third aeroplane the " June Bug." The name was aptly chosen, for it was a success from the very beginning. Indeed, it flew so well that we soon decided it was good enough to win the trophy which had been offered by The Scientific Ameri- can for the first public flight of one kilometer, or five-eights of a mile, straightaway. This trophy, by the way, was the first to be offered in this country for an aeroplane flight, and the condi- tions specified that it should become the property of the person winning it three years in succession. The "June Bug" was given a thorough try-out before we made arrangements to fly for the tro- phy, and we were confident it would fulfill the requirements. 51 52 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK The Fourth of July, 1908, was the day set for the trial. A large delegation of aero-club mem- bers came on from New York and Washington, among whom were Stanley Y. Beach, Allan E. Hawley, Augustus Post, David Fairchild, Chas. M. Manley, Christopher J. Lake, A. M. Herring, George H. Guy, E. L. Jones, Wilbur E. Kimball, Captain Thomas S. Baldwin and many other per- sonal friends. The excitement among the citizens of Hammondsport in general was little less than that existing among the members of the Aerial Experiment Association, and seldom had the Fourth of July been awaited with greater im- patience. When Independence Day finally dawned it did not look auspicious for the first official aeroplane flight for a trophy. Clouds boded rain and there was some wind. This did not deter the entire population of Hammondsport from gathering on the heights around the flying field, under the trees in the valley and, in fact, at every point of van- tage. Some were on the scene as early as five o'clock in the morning, and many brought along baskets of food and made a picnic of it. The rain came along toward noon, but the crowd hoisted its umbrellas or sought shelter under the trees and stayed on. Late in the afternoon the sky cleared and it began to look as if we were to have the chance to fly after all. The " June Bug" was brought out of its tent and the motor given a try- , v THE FIRST MACHINES (A) "The White Wing," Baldwin driving, 1908. (B) Selfrldge's "Red Wing" on the ice, Lake Keuka THE "JUNE BUG" 53 out. It worked all right. The course was meas ured and a flag put up to mark the end. Every- thing was ready and about seven o'clock in the evening the motor was started and I climbed into the seat. When I gave the word to "let go" the "June Bug" skimmed along over the old race track for perhaps two hundred feet and then rose gracefully into the air. The crowd set up a hearty cheer, as I was told later for I could hear nothing but the roar of the motor and I saw noth- ing except the course and the flag marking a dis- tance of one kilometer. The flag was quickly reached and passed and still I kept the aeroplane up, flying as far as the open fields would permit, and finally coming down safely in a meadow, fully a mile from the starting place. I had thus ex- ceeded the requirements and had won the Scien- tific American Trophy for the first time. I might have gone a great deal farther, as the motor was working beautifully and I had the machine under perfect control, but to have prolonged the flight would have meant a turn in the air or passing over a number of large trees. The speed of this first official flight was closely computed at thirty- nine miles an hour. Dr. Bell had gone to Nova Scotia, unfortunately, and, therefore, did not witness the Fourth of July flight of the "June Bug." The other members, however, were all present. It was a great day for all of us and we were more confident than ever 54 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK that we had evolved, out of our long and costly experiments, a machine that would fly successfully and with safety to the operator. Lieutenant Self- ridge was particularly enthusiastic, and I recall when Mr. Holcomb, special agent for a life in- surance company, visited the field one day and heard Selfridge talk about flying. "You must be careful, Selfridge," said Mr. Holcomb, "or we will need a bed for you in the hospital of which I am a trustee." "Oh, I am careful, all right," replied Selfridge, but it was only a few days later when he left Ham- mondsport for Washington, and was killed while flying as a passenger with Orville Wright at Fort Meyer. In Selfridge we lost not only one of the best- posted men in the field of aeronautics, a student and a man of practical ideas, but one of our best- loved companions and co-workers, as well. Three machines had thus far been built and flown, first the "Bed Wing," designed by Lieuten- ant Selfridge; next the "White Wing," by Bald- win, and last the ' l June Bug, ' ' by me. It was now McCurdy's turn and he designed a machine which he named the "Silver Dart." While this was building we decided to take the "June Bug" down to the lake, equip it with a set of pontoons, or a boat, and attempt to fly from the water. It was my idea that if we could design a float that would sustain the aeroplane on an even keel and at the THE "JUNE BUG" 55 same time furnish a minimum of resistance, we would be able to get up enough speed to rise from the water. Besides, the lake would afford an ideal flying place, and, what was more important still, a fall or a bad landing would not be nearly so likely to result in injury to the aviator. Accordingly, we mounted the "June Bug" on two floats, built something like a catamaran, and re-named it the "Loon." It required some time to construct light and strong floats and it was not until the beginning of November, 1908, that we were ready for the first attempt to fly from the water ever made in this or any other country. The "Loon" was hauled down to the lake from the aerodrome on a two-wheeled cart, there being no wheels for rolling it over the ground. I re- member we had to build a platform on the cart and to strengthen the wheels to carry the weight of nearly one thousand pounds which the added equipment had brought the total weight up to. This first experimental hydroaeroplane was a crude affair as compared with the machine in which I made the first successful flight from and landing upon the water, more than three years later at San Diego, Cal. The cleaner lines, the neat, light-weight boat and the other details of the Curtiss hydroaeroplane offer as striking a con- trast to the "Loon" as the modern locomotive of- fers to the crude, clumsy affairs that now exist only in the museums. So great is the difference 56 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK that one is inclined to marvel that we had any success whatever with the first design. We made many attempts to rise from the water in the "Loon," but owing to the great weight were unable to make any real flights, although the observers on shore were sure that the pon- toons were sometimes clear of the water. By the end of November our experiments had convinced every one of us that we needed more power and more time than we had at our disposal just then. The best motor we had at our command was able to deliver only enough power to drive the "Loon" at twenty-five miles an hour on the water. This was not enough to get the machine into the air, unless assisted by a strong head wind, and we were not anxious to try flying in a strong wind. In the meantime McCurdy 's machine, the "Sil- ver Dart," had been completed and mounted on wheels. The first flight was made by McCurdy on December 12, 1908, over the "Stony Brook" flying field. The "Silver Dart" was practically the same as the "June Bug." Shortly after this it was shipped to Dr. Bell's place at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, where McCurdy and "Casey" Baldwin used it all through the winter in practice, making flights from the ice and covering all the country thereabouts. McCurdy estimates that in his some two hundred flights in the "Silver Dart," he cov- ered more than a thousand miles. CHAPTEE IV FIRST FLIGHTS IN NEW YORK CITY AS a result of the winning of the Scientific American Trophy, the Aeronautical Society of New York City placed an order in the winter of 1908-09 for an aeroplane to be demonstrated at Morris Park Track, New York City, in the spring. Plans were outlined for enlarging the Ham- mondsport factory and work commenced on the machine ordered by the Aeronautical Society. It was the plan of this Society to purchase the aero- plane and have one or more of its members taught to fly it. The machine was finished in due time, thoroughly tried out at Hammondsport before it was shipped to New York, and finally sent to the old Morris Park Eace Track, where the Aeronaut- ical Society had arranged for the first public exhibition ever held in the history of aviation. There, on June 26, 1909, 1 had the honour of mak- ing the first aeroplane flights in New York City, in the machine bought by the Aeronautical So- ciety. The Society intended to make Morris Park the scene of aviation meets and of experiments with 57 58 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK gliders, but the grounds proved too small and I recommended a change to some other place in the vicinity of New York City, where there was plenty of open country and where the danger from un- expected landings would be minimized. I looked over all the suitable places around New York City and finally decided upon Mineola, on Long Is- land. The Hempstead Plains, a large, level tract lying just outside Mineola, offered an ideal place for flying and the Aeronautical Society machine was brought down there from Morris Park. There was such a fine field for flying at Mineola that I decided to make another try for the Scien- tific American trophy, which I had won on the previous Fourth of July at Hammondsport with the "June Bug." I wanted that trophy very much, but in order to become possessed of it I had to win it three years in succession, the condi- tions being changed from year to year to keep pace with the progress and development of avia- tion. The second year's conditions required a continuuous flight of more than twenty-five kilo- meters (about sixteen miles) in order to have the flight taken into account in awarding the prize, which was to go to the person making the longest official flight during the year. I believed I could make a fine showing at Hemp- stead Plains and preparations were made for the attempt. The aeroplane was put together near Peter MeLaughlin's hotel and a triangular course FLIGHTS IN NEW YOEK 59 of one and a third miles was measured off. After I had made a number of trial flights over the course I sent formal notice to the Aero Club of America that all was ready for the official flight, and the Club sent Mr. Charles M. Manley down as official representative to observe the trial for the Scientific American trophy. On July 17th, 1909, a little more than a year from the first official flight of the " June Bug" at Hammondsport, we got out on the field at Mineola at sunrise, before the heavy dew was off the grass, and made ready. It was a memorable day for the residents of that particular section of. Long Island, who had never seen a flying machine prior to my brief trial flights there a few days before. They turned out in large numbers, even at that early hour, and there was a big delegation of newspapermen from the New York dailies on hand. Flying was such a novelty at that time that nine-tenths of the people who came to watch the preparations were sceptical while others de- clared that "that thing won't fly, so what's the use of waiting 'round." There was much excite- ment, therefore, when, at a quarter after five o'clock, on the morning of July 17, I made my first flight. This was for the Cortlandt Field Bishop prize of two hundred and fifty dollars, offered by the Aero Club of America to the first four persons who should fly one kilometer. It took just two and a half minutes to win this prize 60 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK and immediately afterward I started for the Scientific American trophy. The weather was perfect and everything worked smoothly. I made twelve circuits of the course, which completed the twenty-five kilo- meters, in thirty-two minutes. The motor was working so nicely and the weather man was so favourable, that I decided to keep right on flying, until finally I had circled the course nineteen times and covered a distance of twenty-four and seven-tenths miles before landing. The average speed was probably about thirty-five miles an hour, although no official record of the speed was made. Great was the enthusiasm of the crowd when the flight ended. I confess that I, too, was en- thusiastic over the way the motor had worked and the ease with which the machine could be handled in flight. Best of all, I had the sense of satisfaction that the confidence imposed in me by my friends had been justified. As the machine built for the Aeronautical So- ciety had thus met every requirement, I agreed to teach two members to fly at Hempstead Plains. Mr. Charles F. Willard and Mr. Williams were the two chosen to take up instruction, and the work began at once. Mr. Willard proved an apt pupil and after a few lessons mastered the ma- chine and flew with confidence and success, cir- cling about the country around Mineola. FLIGHTS IN NEW YOBK 61 These flights at Mineola gave that place a start as the headquarters for aviators, and it soon be- came the popular resort for everyone interested in aviation in and near the city of New York. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN TROPHY PAET in MY CHIEF FLIGHTS AND THE WOKK OF TO-DAY BY H. CURTISS CHAPTEE I THE RHEIMS MEET FIRST INTERNATIONAL AEROPLANE CONTEST PRIOR to the first flights in New York City I had formulated plans for an improved ma- chine, designed for greater speed and equipped with a more powerful motor. I wanted to take part in the first contest for the Gordon Bennett Aviation cup at Rheims, France, August 22 to 29, 1909. This was the first International Aviation Meet held, and much was expected of the French machines of the monoplane type. Great was my gratification, therefore, when I received word from the Aero Club of America, through Mr. Cortlandt Field Bishop, who was then president, that I had been chosen to represent America at Rheims. 1 Without allowing my plans to become known to the public I began at once to build an eight-cyl- i It is interesting to note that Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, the sole American entrant for the Gordon Bennett Balloon Cup in 1906; Mr. Edgar Mix, the only representative of America in the balloon contest in 1909, and Mr. Charles Weymann, the only entrant from America in the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race of 1911, held in England, all won. 65 66 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK inder, V-shaped, fifty horse-power motor. This was practically double the horse-power I had been using. Work on the motor was pushed day and night at Hammondsport, as I had not an hour to spare. I had kept pretty close watch on every- thing that had been printed about the prepara- tions of the Frenchmen for the Gordon Bennett race and although it was reported that Bleriot, in his own monoplane, and Hubert Latham, in an Antoinette monoplane, had flown as fast as sixty miles an hour, I still felt confident. The speed of aeroplanes is so often exaggerated in press accounts that I did not believe all I read about Bleriot 's and Latham's trial flights. The motor was finished, but there was no time to put it in the new machine and try it out before sailing. It was, therefore, given a short run on the block, or testing-frame, hurriedly packed, and the entire equipment rushed to New York barely in time to catch the steamer for France. The time was so short between the arrival of our steamer and the opening of the meet that in order to get to Eheims in time to qualify, we had to take the aeroplane with us on the train as per- sonal baggage. Thanks to the kindness of the French railway officials, who realised our situa- tion, and evidently had imbibed some of the pre- vailing aviation enthusiasm, we arrived at Eheims in quick time. In those early days of aviation there was not the keen partisanship for mono- THE EHEIMS MEET 67 plane or biplane that one finds everywhere to-day ; nor was there the strong popular feeling in France in favor of the monoplane that exists to- day. An aeroplane was simply an aeroplane at that time, and interesting as such, but naturally all Frenchmen favored their compatriots who were entered in the race, particularly Bleriot, who had just earned world-wide fame by his flight across the English channel. The Frenchmen, as well as Europeans in general, fully expected Bleriot to win with his fast monoplane. My own personal hopes lay in my motor. Judge of my surprise, therefore, upon arriving at Eheims, to learn that Bleriot, who had prob- ably heard through newspaper reports that I was bringing over an eight-cylinder motor, had him- self installed an eight-cylinder motor of eighty horse-power in one of his light monoplanes. When I learned this, I believed my chances were very slim indeed, if in fact they had not entirely disappeared. The monoplane is generally be- lieved to be faster than the biplane with equal power. I had just one aeroplane and one motor; if I smashed either of these it would be all over with America's chances in the first International Cup Eace. I had not the reserve equipment to bring out a new machine as fast as one was smashed, as Bleriot and other Frenchmen had. Incidentally, there were many of them smashed during the big meet on the Plain of Bethany. At 68 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK one time, while flying, I saw as many as twelve machines strewn about the field, some wrecked and some disabled and being hauled slowly back to the hangars, by hand or by horses. For ob- vious reasons, therefore, I kept out of the dura- tion contests and other events, flying only in such events as were for speed, and of a distance not to exceed twenty kilometers, which was the course for the Gordon Bennett contest in 1909. It is hard enough for any one to map out a course of action and stick to it, particularly in the face of the desires of one's friends; but it is doubly hard for an aviator to stay on the ground waiting for just the right time to get into the air. It was particularly hard for me to keep out of many events at Eheims held from day to day, especially as there were many patriotic Americans there who would have liked to see America's only rep- resentative take part in everything on the pro- gramme. I was urged by many of these to go out and contest the Frenchmen for the rich prizes offered and it was hard to refuse to do this. These good friends did not realise the situation. America's chances could not be imperilled for the sake of gratifying one's curiosity, or national pride. On top of the urgings of my American friends to go out and fly and take chances of hav- ing a whole machine when the day for the Gordon Bennett should arrive, I was penalised for not starting in the speed race, the Prix de la Vitesse, THE EHEIMS MEET 69 the penalty being one-twentieth of the time made when I should start in this event. However, I made a number of trial flights and ten official ones, during the meet, without mishap, except a sprained ankle. This was the result of running through growing grain at the time of landing and being thrown out of the machine. I was also fortunate in being the only aviator who took part in this first big meet to land at the hangar after each flight. During this period of waiting, and making ex- planations to enthusiastic Americans who could not understand why I did not fly all the time, my mechanician, "Tod" Shriver, 1 attracted a tre- mendous amount of attention from the throngs that visited the hangars because he worked in his shirt sleeves. They thought "Tod" picturesque because he did not wear the French workman's i Tod Shriver, or "Slim" as he was known to all American avi- ators because he was very tall and slender, went to Rheims as a mechanic before taking up flying himself. He was successful as an aviator and accompanied Captain Thomas Baldwin to the Orient in the spring and summer of 1911. This trip created great excitement among the Chinese, who had never seen the "foreign devils" fly before. Captain Baldwin tells a story of the crowd that witnessed the flights in Tokyo, Japan, which he de- scribes as numbering seven hundred thousand persons! In proof of this he states that advices received from Japan in the spring of 1912 report that the crowd had not entirely dispersed even at that time! "Tod" Shriver flew in many places in the United States and in the winter of 1911 met his death in Porto Rico. He fell while flying at Ponce. His death was a shock to his many friends. {Note by AUGUSTUS POST.] 70 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK blouse. Shriver used to say that if he were pic- turesque in shirt sleeves there were about fifty million perfectly good Americans across the At- lantic who formed probably the most picturesque crowd on earth. In the try-outs it became evident to the French- men that my aeroplane was very fast and it was conceded that the race for the Gordon Bennett Cup would lie between Bleriot and myself, barring accidents. After a carefully timed trial circuit of the course, which, much to my surprise, I made in a few seconds less than M. Bleriot 's time, and that, too, with my motor throttled down slightly, I gained more confidence. I removed the large gasoline tank from my machine and put on a smaller one in order to lessen the weight and the head-resistance. I then selected the best of my three propellers, which, by the way, were objects of curiosity to the French aviators, who were familiar only with the metal blades used on the Antoinette machine, and the Chauviere, which was being used by M. Bleriot. M. Chauviere was kind enough to make a propeller especially fitted to my aeroplane, notwithstanding the fact that a better propeller on my machine would lessen the chances of the French flyers for the cup. However, I decided later to use my own propeller, and did use it and won. August 29 dawned clear and hot. It was agreed THE EHEIMS MEET 71 at a meeting of the Committee, at which all the contestants were present, that each contestant should be allowed to make one trial flight over the course and that he might choose his own time for making it, between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the evening. The other starters were Bleriot, Lefebre, and Latham for France, and Cockburn for England. As I have already stated, Bleriot was the favourite be- cause of his trip across the English channel and because of his records made in flights at various places prior to the Kheims meet. As conditions were apparently good, I decided to make my trial flight shortly after ten o'clock. The machine was brought out, the engine given a preliminary run, and at half past ten I was in the air. Everything had looked good from the ground, but after the first turn of the course I began to pitch violently. This was caused by the heat waves rising and falling as the cooler air rushed in. The up and down motion was not at all pleasant and I confess that I eased off on the throttle several times on the first circuit. I had not then become accustomed to the feeling an aviator gets when the machine takes a sudden drop. On the second round I got my nerve back and pulled the throttle wide open and kept it open. This accounts for the fact that the second lap was made in faster time than the first. The 72 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK two circuits were made safely and I crossed the finish line in seven minutes, fifty-five seconds, a new record for the course. Now was my chance! I felt that the time to make the start for the Cup was then, in spite of the boiling air conditions, which I had found ex- isted all over the course and made flying difficult if not actually dangerous. We hurriedly refilled the gasoline tank, sent official notice to the judges, carefully tested the wiring of the machine by lift- ing it at the corners, spun the propeller, and the official trial was on. I climbed as high as I thought I might without protest, before crossing the starting line probably five hundred feet so that I might take advantage of a gradual de- scent throughout the race, and thus gain addi- tional speed. The sun was hot and the air rough, but I had resolved to keep the throttle wide open. I cut the corner as close as I dared and banked the machine high on the turns. I remember I caused great commotion among a big flock of birds which did not seem to be able to get out of the wash of my propeller. In front of the trib- unes the machine flew steadily, but when I got around on the back stretch, as we would call it, I found remarkable air conditions. There was no wind, but the air seemed fairly to boil. The ma- chine pitched considerably, and when I passed above the " graveyard," where so many machines had gone down and were smashed during the THE EHEIMS MEET 73 previous days of the meet, the air seemed literally to drop from under me. It was so bad at one spot that I made up my mind that if I got over it safely I would avoid that particular spot there- after. Finally, however, I finished the twenty kilo- meters in safety and crossed the line in fifteen minutes, fifty seconds, having averaged forty-six and one-half miles an hour. When the time was announced there was great enthusiasm among the Americans present, and every one rushed over to offer congratulations. Some of them thought that I would surely be the winner, but of this I was by no means certain. I had great respect for Bleriot's ability, and besides, Latham and his Antoinette might be able to make better speed than they had thus far shown. In a contest of this sort it is never safe to cheer until all the returns are in. I confess that I felt a good deal like a prisoner awaiting the decision of a jury. I had done my best, and had got the limit of speed out of the machine; still I felt that if I could do it all over again I would be able to im- prove on the time. Meantime Cockburn, for Eng- land, had made a start but had come down and run into a haystack. He was only able to finish the course in twenty minutes, forty-seven and three-fifth seconds. This put him out of the con- test. Latham made his trial during the afternoon 74 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK but his speed was five or six miles an hour slower than my record. The other contestants were fly- ing about thirty-five miles an hour, and were, therefore, not really serious factors in the race. It was all up to M. Bleriot. All day long he tinkered and tested, first with one machine and then another ; trying different propellers and mak- ing changes here and there. It was not until late in the afternoon that he brought out his big ma- chine, Number 22, equipped with an eight-cyl- inder water-cooled motor, mounted beneath the planes, and driving by chain a four-bladed pro- peller, geared to run at a speed somewhat less than that of the engine. He started off at what seemed to be a terrific burst of speed. It looked to me just then as if he must be going twice as fast as my machine had flown ; but it must be re- membered that I was very anxious to have him go slow. The fear that he was beating me was father to the belief. As soon as Bleriot was off Mr. Cortlandt Field Bishop and Mr. David Wolfe Bishop, his brother, took me in their automobile over to the judges' stand. Bleriot made the first lap in faster time than I had made it, and our hearts sank. Then and there I resolved that if we lost the cup I would build a faster aeroplane and come back next year to win it. Again Bleriot dashed past the stand and it seemed to me that he was going even faster than WINNING THE GORDON BENNET CONTEST IN FRANCE (A) Curtiss flying at Rheims, (B) The welcome home to Hamtnondsport Copyright, 1910, by Photo News Co. "A POSITION HIGHER THAN THE PRESIDENT'S" President Taft watching Curtiss fly, Harvard Meet, 1910 THE EHEIMS MEET 75 the first time. Great was my surprise, therefore, when, as he landed, there was no outburst of cheers from the great crowd. I had expected a scene of wild enthusiasm, but there was nothing of the sort. I sat in Mr. Bishop's automobile a short distance from the judges' stand, wondering why there was no shouting, when I was startled by a shout of joy from my friend, Mr. Bishop, who had gone over to the judges' stand. "You win! You win!" he cried, all excitement as he ran toward the automobile. "Bleriot is beaten by six seconds !" A few moments later, just at half past five o 'clock, the Stars and Stripes were slowly hoisted to the top of the flagpole and we stood uncovered while the flag went up. There was scarcely a response from the crowded grand stands ; no true Frenchman had the heart to cheer. A good, hearty cheer requires more than mere politeness. But every American there made enough noise for ten ordinary people, so that numbers really count- ed for very little in the deep feeling of satisfaction at the result of the first great contest in the his- tory of aviation. Mr. Andrew D. White, accom- panied by Mrs. Eoosevelt and Miss Ethel Roose- velt, came over to our car and congratulated me. Quentin Eoosevelt, who had been in a state of excitement throughout the day, declared it "bully," while his brother Archie wanted to be shown all about the working of the machine. M. 76 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Bleriot himself, good sportsman that he is, was among the first to extend congratulations to Amer- ica and to me personally. There was a reason beyond the mere patriotism why the Americans felt so happy over the result; it meant that the next international race would be held in the United States, and that the best foreign machines would have to come across the ocean to make a try for the cup the following year. In commenting upon the result the Paris Edi- tion of the New York Herald said that the race had rehabilitated the biplane ; that while the light- ness and bird-like lines of the monoplane had appealed to the crowd as the ideal representation of artificial flight, "the American aviator proved that the biplane not only possessed qualities of carrying weight and undoubtedly of superior sta- bility, but that, if need be, it can develop speed equal to, if not superior to, its smaller rival." Offers of engagements to fly in Germany and Italy came pouring in. To accept these meant a good deal of money in prizes, for it had been proven that I had the fastest aeroplane in the world. I accepted some of them, as I had learned that the conditions for flying at the big meets in Europe were almost ideal and that there was a tremendous amount of interest everywhere, among all classes. A big meet was organized at Brescia, Italy, and I went there from Eheims. THE EHEIMS MEET 77 Here I carried my first passenger, the celebrated Italian poet and author, Gabriele D'Annunzio. He was wildly enthusiastic over his experience, and upon being brought back to earth said with all the emotion of his people : " Until now I have never really lived! Life on earth is a creeping, crawling business. It is in the air that one feels the glory of being a man and of conquering the elements. There is the exquisite smoothness of motion and the joy of gliding through space It is wonderful! Can I not express it in poetry? I might try." And he did express it in poetry, a beautiful work published sometime later. After winning the Grand Prize at Brescia and taking a wonderful motor trip over the Alps with Mr. Bishop, I hurried home to America to look after my business affairs, about which I had not had time even to think during the Eheims and Brescia meets. NOTE BY AUGUSTUS POST Delegations of enthusiastic friends met Mr. Curtiss in New York, among them members of the Aero Club of America and other representa- tive organisations. There followed a series of luncheons and dinners which seemed without end. Among all these the luncheon given by the Aero Club of America at the Lawyers' Club was nota- 78 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK ble because every one present showed such a warm interest in the success of American aeronautics, and such a firm determination not only to keep the trophy in this country, but to defend it the next year in an aviation meet that should be even greater than that with which Eheims had led the way. But the real celebration took place in the little village of Hammondsport, the place where Mr. Curtiss was born and reared, and where he knew every man, woman, and child. The men in the factory and all his other warm friends got to- gether and decided that there must be something- out of the ordinary when he got back to town. They planned a procession all the way from Bath to Hammondsport, a distance of ten miles, with fireworks along the route. But a heavy rain came on just in time to spoil the fireworks plan, so they engaged a special train and this passed through a glow of red fire all the way home from Bath. At the Hammondsport station there was a carriage to draw him up the hill to his home, and fifty men furnished the motive power. There were arches with " Welcome " in electric lights, banners, fireworks, and speeches. Through the pouring rain there was a continuous procession of his friends and acquaintances townspeople who had always given him their loyal support and the men from the shop who had made his success possible. THE EHEIMS MEET 79 It was after eleven o'clock when the crowd dis- persed an almost unholy hour for Hammonds- port. AUGUSTUS POST. CHAPTER II HUDSON-FULTON" CELEBRATION FIRST AMERICAN IN- TERNATIONAL MEET, AT LOS ANGELES I WAS not permitted to remain long in Ham- mondsport, although there was much work for me to do there in the way of planning im- provements in the factory, as well as on my aero- plane, which had now come to be known through- out the world by reason of winning the Gordon Bennett Cup. There were tempting offers from all quarters to give exhibitions with the flying machine, which up to that time had been seen in but few places in this country. Some of these offers were accepted because I could not afford to reject them. Moreover, it required a great deal of money to run the shop, and there was no commercial demand for aeroplanes. They were, as yet, valuable only as "show machines," to see which the public was willing to pay goodly sums. For a long time preparations had been going on at New York City to celebrate the tri-cente- nary of the discovery of the Hudson river, and the centenary of the first steamboat trip on that stream by Fulton in the Clermont. It had been 80 HUDSON-FULTON CELEBEATION 81 the idea of the originators of the Hudson-Fulton celebration an idea that was expressed in the tentative plans published long before the celebra- tion itself that the new conquest of the air should be recognised, in some way, at the same time. At first it was intended that some sort of airship should accompany the naval parade the entire length of the Hudson, with a replica of Hendrik Hudson's Half Moon leading the way, Kobert Fulton's old steamboat Clermont follow- ing, and the airship hovering above them thus furnishing a striking illustration of the wonder- ful advancement in the means of locomotion in a hundred years, and signalising the new science of air navigation. With this end in view the Celebration Committee engaged the Wright Brothers and myself to bring aeroplanes to New York, furnishing us with every facility on Gov- ernor's Island, in the Lower Bay, from which point all flights were to be made. But aerial navigation in the fall of 1909 was not such a sure and certain thing as all that. Much depended upon the wind and weather, and it was soon demonstrated that the best that could be hoped for at the time of the celebration would be flights made at such times as the wind would permit. Day after day the public waited anx- iously for flights to be made up the Hudson from Governor's Island, but day after day the wind blew up or down the Hudson in such blasts that 82 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK it was not deemed safe to attempt a trip. For it must be remembered that there is scarcely a more difficult course anywhere in the country than over the Hudson river in the vicinity of New York. On both sides of the river, which is a swift-run- ning stream, rise lofty hills, and at some places precipitous cliffs called the Palisades. On the New York side are miles upon miles of lofty apart- ment houses along Biverside Drive. If the wind blows across the river, either from the east or west, dangerous currents and eddies suck down through the canon-like streets, or over the steep Palisades, making flying extremely hazardous. For this reason there has never, even up to this time (August, 1912), been any flying to speak of over the Hudson, and for these reasons, the great river will not become a popular flying course for aeroplanes until they are so constructed as to be able to defy the treacherous, puffy wind currents. The hydroaeroplane, however, may navigate the course with safety, as it is perfectly safe in one of these machines to fly within a few feet of the water where there is the least danger from con- trary air currents. So much was printed in the New York news- papers while we were waiting for propitious weather that the public was keyed up to expect great things from the aeroplanes far greater than the aeroplane could accomplish. Bulletins were posted by the newspapers from day to day, HUDSON-FULTON CELEBEATION 83 informing the public that flights would surely be made " to-day" provided the wind abated. In the meantime interest was doubly stimulated by the announcement of a ten-thousand-dollar prize for the first air-flight over Fulton's course, from New York to Albany, or from Albany to New York. One of the paintings made at the time as an " advance notice," I remember, showed so many aerial dreadnaughts in the sky, passing down the river by the Palisades at the same time, that one was forced to wonder how all of them were going to find room to navigate. However, the atmosphere had cleared long before the actual flight was made down the Hudson, the following summer. In spite of the disappointment felt by the pub- lic at not seeing a fleet of aeroplanes sporting over the Hudson daily during the Hudson-Fulton celebration, there were many other things to di- vert the attention of New York's five millions and some few hundred thousands of visitors from this and other countries. The week of pomp and pageantry culminated in the most wonderful ma- rine and land parades ever staged in this country, and seldom, if ever, excelled in the Old World. The marine parade extended all the way up to Albany, and at every stopping place there was a repetition, on a smaller scale, of the scenes of enthusiasm and general holiday spirit that had prevailed in the Metropolis. New York City was 84 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK decorated as no one had ever seen it decorated before, and the great fleet of over a hundred war- ships that swung at anchor in the Hudson were visited by thousands by day and were outlined in myriads of electric lights at night, disguising their ominous guns in soft shadow and giving them a peaceful and almost fairy-like appearance. Then there were the dirigible balloons to com- mand the attention of the crowds that thronged Riverside Drive waiting for the aeroplanes. They, too, were after the rich prize offered by the New York World. They furnished the only real contest during the Hudson-Fulton celebra- tion. There were two of them, one entered by the intrepid Captain Thomas Baldwin, and the other by a Mr. Tomlinson. These were housed in great tents raised within an enclosure at River- side Drive and One Hundred and Nineteenth street, behind a high fence, on which was painted "Hudson-Fulton Flights. " This was the center of interest for great crowds for days during the period of waiting. Captain Baldwin, always popular with the people wherever he goes, was the centre of interest with the crowds that stood around the sheds, watching the mild, blunt noses of the big dirigibles as they bobbed and swayed with the gusts that swept around Grant's Tomb, reminding one of the ceaseless weaving of a rest- less elephant. But the elements seemed to be as much against the dirigibles as against the aero- HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION 85 planes. Tomlinson made a start, after a long wait, but came to grief almost at once, while Cap- tain Baldwin fared but little better. His trip ex- tended but a few miles up the river, when he was forced to come down, thus ending the chances of the dirigibles. The aeroplanes were scarcely more fortunate. October winds around New York are most unruly things, and at that particular period seemed worse than usual. "Weather-wise folk learned after awhile to look out at the flags on the high buildings; if they stood out straight from the staff, the people went about their business, know- ing there would be no flying that day. But every one kept an ear cocked for the firing of a big cannon on Governor's Island, the signal that a flight was about to be made. Even these were deceiving, for there were so many salutes being fired by the great fleets in the river and bay, that no one could tell when to give heed to gun sig- nals. So the crowds sat along Eiverside Drive, or depended upon the unhappy and over-worked policemen for word of the aeroplanes. Some peo- ple were disposed to hold the policemen person- ally responsible for the failure of the airships to fly. " You'd think, " said one of the blue-coated guardians on Eiverside Drive, "that I was keepin' 'em back, the way these people go at me. They blame me and not the wind!" The wind held out and the week of festivities 86 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK ended ; still there had been no flying. I could not remain in New York any longer, as I had ac- cepted an engagement some time before to fly at St. Louis. I was obliged therefore, much to my chagrin, and the disappointment of the crowds, to leave the city without making a flight up the river, although I did make a short flight over Governor's Island. Mr. Wilbur Wright, however, remained in New York, and during the following week made a mag- nificent flight up the river from Governor's Island to Grant's Tomb and return, a distance of about twenty miles. This gave the larger part of New York's millions their first glimpse of an aeroplane in flight. At St. Louis we gave a very successful meet. There were flights by Captain Baldwin, Lincoln Beachey, and Eoy Knabenshue, in their dirigible balloons, and myself in my aeroplane. The weather conditions were favourable, and St. Louis turned out enthusiastic throngs to witness the exhibitions. The Pacific Coast, always progressive and quick to seize upon every innovation, no matter where it may be developed, had been clamoring for some time for an aviation meet. The enterprising citizens of Los Angeles got together and put up a large sum of money to bring out from Europe and the eastern part of the United States, a num- ber of representative aviators for an interna- THE LOS ANGELES MEET 87 tional meet, the first ever given in this country. Louis Panlhan, one of the most celebrated French aviators, was brought over with a biplane and a monoplane, and there were a number of Ameri- can entries, including Charles F. "Willard and my- self. Los Angeles furnished the first opportunity for a real contest in this country between the French and American machines, and these con- tests aroused immense interest throughout the country. The importance of the Los Angeles meet to the aviation industry in this country was very great. The favourable climatic conditions gave opportuni- ties for every one to fly in all the events, and the wide publicity given to the achievements of Paul- han and others, especially to the new world 's al- titude record established by the French avia- tor, stimulated interest throughout the country. There was cross-country flying such as had not been seen in this country, brilliant exhibitions of altitude flying, and speed contests of the hair- raising variety. Sometimes it takes just such a public demonstration as the Los Angeles meet not only to spread the news of the general prog- ress of mechanical flight, but to show the builders of aeroplanes themselves just what their machines are capable of. It was at the Los Angeles meet, by the way, that Charles F. Willard coined that apt and pic- turesque phrase which soon was used the world 88 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK over in describing air conditions. Willard had made a short flight and on coming down declared the air "was as full of holes as a Swiss cheese." This made a great hit with the newspapermen, who featured it, using it day after day in their stories until it went the rounds of the press of the world. There were special articles written on "holes in the air," and interviews of promi- nent aviators to determine how it feels to fall into "a hole in the air." The expression was more picturesque than ac- curate, for it is not necessary to explain, in this advanced stage of aviation, that there are no "holes" in the atmosphere. If there were a hole in the atmosphere, a clap of thunder would result, caused by the rushing in of the surrounding air to fill the vacuum. The only holes in the air are the streaks that follow a rifle bullet or a flash of lightning. The real cause of the conditions de- scribed by Willard, and which has since probably been responsible for the death of several well known aviators, is a swift, downward current of air, rushing in to fill a vacuum that follows a rising current from a heated area. The hot air rises and the cool air rushes down to take its place. An aeroplane striking one of these de- scending currents drops as if the entire atmos- pheric support had been suddenly removed, and if it be not high enough, may strike the ground with fatal results to the aviator. Every experi- THE LOS ANGELES MEET 89 enced airman has met these conditions. They are especially noticeable over water, streaks of calm water showing where the up-currents are just starting, and waves or ripples where the down-currents strike the surface. The representative of the Aero Club of America at the Los Angeles meet was Mr. Cortlandt Field Bishop, of New York, who had been at Rheims the previous summer when I won the Gordon Bennett Cup and who had been of inestimable assistance to me at that time. Mr. Bishop had his oft-expressed wish to fly gratified at Los Angeles. He was taken up by Louis Paulhan several times, and Paulhan also took Mrs. Bishop for her first aerial ride. Great crowds came out at the Los Angeles meet, and they for the first time in the history of aviation in this country expected the aviator to fly and not to fall. Paulhan did some wonderful cross-country flying, and as a climax to the week of aerial wonders, he established a world's alti- tude record by ascending 4,165 feet. This was regarded as marvellous at that time. Since then the mark has been successively raised by Brook- ins, Hoxsey, Le Blanc, Beachey, Garros and others. Legagneux now (September, 1912) holds the record at 18,760 feet. Interest in aviation was keen following the Los Angeles meet and I decided to try for the New York World's ten-thousand-dollar prize, which was still open, for a flight down the Hudson from 90 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Albany to New York City. Notwithstanding all the natural obstacles in the way of the accom- plishment of the undertaking, the conditions were so fair as to stops, time-limit, etc., and it was so obviously a prize offered to be won, that I con- sidered it worth a serious effort. I fully realised that the flight was much greater than anything I had yet attempted, and even more difficult than Bleriot's great flight across the English channel from France to England, news of which was still ringing throughout the world, and even greater than the projected flight from London to Manchester, England, and for which a prize of fifty thousand dollars had been offered. Although the course covered about the same distance as the London-Manchester route, there was not the difficulty of landing safely, over the English route. The Hudson flight meant one hundred and fifty-two miles over a broad, swift stream, flowing between high hills or rugged mountains the entire distance and with seldom a place to land ; it meant a fight against treacherous and varying wind currents rushing out unawares through clefts in the mountains, and possible mo- tor trouble that would land both machine and avi- ator in the water with not much chance of escape from drowning, even if uninjured in alighting. CHAPTER III FLIGHT DOWN THE HUDSON RIVER FROM ALBANY TO NEW YORK CITY TO fly from Albany to New York City was quite an undertaking in the summer of 1910. I realised that success would depend upon a de- pendable motor and a reliable aeroplane. In preparation for the task, therefore, I set the fac- tory at Hammondsport to work to build a new machine. While awaiting the completion of the machine, I took a trip up the Hudson from New York to Albany to look over the course and to se- lect a place about half way between the two cities where a landing for gasoline and oil might be made, should it become necessary. There are very few places for an aeroplane to land with safety around New York City. The official final landing place, stipulated in the condi- tions drawn up by the New York World, was to be Governor's Island, but I wanted to know of an- other place on the upper edge of the city where I might come down if it should prove necessary. I looked all over the upper end of Manhattan Is- land, and at last found a little meadow on a side hill just at the junction of the Hudson and Har- 91 92 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK lem rivers, at a place called Inwood. It was small and sloping, but had the advantage of being within the limits of New York City. It proved fortunate for me that I had selected this place, for it later served to a mighty good advantage. There was quite a party of us aboard the Hud- son river boat leaving New York City one day in May for the trip to Albany. As an illustration of the scepticism among the steamboat men, I remember that I approached an officer and asked several questions about the weather conditions on the river, and particularly as to the prevailing winds at that period of the year. Incidentally, I remarked that I was contemplating a trip up the river from New York to Albany in an aeroplane and wanted to collect all the reliable data possible on atmospheric conditions. This officer, whom I afterward learned was the first mate, answered all my questions courteously, but it was evident to all of us that he believed I was crazy. He took me to the captain of the big river boat and intro- duced me, saying: " Captain, this is Mr. Curtiss, the flying machine man; that's all I know," in a tone that clearly indicated that he disclaimed all responsibility as to anything I might do or say. The captain was very kind and courteous, ask- ing us to remain in the pilot house, where we might get a better view of the country along the way, and displaying the keenest interest in the project. He answered all our questions about Copyright, 1910, by The PirtorUl News Co. THE ALBANY-NEW YORK HUDSON FLIGHT (A) Start of the flight at Albany. Mrs. Curtiss and Augustus Post standing by Curtiss. (B) Over West Point Military Academy "The new kind of invader" Copyright, 1910, by The Pictorial News Co. THE HUDSON PLIGHT Over Storm King THE HUDSON FLIGHT 93 the winds along the Hudson and seemed to enter heartily in the spirit of the thing until we ap- proached the great bridge at Poughkeepsie and I began to deliberate whether it would be better to pass over or beneath it in the aeroplane. Then it seemed really to dawn upon the captain for the first time that I was actually going to fly down the river in an aeroplane. He apparently failed to grasp the situation, and thereafter his answers were vague and given without interest. It was "Oh, yes, I guess so," and similar doubtful ex- pressions, but when we finally left the boat at Al- bany he very kindly wished me a safe trip and promised to blow the whistle if I should pass his boat. Albany afforded a better starting place than New York, because there were convenient spots where one might land before getting well under way, should it become necessary. This was not true of the situation at New York City. As to the advantage of prevailing winds, it seemed to be in favour of Albany as the starting place, and I finally decided to have everything sent up to the capital city. On my way up I had stopped at Poughkeepsie, in order to select a landing place, as at least one stop was deemed necessary to take on gasoline and to look over the motor. We vis- ited the State Hospital for the Insane, which stands on the hill just above Poughkeepsie, and which seemed to be a good place to land. Dr. 94 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Taylor, the superintendent, showed us about the grounds, and when told that I intended stopping there on my way down the river in a flying ma- chine, said with much cordiality: "Why, cer- tainly, Mr. Curtiss, come right in here; here's where all the flying machine inventors land. ' ' Notwithstanding the Doctor's cordial invita- tion to "drop in on him," we went to the other side of Poughkeepsie, and there found a fine open field at a place called Camelot. I looked over the ground carefully, locating the ditches and fur- rows, and selected the very best place to make a safe landing. Arrangements were made for a supply of gasoline, water, and oil to be brought to the field and held in readiness. It was fortu- nate that I looked over the Camelot field, for a few days later I landed within a few feet of the place I had selected as the most favoured spot near Poughkeepsie. This is but one thing that illustrates how the whole trip was outlined before the start was made, and how this plan was fol- lowed out according to arrangement. I shall always remember Albany as the starting place of my first long cross-country flight. My machine was brought over from Hammondsport and set up ; the Aero Club sent up its official rep- resentatives, Mr. Augustus Post and Mr. Jacob L. Ten Eyck, and the newspapers of New York City sent a horde of reporters. A special train was engaged to start from Albany as soon as I THE HUDSON FLIGHT 95 got under way, carrying the newspapermen and the Aero Club representatives, as well as several invited guests. It was the purpose to have this train keep even with me along the entire trip of one hundred and fifty- two miles, but as it turned out, it had some trouble in living up to the sched- ule. The aeroplane, christened the " Hudson Flier," was set up on Eensselaer Island. It was now up to the weather man to furnish conditions I considered suitable. This proved a hard task, and for three days I got up at daybreak, when there is normally the least wind, ready to make an early start. On these days the newspapermen and officials, not to mention crowds of curious spectators, rubbed the sleep out of their eyes be- fore the sun got up and went out to Eensselaer Island. But the wind was there ahead of us and it blew all day long. The weather bureau prom- ised repeatedly, "fair weather, with light winds," but couldn't live up to promises. I put in some of the time in going over every nut, bolt, and turn- buckle on the machine with shellac. Nothing was overlooked; everything was made secure. I had confidence in the machine. I knew I could land on the water if it became necessary, as I had af- fixed two light pontoons to the lower plane, one on either end, and a hydro-surface under the front wheel of the landing-gear. This would keep me afloat some time should I come down in the river. 96 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK We bothered the life out of the weather ob- server at Albany, but he was always very kind and took pains to get weather reports from every point along the river. But the newspapermen lost faith; they were tired of the delay. I have always observed that newspapermen, who work at a high tension, cannot endure delay when there is a good piece of news in prospect. One of those at Albany during the wait, offered to lay odds with the others that I would not make a start. Others among the journalists believed I was looking for free advertising, and when an- other of the advertised starters for the World prize reached Albany he was greeted with: 4 'Hello, old man, are you up here to get some free advertising, too?" One of the Poughkeepsie pa- pers printed an editorial about this time, in which it said: "Curtiss gives us a pain in the neck. All those who are waiting to see him go down the river are wasting their time." This was a fair sample of the lack of faith in the undertaking. The machine was the centre of interest at Al- bany during the wait. It seemed to hold a fas- cination for the crowds that came over to the is- land. One young fellow gazed at it so long and so intently that he finally fell over backwards insensible and it was some time before he was restored to consciousness. Then one of the news- papermen dashed a pail of water over him and at once sent his paper a column about it. They had THE HUDSON FLIGHT 97 to find something to write about and the country- man, the flying machine, and the fit made a com- bination good enough for almost any newspaper- man to weave an interesting yarn about. Our period of waiting almost ended on Saturday morning, May 30th. The "Hudson Flier" was brought out of its tent, groomed and fit ; the spe- cial train provided by the New York Times to fol- low me over the New York Central, stood ready, with steam up and the engineer holding a right- of-way order through to New York. The news- papermen, always on the job, and the guests were watching eagerly for the aeroplane to start and set out on its long and hazardous flight. Then something happened the wind came up. At first it did not seem to be more than a breeze, but it grew stronger and reports from down the river told of a strong wind blowing up the river. This would have meant a head gale all the way to New York, should I make a start then. Every- thing was called off for the day and we all went over and visited the State Capitol. The newspa- permen swallowed their disappointment and hoped for better things on the morrow. Sunday proved to be the day. The delay had got somewhat on my nerves and I had determined to make a start if there was half a chance. The morning was calm and bright a perfect summer day. News from down the river was all favour- able. I determined it was now or never. I sent 98 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Mrs. Curtiss to the special train and informed the World representative and the Aero Club officials that I was ready to go. Shortly after eight 'clock the motor was turned over and I was off ! It was plain sailing after I got up and away from Eensselaer Island. The air was calm and 1 felt an immense sense of relief. The motor sounded like music and the machine handled per- fectly. I was soon over the river and when I looked down I could see deep down beneath the surface. This is one of the peculiar things about flying over the water. When high up a person is able to see farther beneath the surface. I kept a close lookout for the special train, which could not get under way as quickly as I had, and pretty soon I caught sight of it whirling along on the tracks next to the river bank. I veered over toward the train and flew along even with the locomotive for miles. I could see the people with their heads out the windows, some of them waving their hats or hands, while the ladies shook their handkerchiefs or veils frantically. It was no effort at all to keep up with the train, which was making fifty miles an hour. It was like a real race and I enjoyed the contest more than anything else during the flight. At times I would gain as the train swung around a short curve and thus lost ground, while I continued on in an air line. All along the river, wherever there was a vil- THE HUDSON FLIGHT 99 lage or town, and even along the roads and in boats on the river, I caught glimpses of crowds or groups of people with their faces turned sky- ward, their attitudes betokening the amazement which could not be read in their faces at that dis- tance. Boatmen on the river swung their caps in mute greeting, while now and then a river tug with a long line of scows in tow, sent greetings in a blast of white steam, indicating there was the sound of a whistle behind. But I heard nothing but the steady, even roar of the motor in perfect rhythm, and the whirr of the propeller. Not even the noise of the speeding special train only a few hundred feet below reached me, although I could see every turn of the great drive-wheels on the engine. On we sped, the train and the aeroplane, repre- senting a century of the history of transporta- tion, keeping abreast until Hudson had been past. Here the aeroplane began to gain, and as the train took a wide sweeping curve away from the bank of the river, I increased the lead perceptibly, and soon lost sight of the special. It seemed but a few minutes until the great bridge spanning the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, came into view. It was a welcome landmark, for I knew that I had covered more than half the jour- ney from Albany to New York, and that I must stop to replenish the gasoline. I might have gone on and taken a chance on having enough fuel, but 100 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK this was not the time for taking chances. There was too much at stake. I steered straight for the centre of the Pough- keepsie bridge, and passed a hundred and fifty feet above it. The entire population of Pough- keepsie had turned out, apparently, and resem- bled swarms of busy ants, running here and there, waving their hats and hands. I kept close watch for the place where I had planned to turn off the river course and make a landing. A small pier jutting out into the river was the mark I had chosen beforehand and it soon came into view. I made a wide circle and turned inland, over a clump of trees, and landed on the spot I had chosen on my way up to Albany. But the gaso- line and oil which I had expected to find waiting for me, were not there. I saw no one for a time, but soon a number of men came running across the fields and a number of automobiles turned off the road and raced toward the aeroplane. I asked for some gasoline and an automobile hur- ried away to bring it. I could scarcely hear and there was a continual ringing in my ears. This was the effect of the roaring motor, and strange to say, this did not cease until the motor was started again. From that time on there was no disagreeable sensation. The special train reached the Camelot field shortly after I landed and soon the newspaper- men, the Aero Club officials, and the guests came THE HUDSON FLIGHT 101 climbing up the hill from the river, all eager to extend their congratulations. Henry Kleckler, acting as .my mechanic, who had come along on the special train, looked over the machine care- fully, testing every wire, testing the motor out, and taking every precaution to make the re- mainder of the journey as successful as the first half. The gasoline having arrived, and the tank being refilled, the special train got under way; once more I rose into the air, and the final lap of the journey was on. Out over the trees to the river I set my course, and when I was about midstream, turned south. At the start I climbed high above the river, and then dropped down close to the water. I wanted to feel out the air currents, believing that I would be more likely to find steady air conditions near the water. I was mistaken in this, however, and soon got up several hundred feet and maintained about an even altitude of from five hundred to seven hundred feet. Everything went along smoothly until I came within sight of West Point. Here the wind was nasty and shook me up con- siderably. Gusts shot out from the rifts between the mountains and made extremely rough riding. The worst spot was encountered between Storm King and Dunderberg, where the river is narrow and the mountains rise abruptly from the water's edge to more than a thousand feet on either side. Here I ran into a downward suction that dropped 102 THE CTJBTISS AVIATION* BOOK me in what seemed an interminable fall straight down, but which as a matter of fact was not more than a hundred feet or perhaps less. It was one of Willard's famous "holes in the air." The at- mosphere seemed to tumble about like water rushing through a narrow gorge. At another point, a little farther along, and after I had dropped down close to the water, one blast tipped a wing dangerously high, and I almost touched the water. I thought for an instant that my trip was about to end, and made a quick mental calcu- lation as to the length of time it would take a boat to reach me after I should drop into the water. The danger passed as quickly as it had come, however, and the machine righted itself and kept on. Down by the Palisades we soared, rising above the steep cliff s that wall the stream on the west side. Whenever I could give my attention to things other than the machine, I kept watch for the special train. Now and then I caught glimpses of it whirling along the bank of the river, but for the greater part of the way I out- distanced it. Soon I caught sight of some of the sky-scrap- ers that make the sky-line of New York City the most wonderful in the world. First I saw the tall frame of the Metropolitan Tower, and then the lofty Singer building. These landmarks looked mighty good to me, for I knew that, given a few THE HUDSON FLIGHT 103 more minutes' time, I would finish the flight. Ap- proaching Spuyten Duyvil, just above the Harlem river, I looked at my oil gauge and discovered that the supply was almost exhausted. I dared not risk going on to Governor's Island, some fif- teen miles farther, for once past the Harlem river there would be no place to land short of the is- land. So I took a wide sweep across to the Jersey side of the river, circled around toward the New York side, and put in over the Harlem river, look- ing for the little meadow at Inwood which I had picked out as a possible landing place some two weeks before. There I landed on the sloping hillside, and went immediately to a telephone to call up the New York World. I told them I had landed within the city limits and was coming down the river to Governor's Island soon. I got more oil, some one among the crowd, that gathered as if by magic, turned my propeller, and I got away safely on the last leg of the flight. "While I had complied with the conditions govern- ing the flight by landing in the city limits, I wanted to go on to Governor's Island and give the people the chance to see the machine in flight. From the extreme northern limits of New York to Governor's Island, at the southern limits, was the most inspiring part of the trip. News of the approach of the aeroplane had spread throughout the city, and I could see crowds everywhere. 104 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK New York can turn out a million people probably quicker than any other place on earth, and it cer- tainly looked as though half of the population was along Eiverside Drive or on top of the thou- sands of apartment houses that stretch for miles along the river. Every craft on the river turned on its siren and faint sounds of the clamour reached me even above the roar of my motor. It seemed but a moment until the Statue of Lib- erty came into view. I turned westward, circled the Lady with the Torch and alighted safely on the parade ground on Governor's Island. General Frederick Grant, commanding the De- partment of the East, was one of the first officers who came up to extend congratulations and to compliment me on the success of the undertak- ing. From that moment I had little chance for anything except the luncheons and dinners to which I was invited. First came the luncheon at the Astor House given by the New York World, and then the big banquet at the Hotel Astor, pre- sided over by Mayor Gaynor and attended by many prominent men interested in aviation. The speeches were all highly laudatory, of course, and there were many predictions by the orators that the Hudson river would become a highway for aerial craft, as it had for steam craft when Fulton first steered the old Clermont from New York to Albany. On the trip down from Albany I carried a letter THE HUDSON FLIGHT 105 from the mayor of that city to Mayor Gaynor, and delivered it in less time than it would have taken the fastest mail train. My actual flying time was two hours, fifty-one minutes, the dis- tance one hundred and fifty- two miles, and the average speed fifty-two miles an hour. From Albany to Poughkeepsie is eighty-seven miles, and by making this in a continuous flight I had, incidentally, won the Scientific American trophy for the third time. It now became my personal property, and its formal presentation was made at the annual dinner of the Aero Club of America for that year. NOTE BY AUGUSTUS POST The newspapers made much of Mr. Curtiss' flight, drawing comparisons between the Hudson river course and the flight made by Bleriot across the English channel, and the trip of Paul- han from London to Manchester, which he had just accomplished a flight of about the same dis- tance, for which he received fifty thousand dollars from the London Daily Mail. The New York Times offered a large prize for a flight from New York to Philadelphia and re- turn, immediately afterward, which Charles K. Hamilton won, and also offered a prize of twenty- five thousand dollars for a flight between New York and Chicago, which was never won. Mr. W. E. Hearst was also moved to offer fifty thou- 106 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK sand dollars for a flight between New York and a point on the Pacific Coast, the offer standing open for one year. This flight was accomplished by Calbraith P. Eodgers, but was not concluded with- in the time limit. There was, naturally, an outburst of editorial comment from newspapers all over the United States, not only long and scholarly leaders, but brief, snappy paragraphs that make the press of this country an interesting record of public feel- ing and sentiment on all extraordinary achieve- ments. For instance, the St. Louis Times spoke of the passing of the new aerial menace over West Point where cadets were studying the history of military science along ancient lines, and the Chi- cago Inter-Ocean chuckled over how this latest achievement " would jar old Hendrik Hudson." The Newark News declared that "the Indian canoe, the Half mo on, the Clermont and the Cur- tiss biplane each represented a human achieve- ment that marked an epoch, " while the Provi- dence News believed that " valuable as was as- tronomer Halley's naming of a comet, Mr. Curtiss has accomplished something of more practical value to the world" and the York Gazette com- pared the flight down the Hudson Valley by the aeroplane, to the conquest of the North Pole. There were other interesting points of view taken by the press, the Birmingham News, for in- stance, expressing the opinion that the New York Copyright, lylu, by Tlie Pictiri:.l News Co. THE HUDSON PLIGHT (A) Stop at Poughkeepsie. (B) Finish, at Governor's Island THE EVOLUTION OP THE HYDRO (A) The first hydro In the world the "June Bug" on pontoons, Hammonds- port, November 5, 1908. (B) Developing Hydro at San Diego Curtlss and Ellyson In hydro of winter, 1911 ; dual control either of two military aviators THE HUDSON FLIGHT 107 World was extravagant, as "it had paid $10,- 000.00 for Curtiss' ticket from Albany to New York, when it might have brought him down by train for $4.65." The Battle Creek Enquirer said that Mr. Curtiss ought to go into politics, for "a man who can soar as high, stay up as long, travel as far, light as safely, all on wind, would have the rest of them tied to the post." But the Savannah News intimated that nobody could blame Mr. Curtiss from flying away from the Al- bany Legislature at the rate of a mile a minute. The Birmingham Age-Herald declared that the way was paved for other and greater flights, even across the Atlantic ocean, and indeed, the ocean flight now seemed to the press a not far distant possibility. The Rochester Chronicle-Democrat argued that the bench and bar would now have an opportunity for the exercise of all their legal ability to settle the question "who owns the air!" But it was left to the Houston Post to break into poetry in the following outburst of local pride: "The wonder is that Curtiss did Not pass New York and onward whiz Southwest by south, half south, until He got where Houston, Texas, is." But perhaps the most characteristic comments were those like that of the New York Evening Mail: " In erery newspaper that you picked up yes- 108 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK terday you read a thrilling account of the great achievement of Glenn H. Curtiss. The detailed description of his wonderful flight stirred every emotion in you. Chills ran up your spine and tears of joy came to your eyes as you read on and on of the courage of the man who propelled his airship at a speed of fifty-three miles an hour at a height of a thousand feet above the earth. He realised all of the time that a broken bolt or some little thing gone wrong might dash him to death." It is of course quite impossible to give even a small proportion of the bright comments that were made by the newspapers not only of this country, but even by the foreign press. The New York Times sent a special train to follow the flight, on which I rode as the representative of the Aero Club of America. Here is my report in the Times: "7:02 A. M. Mr. Curtiss started from Van Rensselaer Island, Albany. Jacob L. Ten Eyek official starter for Aero Club of America. 7:03 Passed over the city limits of Albany. 7:20 New Baltimore. 7:26 Twenty-one miles. The Times special train caught up with aeroplane. 7:27 Milton Hook brick yards. Wind still. Aeroplane fly- ing about 45 miles per hour. Passed lighthouse on west side of Hudson River. 7:32 Stockport. Twenty- four miles. 7:35 Hudson. Twenty-nine miles. Aeroplane flying high. Catskill Mountain houses could be seen in the distance. THE HUDSON FLIGHT 109 Machine flying steady, water was calm, small ripples along the surface. 7:36 Thirty miles. The Times special train passed through tunnel parallel with 'plane. 7 'A0y 2 Tower 81, New York Central Railroad. Greensdale ferry. 7:41 Catskill on west shore of Hudson River. Flying high. 7:44% Water trough in centre of track. Train equal with 'plane. Linlithgo Station. 7:46 Germantown steamer dock. Aeroplane flying well. 7:48 Passed old steamboat on west side of the river. Ger- mantown Station. Aeroplane pitched when foot oil pump was used. Slight ripples on the water. 7 :51 The Times special train running parallel with aeroplane. 7:53 Tivoli. Forty-four miles. Aeroplane 1,000 feet high. Wind slightly from the west. 7:58 Barrytown. Forty-nine miles. Aeroplane about 800 feet high, descending a little lower until about 400 feet high. 8:03 Kingston. Brick yards on west shore of river. Mr. Curtiss is flying very near The Times special train, within perhaps 100 yards. 8:04 Aeroplane turns toward west. Heads a little more into the wind and crosses to the west side of the river at high speed. 8:05 Private yacht dock on east side of river. Aeroplane flying high again. 8:06 Rhineclifl: Ferry. Fifty-four miles. Aeroplane has been flying one hour and four minutes. Seems to be flying well. 8 :08 Passing Tower 67, New York Central Railroad. 8:08% The Times special train passed through tunnel. Mr. Curtiss goes back to west side of river, flying over ice- houses. 8:11 Passed lighthouse in middle of river. The aeroplane seems to be rising and falling slowly on the varying cur- 110 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK rents of air. River is very wide at this point. There are large stone crushers on the west shore, and a large stone building of an institution on the bank of the river. 8:12 Staatsburg. Sixty miles. 8 :16 Aeroplane now is passing over a large white house, some private residence on the west shore of the river. Aero- plane is flying past freight train on the West Shore Rail- road. 8 :18 Hyde Park Station. Sixty-four miles. The Times spe- cial train passing water trough in centre of railway track. Passing Insane Asylum at Poughkeepsie. 8:20 Passing upper portion of Poughkeepsie. 'Plane over river. 8:24 Passing Poughkeepsie Bridge. Aeroplane about 200 feet above it. 8:25V The Times special train goes through Poughkeepsie Station. 8:30 The Times special train arrives at Gill's Mill Dock, opposite landing place of Mr. Curtiss. Aeroplane landed according to Mr. Curtiss's watch on his machine at 8:26. I left special train and went to the field where Mr. Cur- tiss had landed, arriving a few minutes later. The tanks of the machine were filled with eight gallons of gasoline and one gallon and a half of oil. The machine was exam- ined carefully and found to be in good order, one wire being stayed to prevent vibration. George Collingwood took The Times special train party to New Hamburg Station. 9:26 Mr. Curtiss started for New York from field on prop- erty of Mr. Gill. 9 :31 Camelot. 10:02 West Point. Aeroplane passed over Constitution Is- land at an altitude of about 400 feet above the land. 10 :06 Manitou. 10:15 Ossining. Aeroplane flying on west side of the river. THE HUDSON FLIGHT 111 10:25 Dobbs Ferry. 10:30 Yonkers. Aeroplane flying about level with top of Palisades. 10:35 Landed 214th Street. Inwood. After passing down river to Dyckman Street and returning to Spuyten Duyvil and passing over drawbridge the aeroplane landed upon the property of the Isham estate. 11:42 Mr. Curtiss left his landing place, flying again over the drawbridge, out over the Hudson River, turned south. 12:00 M. Passed New York City and landed at Governor's Island at noon. "Mr. Curtiss also entered for the Scientific American trophy and the first flight from Albany to the landing place at Pough- keepsie, the exact distance of which is to be determined later, will count as a record for this event, and if not exceeded in the year will stand as Mr. Curtiss's trial for this trophy. "The figures as finally corrected show that Mr. Curtiss was in the air on the first leg of his flight from Albany to the Gill farm near Poughkeepsie 1 hour and 24 minutes ; from the Gill farm to the Isham estate at 214th Street 1 hour and nine min- utes, and from 214th Street to Governor's Island 18 minutes, making a total flying time for the 150 miles of 2 hours and 51 minutes. ''Figured on the basis of 150 miles for the entire flight, Mr. Curtiss is shown to have maintained an average speed of 52.63 miles per hour." A. P. CHAPTEE IV THE BEGINNING OF THE HYDROAEROPLANE THE Albany Flight was a great stimulus to aeronautics in this country. Prizes were at once offered in several different places by sev- eral different newspapers, and a great many cities wanted to have public flights made and par- ticularly wanted flights to be made over water. At Atlantic City I flew over the ocean, making a record for fifty miles over water on a measured course. It was here at the same time that Wal- ter Brookins made a world's altitude record of over six thousand feet in a standard Wright ma- chine. Later I flew from Cleveland to Cedar Point, near Sandusky, Ohio, a distance of sixty miles over the waters of Lake Erie, and returned next day in a rain storm. After making flights in Pittsburgh, Pa., I thought that a successful meet could be held in New York City, so I arranged to have all of our forces gathered together at Sheepshead Bay race track, near Brighton Beach, N. Y., and during the week of August 26, 1910, we had an aeroplane meet at which Messrs. J. C. Mars, Charles F. Wil- lard, Eugene B. Ely, J. A. D. McCurdy, and Au- 112 BEGINNING THE HYDRO 113 gustus Post made flights and this meet was so successful that it was continued for a second week. Mr. Ely flew to Brighton Beach and took dinner and then flew back. Mr. Mars flew out over the Lower Bay and we had all five of the machines in the air at one time on several occa- sions a record for New York at that time. It was here that Mr. Post made a Bronco Busting Flight over the hurdles at the Sheepshead Bay track, landing safely after putting his machine through all manner of thrilling manoeuvres. The Harvard Aeronautical Society had ar- ranged a meet at Boston, Mass., which followed directly after this one, and Claude Grahame- White, the famous English aviator, who was later to win the Gordon Bennett cup at Belmont Park, came over from England, bringing his fast Bler- iot monoplane with him. A special race was ar- ranged between Mr. White in his Bleriot and my racing biplane. The meet was a great success, and but a very small margin separated Mr. White's Bleriot and my machine when we tried out our best speeds. Then came a meet at Chicago, 1 after which it i NOTE BY AUGUSTUS POST While flying in the Chicago meet we had four machines in the air at once. I was a novice at flying then but entered the air while the other fellows were flying around. Circling the track I was just passing the grand stand when Willard swooped down in front of me having passed right over my head. 114 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK was arranged that three machines should start to fly from Chicago to New York for the New York Times' prize of $25,000. A team was made up and Mr. Ely was chosen to make the attempt to fly to New York. This was a very ambitious un- dertaking for this period in the history of avia- tion in America, for the longest flight that up to this time had been made in this country was be- tween New York and Philadelphia, one hundred and eighty miles ; while the distance between Chi- cago and New York was fully one thousand miles and landings were very difficult to accomplish in the broken country along the way. Mr. Ely made a good attempt, but there was not sufficient time to complete the trip as flights had already been arranged at Cleveland, Ohio, and in order to go there, this attempt was given up. The Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race was the I clung on to the steering post and held the wheel as firmly as I could while to my great consternation the machine rocked and swayed fearfully in the back draft from Willard's propeller. He kept doing the Dutch Roll and the Coney Island Dip right in front of me, which made it all the worse, as the wash of the propeller wake would strike above and below my machine as he pitched up and down in front of me. I stood it as best I could, hardly daring to breathe but holding my course and balancing with all my might, until Willard turned off, and then after a bit I made a good landing. When Willard came down he rushed up to me and grabbed me by the hand and said, "Oh, Post! will you ever forgive me for that? I ought to have known better than to back-wash you but you know I thought you were Ely, and I wanted to scare him!" A. P. BEGINNING THE HYDRO 115 next thing to arouse the interest of patriotic Americans and the Aero Club of America had been busy with arrangements for a big meet to be held at Belmont Park, near New York. This was the largest undertaking that the club had up to this time attempted and they taxed every pos- sible resource, with the splendid result of secur- ing all the foremost fliers of Europe, as well as of America, to participate. I had built a machine for the trials which I thought would be very fast and had constructed it as a type of monoplane in order to cut down the head resistance to the very least possible point. America was represented by Anthony Drexel, Jr., in a Bleriot; by the Wright Brothers, who had constructed a racing machine by putting a pow- erful motor in a small machine which was about one-half the size of their regular model, and by Mr. Charles K. Hamilton, who flew a Curtiss type machine, but with a large power motor of an- other make. Mr. Grahame- White won the race in his Bleriot, although Mr. Alfred Leblanc, rep- resenting France, made remarkable time, but on the last lap ran into a telegraph pole on one of the turns and smashed his machine and had a most miraculous escape from being killed. I did not try out my monoplane, although my regular type was the speediest standard biplane at the meet and was very well handled by Ely, 116 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Mars, Willard, and McCurdy who flew in the con- tests. I had given up public flying in contests at this time. A new line of thought or to express it more accurately, the following out of a very old one was taking my interest and a great part of my time. The experiments I had in mind involved the problem of flying from the water and alight- ing on the water. The season of 1910 was now far advanced and it was time to make plans for the winter. Flying meets were to be held at Los Angeles again, and also at San Francisco, and California seemed the best place to go, for the weather there would be most favourable not only for winter fly- ing, but also for carrying on the experiments which I had in mind. Meantime, when it seemed as if all the paths were open to the aeroplane over the land, and it was only a question of develop- ment, not of pioneering, it was suggested to me by the New York World to launch an aeroplane from the deck of a ship at sea and have it fly back to shore carrying messages. The Hamburg American Steamship Company offered their ocean liner Pennsylvania for this test, and I sent a standard Curtiss biplane to be operated by J. A. D. McCurdy. The ship was fitted with a large platform, erected on the stern, a platform sloping downward, and wide enough to allow an aeroplane set up on it to run down BEGINNING THE HYDEO 117 so that it could gather headway for its flight. The plan was to take McCurdy and the aeroplane fifty miles out to sea on the outward voyage from New York, and then launch them from the plat- form. A mishap at the last moment upset all the well- laid plans. In trying out the motor just as the Pennsylvania was about to leave her dock at Ho- boken, an oil can, carelessly left on one of the planes by a mechanic, was knocked off and fell into the whirling propeller. The result was a broken propeller, and as the ship could not delay its sailing long enough for us to get another, the attempt was abandoned. In the meantime, however, the Navy became in- terested in the sea experiments and offered the armoured cruiser Birmingham, then at Hampton Eoads, to be fitted up with a similar platform for launching an aeroplane. This was accepted and Eugene Ely, who was flying in a meet at Balti- more and already in the vicinity of Norfolk, took his Curtiss biplane over to the Birmingham for the test, fired with enthusiasm by McCurdy 's attempt. On November 14 the Birmingham, equipped with a platform for starting the aero- plane, awaited good weather for the flight. The good weather did not come and after waiting im- patiently on board for some time, Ely determined to risk a start, even though there was a strong wind coming off shore carrying a heavy mist that 118 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK made it almost impossible to see more than half a mile. The ship was at anchor, but starting tip his motor he flew off with the greatest ease, slightly touching the water with the wheels of his machine, but quickly rising and flying straight to shore, where he landed without difficulty. This flight attracted world-wide attention, es- pecially among the officers of the navies of the world. It was the first demonstration of the claims of the aeronautical enthusiasts of the navy that an aeroplane could be made that would be adaptable to the uses of the service, and it ap- peared to substantiate some of the things claimed for it. When I found that business would bring me to California during the winter, and probably would keep me there for several months, I decided to grasp the opportunity to do the development work I had long wanted to do, and at the same time to request the honour of instructing representative officers of the Army and Navy in the operation of the aeroplane. I believed the time had arrived when the Government would be interested in any phase of aviation that promised to increase the usefulness of the aeroplane for military service. So, on November 29, 1910, 1 sent letters to both Secretary Dickinson of the "War Department and to Secretary Meyer of the Navy Department, in- viting them to send one or more officers of their respective departments to Southern California, BEGINNING THE HYDRO 119 where I would undertake to instruct them in avia- tion. I made no conditions. I asked for and re- ceived no remuneration whatsoever for this serv- ice. I consider it an honour to be able to tender my services in this connection. Other governments had already organised their aero- nautical military branches and instructed men to fly, and it seemed to me that our own Government would do likewise were the opportunity afforded the officers to familiarise themselves with the aeroplane. The invitations to the War and Navy Depart- ments were written just prior to my departure for the Pacific Coast, and three weeks later I was notified that the Secretary of the Navy had ac- cepted, and that they would detail officers for in- struction. It began to look, even to the doubters, as if an aeroplane could be made adaptable to the uses of the Navy, as the aeronautic enthusiasts of the service had claimed. The experiment begun would have to be completed, however, by flying from shore to the vessel, and for this opportunity we were eager. The chance came when we were all at San Francisco and another Pennsylvania, this time the big armoured cruiser, was in the bay. Rear Admiral Thomas, and Captain Pond, in command of the Pennsylvania, readily con- sented to assist in these further experiments. The Pennsylvania went to Mare Island to be out- 120 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK fitted, Ely and I going there to tell the Navy offi- cials at the station just what would be required for such a hazardous test. The platform was like that built on the Bir- mingham, but in the case of a flight to, instead of from, a ship the serious problem is to land the aeroplane on the deck and to stop it quickly be- fore it runs into the masts of the ship, or other obstructions. The platform was built over the quarterdeck, about one hundred and twenty-five feet long by thirty feet wide, with a slope toward the stern of some twelve feet. Across this run- way we stretched ropes every few feet with a sand bag on each end. These ropes were raised high enough so they could catch in grab-hooks which we placed under the main centrepiece of the aeroplane, so that catching in the ropes the heavy sand bags attached would drag until they brought the machine to a stop. To protect the aviator and to catch him in case he should be pitched out of his seat in landing, heavy awnings were stretched on either side of the runway and at the upper end of it. When all arrangements had been completed, and only favourable weather was needed to carry out the experiment, I was obliged to leave for San Diego, and, therefore, was unable to witness the flight. I regarded the thing as most difficult of accomplishment. Of course, I had every faith in Ely as an aviator, and knew that he would arrive f TWO FAMOUS MILITARY TEST FLIGHTS (A) Curt Iss and hydro hoisted on U. S. S. "Pennsylvania," at San Diego. / (B) Ely leaving "Pennsylvania," San Francisco harbor BEGINNING THE HYDEO 121 at the ship without trouble, but I must confess that I had misgivings about his being able to come down on a platform but four feet wider than the width of the planes of the aeroplane, and to bring it to a stop within the hundred feet available for the run. Ely rose from the Presidio parade grounds, flew out over the bay, hovered above the ship for an instant, and then swooped down, cutting off his power and running lightly up the platform, when the drag of the sand bags brought him to a stop exactly in the centre, probably one of the greatest feats in accurate landing ever performed by an aviator. As I have said, the platform was only four feet wider than the planes of the Cur- tiss biplane that Ely used, yet the photograph taken from the fighting top of the ship shows the 1 machine touching the platform squarely in the centre. When one stops to think that the aero- plane was travelling about forty miles an hour when it touched the deck and was brought to a stop within a hundred feet, the remarkable pre- cision of the aviator will be appreciated. Not only was there not the least mishap to him- self or to the machine in landing, but as soon as he had received a few of the many excited con- gratulations awaiting him, he started off again and flew back the ten miles to the camp of the 30th Infantry on the Aviation Field, where wild cheers greeted the man and the machine that had 122 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK for the first time linked the Army and the Navy. For this is what, in the wars of the future, or even in the preservation of the future 's peace, the aeroplane is certainly going to do, joining as noth- ing else can the two branches of the service. I don't think there has ever been so remark- able a landing made with an aeroplane as Ely's, and probably never so much store put by the mere act of coming down in the right place. A few feet either way, a sudden puff of wind to lift the aeroplane when it should descend, or any one of a dozen other things, might have spelled disaster for the whole undertaking, deprived the daring aviator of a well earned success, and the world of a remarkable spectacular demonstration of practical aviation. On the day of the test I was in San Diego and awaited news from San Francisco with a good deal of impatience. When at last the Associated Press bulletin announced that Ely had landed without mishap I first felt a great relief that there had been no accident to mar the success of the thing, and then a sense of elation that we had taken another long step in the advancement of aviation. Early in January I went to Southern Califor- nia to establish an experimental station, and at the same time to instruct the officers of the Army and Navy whom I had invited the War and Navy Departments to assign for that purpose. A part BEGINNING THE HYDBO 123 of our experiments were along the line of a new i t amphibious ' ' machine that had been on my mind ever since my first experiments in Hammonds- port. I believed that with the proper equipment for floating and attaining a high speed on the water, an aeroplane could be made to rise as easily as it could from the land. 1 I had carried these ex- periments just far enough in Hammondsport to convince me that the thing was feasible, when I was obliged to discontinue them to take up other busi- ness. I knew it would be safer to land on the water than on land with the proper appliances, and that it would be easier to find a suitable land- ing place on water, for the reason that it always i NOTE BY AUGUSTUS POST An interesting story is told of how the hydroaeroplane came to be invented. During the period when he was planning a new series of ex- periments, Mr. Curtiss, accompanied by Mrs. Curtiss, attended a New York theatre in which there was being presented a play much talked about just then. The curtain went up on the first act, and the noted aviator was apparently enjoying the show when, just as the scene was developing one of its most inter- esting climaxes, he turned to Mrs. Curtiss and said: "I've got it." On the theatre program he had sketched what ultimately became the design of the hydroaeroplane. This is like a time when Mr. Curtiss was standing one day by the side of one of his motorcycles talking with a customer. He kept turning one of the grips of the handle-bar with his fingers while talking and after finishing the conversation went into his office and developed the idea of a handle-control which had come to him while apparently absorbed in conversation. A. P. 124 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK affords an open space, while it is often difficult to pick a landing place on the land. So, when I made preparations for my flight from Albany to New York City, I fitted pontoons beneath the chassis of my machine and a hydro-snrf ace under the front wheel. I wanted to be prepared for alighting on the water should anything go amiss. As a matter of fact, the river course was the only feasible one for this flight, as there were moun- tains and hills for almost the entire distance. It was while on that trip that I decided to build an aeroplane that would be available for starting or landing on the water. I don't know that I had the idea of its military value when I first planned it; but it came to me later that such a machine would be of great service should the Navy adopt the aeroplane as a part of its equipment. I thought the next step from pontoons, to float an aeroplane safely on the water, would be a perma- nent boat so shaped that it could get up speed enough so the whole machine could rise clear of the water and fly in the air. It was important to find a location where it would be possible to work along the lines I had mapped out a place where I might be free from the pressing calls of business and the hampering influence of uncertain climatic conditions. In short I wanted a place with the best climate to be found in this country, with a field large enough and level enough for practice land flights by be- BEGINNING THE HYDBO 125 ginners, and with a convenient body of smooth water for experiments with a machine that would start from or land upon water. Above all, I wanted a place not easy of access to the curious crowds that gather wherever there is anything novel to be attempted; for a flying machine never loses its attraction to the curious. Mankind has been looking for it ever since the beginning of the world, and now that it is actually here he can't get away from it, once it is in sight. A machine that has actually carried a man through the air takes on a sort of individuality all its own that acts as a magnet for the inquiring mind. Once people have really seen an aero- plane fly, they want to know what makes it fly and to come into personal contact with the ma- chine and the man who operates it. San Diego was brought to my attention as af- fording every advantage for experimental work in aviation. A study of the weather bureau rec- ords here showed a minimum of wind and a max- imum of sunshine the year round. I visited that city in January, 1911, and after a thorough inspec- tion of the grounds offered as an aviation field, decided to make that city the headquarters for the winter and to carry on the experimental and instructional work there. North Island, lying in San Diego Bay, a mile across from the city, was turned over to me by its owners, the Spreckels Company. It is a flat, 126 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK sandy island, about four miles long and two miles wide, with a number of good fields for land flights. The beaches on both the ocean and bay sides are good, affording level stretches for starting or landing an aeroplane. Besides, the beaches were necessary to the water experiments I wished to make. North Island is uninhabited except by hundreds of jack rabbits, cottontails, snipe, and quail. It joins Coronado Island by a narrow sand spit on the south side, which is often washed by the high tides. Otherwise the two islands are separated by a strip of shallow water a mile long and a couple of hundred yards wide, called Spanish Bight. Thus the island on which we were to do our experimenting and training was ac- cessible only by boat and it was a comparatively easy matter to exclude the curious visitor when- ever we desired to do so. There was no particu- lar reason for excluding the public other than the desire to work unhampered by crowds, which is always a distracting influence. In the meantime Lieutenant Theodore GL Elly- son of the submarine service, then stationed at Newport News, Virginia, had been detailed by the Navy Department to report to me in California for instruction in aviation. He had joined me in Los Angeles, where, though there are all the climatic requirements, and good fields for prac- tice flights, the ideal body of smooth water for experiments on that element was lacking. The BEGINNING THE HYDRO 127 War Department responded later, instructing General Bliss, commanding the Department of California at San Francisco, to detail as many officers as could be spared to go to San Diego for instruction in the art of flying. There was much eagerness among the officers of the Department of California and I was in- formed that some thirty applications were made for the detail. Lieutenant (now Captain) Paul W. Beck, of the Signal Corps, located at the Pre- sidio, San Francisco, and Lieutenant John C. Walker, Jr., of the 8th Infantry, Monterey, Cal., were named at once, and later Lieutenant C. E. M. Kelly, 30th Infantry, San Francisco, was added to the Army's representation. This made a list of four officers, three from the Army and one from the Navy, and with these I began work. In February, however, the Navy Department des- ignated Ensign Charles Pousland of the destroyer Preble, at San Diego, to join Lieutenant Ellyson as a Navy pupil in aviation. There are a dozen good landing or starting fields on North Island, but we chose the one on the south side, which gave us easy access to the smooth shallow water of Spanish Bight. A field was cleared of weeds and sagebrush, half a mile long by three or four hundred yards wide. Sheds to house the machines were built by the Aero Club of San Diego, and landings put in for the small boats that carried us to and from the city. 128 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK The Spreckels Company gave us every assistance in fitting the place up, and the people of San Di- ego, anxious to make the island the permanent home of an aviation experimental station and school, were prompt to lend a hand and to im- press upon us the climatic advantages of their city. I have asked Lieutenant Ellyson to write his own story of the work on North Island, and it is to be found in another part of this book. CHAPTEE V DEVELOPING THE HYDROAEROPLANE AT SAN DIEGO THE HYDRO OF THE SUMMER OF 1912 JANUAEY had nearly passed before the first machine was ready. Although this proved unsuccessful, I was not discouraged and learned a good deal about what sort of a float was neces- sary to support the aeroplane and how it acted when under way over the water. Nearly every day for over two weeks we dragged the machine down to the edge of the water, launched it on the smooth surface of San Diego Bay, and drew it out again after testing out some new arrangement of floats and surfaces. We kept it in a hangar, or shed, on the beach, and there we would sit and study and change and plan how to improve the float. We were in the water almost all day long; no thought was given to wet clothing and cold feet. We virtually lived in our bathing suits. The warm climate aided us, but there were some chilly days. Discomfort and failure did not deter the Army and Navy officers, who watched and worked like beavers, half in and half out of the water. On the 26th of January the first success came. That day the aeroplane first rose from the water 129 130 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK and succeeded in alighting gently and without ac- cident after the flight. A page was added to aviation history, which extended its domain and opened the lakes, rivers, and seas to the hitherto land-locked flying machine. It was no more a land bird, but a water fowl as well. The machine was crude, and there remained many things to be improved, but the principle was correct. We kept adjusting the equipment, add- ing things and taking them off again to make some improvement; perhaps the float was too heavy, or leaked, or the spray would fly up and chips would be knocked out of the whirling propeller, which the drops of water would strike like shot out of a gun. The least projection on the floats would send up spray while travelling at such high speed as was made through the water. The bal- ance of the machine was as troublesome as any- thing, because the push of the propeller would give it a tendency to dive if the floats were not properly adjusted. When we brought the machine out on the 26th day of January I felt that we ought to get some results. There were no crowds of people present and there was no announcement of what was about to happen. I had not expected to make a flight, but climbed into the aviator's seat with a feeling that the machine would surely rise into the air when I wished, but that I would only try it on the water to see how the new float acted. DEVELOPING THE HYDKO 131 Lieutenant Ellyson spun the propeller and I turned the machine into the wind. It ploughed through the water deeply at first, but gathered speed and rose higher and higher in the water and skipped more and more lightly until the float barely skimmed the surface of the bay. So intent was I in watching the water that I did not notice that I was approaching the shore and to avoid running aground I tilted the horizontal control and the machine seemed to leap into the air like a frightened gull. So suddenly did it rise that it quite took me by surprise. But I kept the machine up for perhaps half a mile, then turned and dropped lightly down on the water, turned around and headed back to the starting point. The effect of that first flight on the men who had worked, waited, and watched for it was magical. They ran up and down the beach, throwing their hats up into the air and shouting in their enthusiasm. I now headed about into the bay, in the direction of San Diego, and rose up into the air again even more easily than the first time. I flew for half a mile and turned twice to see how the machine would act in the air with the clumsy-looking float below it. The naval repair ship Iris caught sight of me as I went flying by and sent its siren blast far out over the water, and all the other craft blew their whistles, until it seemed as if all San Diego knew of the achievement. Satisfied that it was 132 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK all right, I landed within a few yards of the shore, near the hangar. We made flights nearly every day after this, taking the Army and Navy officers as passengers. I found the machine well adapted for passenger work and it became very popular. While experi- menting we kept changing things from day to day, adding and taking off, lightening the machine, or adding more surface. We tried putting on an extra surface, making a triplane, and got remark- able lifting power. We changed the floats and finally made one long, flat-bottomed, scow-shaped float, twelve feet long, two feet wide, and twelve inches deep. It was made of wood, the bow being curved upward the full width of the boat and at the stern being curved downward in a similar manner. This single float was placed under the aeroplane so that the weight was slightly to the rear of the centre of the float, causing it to slant upward, giving it the necessary angle for hydro- planing on the surface of the water. I will confess that I got more pleasure out of flying the new machine over water than I ever got flying over land, and the danger, too, was greatly lessened. I then decided upon a test which I had been in- formed the Navy regarded as very important. In fact, I had been told that the Secretary of the Navy regarded the adaptability of the aeroplane to navy uses as depending very largely on its DEVELOPING THE HYDEO 133 ability to alight on the water and be hoisted aboard a warship. With the hydroaeroplane I had developed, I had no doubts about being able to do this, without any platform or preparation on board the vessel. So, on February 17, at San Diego, I sent word over to Captain Charles F. Pond, commanding the armoured cruiser Pennsylvania, then in the har- bour, that I would be pleased to fly over and be hoisted aboard whenever it was convenient to him. He replied immediately, "come on over." The Pennsylvania is the ship that Ely landed on at San Francisco in his memorable flight, and it was Captain Pond who at that time gave over his ship and lent every assistance in his power to make the experiment the success it was. He lent his aid to this second experiment as willingly as he did to the first. There were no special arrangements necessary for this test. All that would be needed to get the aeroplane and its operator on board would be to use one of the big hoisting cranes, just as they are used for handling the ship's launches. The hydroaeroplane was launched on Spanish Bight, and in five minutes I was on the way. The machine skimmed over the water for a hun- dred yards and then rose into the air. In two or three minutes I was alongside the cruiser, just off the starboard quarter. There was a strong tide running and when I shut off the propeller 134 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK the aeroplane drifted until a rope thrown from the ship was made fast to one of the planes by Lieutenant Ellyson of the Navy. It was drawn in close to the side of the ship, where a boat crane was lowered and I hooked it in a wire sling at- tached to the top of the planes. I then climbed up on top of the aeroplane and slipped my leg through the big hook of the crane, not caring to trust too much weight to the untested sling. In five minutes from the time I landed on the water alongside the ship, the hydroaeroplane re- posed easily on the superstructure deck of the big cruiser, just forward of the boat crane. It had been the easiest sort of work to land it there, and thus one more of the problems that stood in the way of a successful naval aeroplane was over- come. The rest of the experiment was performed with equal promptness and ease. After a stay of ten minutes on the cruiser, the aeroplane was dropped overboard by the big boat crane, the propeller was cranked by one of the military pupils in aviation, and I got under way for the return trip to the island. Two minutes later I brought the hydro- aeroplane to a stop a few yards away from the hangar on the beach. The entire time taken from the moment I left North Island for the cruiser to the moment I landed on the water at the hangar on my return was less than half an hour, and yet within this brief space had been written one of DEVELOPING THE HYDEO 135 the most interesting chapters in the history of naval aviation. I regard this experiment as one of the most in- teresting, from my idea of a military experiment, that had been attempted up to that time, for the reason that no special equipment was needed on board the ship. Obviously the objections to the landing of an aeroplane on deck from a flight had to be overcome, and this could be done with a ma- chine that could land on the water and be picked up. For a flight from the ship, all that was neces- sary was to drop it over the side and watch it rise from the water into the air. Such a machine could be "knocked down" and stored in a very small space when not in use; and when wanted for a flight, it could be brought out and set up in a short time on deck. An aeroplane sent from a scout ship on a scout- ing flight must, to be efficient, be able to carry a passenger, especially if it be sent for any purpose other than as a messenger, where speed would be the first consideration. But if sent to seek infor- mation as to an enemy's position, to take observa- tions and make maps of the surrounding country, or with any of a dozen other objects in view where a trained observer would be necessary, it seems to me it should be equipped to carry at least two, and possibly three, persons the aviator and two pas- sengers. There were many machines capable of carrying one or more passengers on land flights, 136 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK so I set about equipping one to carry passengers on water flights. This I first succeeded in doing on February 23, when I took up Lieutenant T. G. Ellyson of the Navy, in the hydroaeroplane. We rose from the water without difficulty, flew over San Diego Bay and returning, alighted on the water with perfect ease. This was all very well and good where a flight was to be made from the water and back to the water; but I believed we should go further and provide a machine that would be able to go from one to the other from water to land and land back to water before it could be said that all the difficulties of making the aeroplane adaptable to both Army and Navy uses had been overcome. This was of comparatively easy accomplishment, and on Sunday, February 26, I made the first flight from water to land and from land back to water. Starting from North Island, on the wa- ters of Spanish Bight, I flew out over the ocean and down the beach to a point near Coronado Ho- tel, where I came down on the smooth sand of the beach. Eeturning, the machine started from the beach and came back to the water on Spanish Bight whence I had started. With these achievements it seems to me the aer- oplane has reached the point of utility for mili- tary purposes either for the Army or Navy. It now seems possible to use it to establish commu- DEVELOPING THE HYDBO 137 nication between the Navy and Army, when there are no other means of communication. That is, a warship could launch an aeroplane that can fly over sea and land and come to earth on whichever element affords the best landing. Having ful- filled its mission on shore it could start from the land, and, returning to the home ship, land at its side and be picked up, as I was picked up and hoisted aboard the Pennsylvania at San Diego. Here let me call attention to the splendid field that California offers for the development of avi- ation, with its climate, permitting aviation to be pursued all the year, and its large winter tourist population with wealth and leisure to devote to furthering the art of flight. In California even the legislature recognises the increasing popu- larity of flying, and it has given careful attention to the formation of laws to protect the aeroplane and the aviator. There remained one thing further to accomplish complete success with the hydroaeroplane, and that was to devise a method of successfully launch- ing the machine from a ship without touching the water and without resorting to any cumbersome platform or any other launching apparatus that would interfere with the ship 's ordinary working. To accomplish this would solve the principal ob- stacle that stood in the way of using the hydro- aeroplane at sea. 138 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson, of the United States Navy, had been working out a plan for doing this and it was not until September, 1911, that the experiment was finally completed at Hammondsport, where operations were continued after breaking up the camp at San Diego, late in the spring. A platform sixteen feet high was erected on the shore of Lake Keuka and a wire cable two hundred and fifty feet long was stretched from the platform to a spile under water out in the lake. The hydroaeroplane was set on this wire cable near the platform on which the men stood to start the propeller. A groove was made along the bottom of the boat in which the cable fitted loosely, to guide it as it slid down, until sufficient headway was obtained to enable the wings of the aeroplane to support the weight of the machine. A trial of this method of launching was entirely successful. The machine started down the cable gathering headway and we all watched it grace- fully rise into the air and fly out over the lake. This launching from a wire -is the last step in the development of handling the aeroplane and it is hardly possible to foresee all the many important applications which will be made in the future of this type of machine, since a cable can be easily stretched from the bow of any vessel, which can then steam into the wind, easily enabling an aero- plane to be launched in almost any weather, while DEVELOPING THE HYDEO 139 it can without difficulty land under the lea of the vessel and be hoisted on board again. As the wireless has almost revolutionised ocean navigation by furnishing a means of constant communication between steamers, perhaps the hydroaeroplane will be able to bring passengers back to shore or take them from shore to a ship on the high sea, or enable visits to be made be- tween ships that pass on the ocean. Great, pow- erful hydroaeroplanes may be able to cross the ocean itself at high speed, and they will no doubt add greatly to the safety of ocean travel, as well as furnish the Navy with an arm of destruction much more far-reaching than its most effective guns or torpedoes. Frank Coffyn in May, 1912, took a belated passenger from the Battery, New York City, out to a steamer as it was steaming out of the lower bay and landed him safely aboard a hint of future possibilities. We had a curious opportunity to prove how the hydroaeroplane can be an arm of preservation as well as destruction, when at the Chicago meet of 1911. Simon, dashing over the lake, dropped in his machine. Hugh Eobinson had been putting a hydroaeroplane through its evolutions, to the great interest of the crowd, who evidently thought it a sort of freak machine, but when Si- mon fell Eobinson was after him instantly, and for the first time in the history of the world, a 140 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK man flew through the air from dry land, alighted on the water beside a man in distress, and before anything else could get there, invited him to fly back to shore with him. As there were boats close at hand, the offer was not needed, but the value of the land-air-water machine had been proved, for it had left its hangar and flown a mile from shore in a little more than a minute. The hydroaeroplane can already fly sixty miles an hour, skim the water at fifty miles, and run over the earth at thirty-five miles. Driven over the surface of the water the new machine can pass the fastest motor boat ever built and will re- spond to its rudder more quickly than any water craft afloat. Its appeal will be as strong to the aquatic as to the aerial enthusiast. Flying an aeroplane is thrilling sport, but fly- ing a hydroaeroplane is something to arouse the jaded senses of the most blase. It fascinates, ex- hilarates, vivifies. It is like a yacht with hori- zontal sails that support it on the breezes. To see it skim the water like a swooping gull and then rise into the air, circle and soar to great heights, and finally drop gracefully down upon the water again, furnishes a thrill and inspires a wonder that does not come with any other sport on earth. The hydroaeroplane is safer than the ordinary aeroplane, and for this reason is bound to become the most popular of aerial craft. The begin- DEVELOPING THE HYDEO 141 ner can take it out on his neighboring lake or river, or even the great bays, and skim it over the water until he is sure of himself and sure that he can control it in the air. He can fly it six feet above the water for any distance, with the feeling that even if something should happen to cause a fall, he will not be dashed to pieces. The worst he will get is a cold bath. The hydroaeroplane may compete with motor boats as a water craft, or in the air with the fast- est aeroplane. It can start from the land on its wheels, but launch itself on the water where there is lack of room for rising from the land. Its double qualities as a water and air craft make possible flights that could not be attempted with the aeroplane. At Cedar Point, Ohio, I had to fly the new ma- chine when a strong gale was blowing across Lake Erie, kicking up a heavy surf. However, I deter- mined to make the attempt under what were ex- tremely trying conditions, and so started it on the beach and under the power of the aerial pro- peller, launched it through a heavy surf. Beyond the surf I found very rough water, but turning the machine into the wind, I arose from the water without the least difficulty, and circled and soared over the lake for fifteen minutes. I landed without trouble on the choppy water a few hundred yards off shore, and after guiding the hydroaeroplane up and down the beach for the 142 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK inspection of the great crowd, made a second flight of ten minutes' duration, and landed safely upon the sandy beach. That was the hardest test I have ever given the hydroaeroplane, and I think a very severe one. I am satisfied that it can he used in more than ordinarily rough water, if it is properly handled. There is no question that in this particular line of aeronautics, America is now leading the world ; but the hydroaeroplane contests recently held at Monte Carlo and the experiments made in France by the Voisin Brothers' " Canard," which was erroneously hailed by the French press as being the first occasion when a machine had risen from the water with two men, show that the French are not far behind us. Other experiments have been made in Europe by Fabre, who was the first to achieve any degree of success in this line, and by the Duf aux Brothers on the Lake of Geneva, to say nothing of the flights made by Herbster, the old Farman pilot, on an Astra- Wright at Lucerne, and if the Ameri- can aeronautic industry does not awaken to the immediate possibilities along this line, it will once more be overtaken by Europeans. There are thousands of men throughout the country who would gladly take up a new mechan- ical sport as a successor to motor boating and motoring if they felt they could do so with a rea- DEVELOPING THE HYDRO 143 sonable degree of safety to themselves, and ade- quate assurance that the life of their machine would be commensurate to the price paid for it. Followers of the sport of motor boating, which has made thousands of converts during the past few years, are already turning to the hydroplane, which skims over the water at much greater speed and less power. The next step will be the hydro- aeroplane, which can skim over the water in ex- actly the same way and has the further enormous advantage of rising into the air whenever the driver so desires. The sport should develop rap- idly next summer and be in full swing in a few years. Several improvements of detail will have to be made. Ways of housing the craft of stop- ping the engine of muffling the roar of the motor, will be devised ; while more comfort for the pilot and passengers will be arranged. If a cross-country flight is too dangerous to at- tempt because of the rough character of the land, the hydroaeroplane can follow a river course with perfect safety. Or, if there is no water course and the country is level, it can take the land course with equal safety. In short, it matters little whether an aerial course takes one over land or water, the hydro- aeroplane is the safest machine for flight. With the "Triad," as we called the machine from its triple field air, land, and water the Great 144 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Lakes offer no impassable obstacle to a long flight, and it is within the vision of him who watches the trend of things, that an over-sea flight is not far in the future. NOTE BY AUGUSTUS POST THE " FLYING BOAT" At San Diego, on Jan. 10, 1912, a new type of Curtiss hydroaeroplane, or " flying boat," was given its first trial on the bay. It had been de- signed and constructed under strict secrecy at Hammondsport. The public knew nothing as to the details of this craft until it was taken out on the bay in order to test its balance and speed on the water. This craft, which was equipped to carry a pas- senger, was driven by a sixty horse-power motor. In contact with the water, it went at over fifty miles an hour ; and lifted off the water, it travelled at more than sixty miles an hour in the air. It differs in many respects from the hydroaeroplane now in use by the United States Navy officers who, by the way, were present and witnessed the test. There were two propellers instead of one and these were driven by clutch and chain trans- mission. They were really "tractors," being in front of the planes; the motor had a new auto- matic starter, and there was also a fuel gauge and DEVELOPING THE HYDEO 145 bilge pump. The transmission has since been changed to direct drive. The boat, or hydro equipment, contained a bulk- head fore and aft, was twenty feet long, with an upward slope in front and a downward slope in the rear. The hydro equipment, which was more like a boat than anything yet designed, was able to withstand any wind or wave that a motor boat of similar size could weather. The aviator sat comfortably in the hull with the engine not behind him, but forward in the hull in this model. THE "FLYING FISH" A "No. 2 flying boat," just built by Mr. Cur- tiss, and successfully tested on Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, in July, 1912, is the "last word" in aviation so far. An illustration in this book, made from photographs taken in mid-July, 1912, shows fully the bullet-shape of the "flying fish." It is a real looat, built with a fish-shaped body containing two comfortable seats for the pilot and passenger or observer, either of whom can operate the machine by a system of dual control, making it also available for teaching the art of flying. All the controls are fastened to the rear of the boat's hull, which makes them very rigid and strong, while the boat itself, made in stream-line form, offers the least possible resistance to the air, even less than that offered by the landing 146 THE CUBTISS AVIATION BOOK gear upon a standard land machine. Above the boat are mounted the wings and aeroplane sur- face. In the centre of this standard biplane con- struction is situated the eighty horse-power motor with its propeller in the rear, thus returning to the original practice, as in the standard Curtiss machines, of having a single propeller attached direct to the motor, thus doing away with all chains and transmission gearing which might give trouble, and differing from the earlier model flying boat built in San Diego, California, last winter (1911-12), which was equipped with "tractor" propellors propellers in front driven by chains. The new flying boat is twenty-six feet long and three feet wide. The planes are five and a half feet deep and thirty feet wide. It runs on the water at a speed of fifty miles an hour, and is driven by an eighty horse-power Curtiss motor. At a greater speed than this it cannot be kept on the water, but rises in the air and flies at from fifty to sixty miles per hour. The boat itself is provided with water-tight compartments so that if any one compartment should be damaged the flotation afforded by the other would be sufficient to keep the craft afloat. It is also provided with wheels for making a land- ing on the shore; these wheels fold up, thus not interfering in the slightest with its manoeuvres over the water. The boat is so strongly built 148 THE CURTISS AVIATION BOOK that it can be readily beached even through a high surf and handled the same as a fisherman would handle his dory, or it may be housed afloat like a motor boat or anchored to a buoy like a yacht. In rough water the spray-hood with which this type of boat is provided protects the navigators from getting wet and enables the craft to be used very much as you might use a high speed motor boat, with the added excitement of being able to rise above other crafts or fly over them if they get in the way. It looks very much like a flying fish in the air and although designed to skim close to the surface of the water at high speed it can rise to as high an altitude as the standard land machine. Mr. Curtiss states: "My idea was to provide a machine especially adapted for the requirements of the sportsman, one that would be simple to operate and absolutely safe. During the tests which we have made with this flying boat it car- ried three people with ease and the boat rose with- out difficulty with the extra passenger, although it is only designed to accommodate two people. " With the hydroaeroplane a safe landing can always be made, and if, through inexperience or carelessness of the driver, a bad landing is made, no injury to the operator or passenger can occur other than what may result from a "ducking." This boat shows how directly aeroplane-build- THE EVOLUTION OP THE HYDRO (A) (B) The flying boat of summer, 1012 on land and in the air. 11, Crank Shaft. 12, Cam Shaft; 13-15, Cam Shaft Bearing, Front, Centre, & Rear; 16, Cam Shaft Bearing Sleeve, Rear; 17-18, Cam Shaft Gear & Retaining Screw; 19-20, Cam Shaft Bearing Clamping Screw, Centre, & Retaining Screw; 21, Cam Fol- lower Guide Stud; 22, Cam Follower Guide Screw; 23, Cam Follower; 24^25, Cam Follower Guide & Plug. 26, Cylinder; 27, Cylinder Tie Down Yoke; 28-29, Cylinder Stud, Long & Short; 30, Cylinder Stud Nut; 31-32, Connect- ing Rod & Bolt; 33, Connecting Rod Bolt Nut; 34, Compres- sion Tee for Oil Pipe; 35, Compression Coupling Sleeve; 36-37, Cable Holder & Screw; 38-39, Cable Tube & End; 40- 41, Cable Tube Clip & Screw; 42, Carburetor Water Pipe Clip. 43, Exhaust & Inlet Valve; 44, Exhaust Valve Spring; 45, Felt Oil Retainer for Rear Thrust Bearing; 46, Felt Oil Re- tainer for Magneto Gear; 47, Gasket for Intake Manifold; 48-49, Gear Case Cover & Screw; 50, Gear Cover Packing Nut; 51, Half Time Gear; 52, Intake Pipe Elbow; 53, Intake Pipe with 2 Union Nuts ; 54r-56, Intake Pipe Y & Support Base & Cap; 57-62, Intake Manifold, & Bolt, Bolt Nut, Cap Screw, Union Nut, & Elbow Cap Screw; 63, Intake Valve Spring; 64, Magneto Bracket; 65, Magneto Gear; 66-67, Mag- neto Bracket Cap Screw, Large & Small; 68, Magneto Base Cap Screw. 69, Main Bearing Stud Nut; 70, Main Bearing Stud, New; 71-73, Main Bearing Cap, Front, Centre & Rear; 74-75, Main Bearing Babbitt, Front, Upper, & Lower; 76-77, Main Bear- ing Babbitt, Centre, Upper & Lower; 78-79, Main Bearing Babbitt, Rear, Upper, & Lower; 80, Main Bearing Babbitt 304 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK Clamping Screw; 81, Main Bearing Liner, Front & Rear; 82, Main Bearing Liner Centre; 83, Main Bearing Liners. 84, Nipple for Oil Pump; 85-86, Oil Pump & Leader Gear Shaft; 87-94, Oil Pump Follower Gear, Cover, Drive Pin- ion, Screen, Support Bolt, Cover Screw, Follower Gear Bushing, & Shaft Bushing; 95, Oil Pipe for Pump; 96-97, Oil Pump Compression Coupling & Nut; 98-99, Oil Sight, Base & Glass; 100-101, Oil Sight Glass Guard & Cap; 102, Oil Splash Pan; 103, Oil Bleeder Pipe; 104, Oil Bleeder Pet Cock. 105-107, Piston, Pin & Ring; 108-109, Pump Packing Nut, Large & Small; 110-114, Push Rod, End Bearing Pin Lock Screw, Spring, Spring Support, Forked End, & End Bearing Pin; 115, Propeller Bolt; 116-121, Rocker Arm, Support, Bearing Pin Set Screw, Tappet Screw, Sup- port Cap Screw, & Bearing Pin; 122-124, Spark Plug (Herz) Gasket,--& Wrench; 125-129, Thrust Bearing, End Clamp, Lock Ring, End Clamp Screw, End Clamp Bolt, End Thread Bolt Nut; 130, Valve Push Rod; 131, Valve Stem Washer; 132, Valve Stem Lock Washer. 133-135, Water Jacket, Inlet Nut, & Inlet; 136, Water Pump; 137-140, Water Pump Shaft, Support Stud, Im- peller, & Driver; 141, Water Pump Friction Sleeve; 142- 143, Water Pump Friction Washer, Front & Rear; 144-145, Water Pump Bushing, Front & Rear; 146, Water Pump Gas- ket; 147-149, Water Pump Universal Joint Member, Male, Female, & Spring; 150-151, Water Pipe, Right Hand, Bot- tom, & Left Hand, Bottom; 152, Water Pipe Outlet Elbow; 153-156, Water Outlet Top Pipes for Cylinders. A VISIT TO THE FACTOBY A visit to the Curtiss factory is of interest to any one interested in machinery and there yon will see the latest machines of all types, from THE CURTISS FACTORY 305 powerful milling machines to a delicate modern "Printograph" that is almost human in its man- ner of getting out letters and printing, for it is a cross between a printing press and a type- writer. Another unique machine is one that carves out propellers from a laminated block of wood. One arm of this machine runs over a model, and the other, about two feet away, ar- ranged to move exactly with it, and provided with a tool of cutting edge, forms the propeller blade with absolute accuracy, out of a block of wood placed parallel to the model. The cutting tool follows all the complex changes in the surface of the wooden propeller with the greatest ease and rapidity. The brazing room, where the oxy-hydrogen torch is used to braze metal parts together, and the room where they weld the water jackets on to the cylinders, are places of special interest; the nickel plating room, japanning room, and the room where painting and drying are done, almost complete the tour of the various departments, but there still remain the wood-working shop, boat shop, assembling rooms, where the aero- planes are put together and completely set up, and the motor testing room, where motors are run for whole days, ten hours at a time, driving an air propeller and showing on scales the amount of thrust given at all times. Here you may also see a machine to make 306 THE CUETISS AVIATION BOOK " brake tests" of the motors, by which is told how much horse-power the motors give. This machine consists of a large drum with a brake fixed against it and cooled by water so it will not get too hot. This brake absorbs the energy of the motor, which is measured by an arrangement of scales and lever arms. There is a tremendous racket when the big mo- tors are running at full speed in this small room, and the hillside rings with the roar of their fiery exhaust. In the laboratory of the factory, where the de- signs and drawings are made, there is one of the most interesting pieces of apparatus in the whole plant. This is a "wind tunnel," where models of aeroplanes are tested and where experiments are tried to see what occurs in the stream of air. Here tests are made which assist in determining what the best form and shape of objects such as upright posts and exposed parts shall be and where a measure of their relative resistances may be made. The tunnel itself consists of a square box with a propeller or fan mounted at one end to create a draft or current of air which passes through a screen to cause it to assume uniform motion. There is a window in the tunnel through which the observer can see the action of the objects to be tested. Varying the speed of the fan varies the speed of the air current and its pressure, and in this manner the stream-lines of THE CURTISS FACTOEY 307 air under the varying conditions and the effect upon models of different forms and shapes may be studied to enable refinements to be made in the aeroplane's construction. Down on the shore of Lake Keuka, about a half mile from the factory, are the aeroplane sheds and the flying field. Here is where the aviation school is situated, and where flyers are made. Over the smooth field, the pupils start with the four-cylinder " grass cutters," or machines hob- bled so they cannot get but a little way off the ground. They hop, hop, hop, almost all day long, one after the other taking regular turns, and now and again varying the monotony by being called away by the flying instructor to take a real flight in the hydroaeroplane out over the lake to get accustomed to the upper air, and to the high speed of the big machine. Later in his course of instruction, the student takes out an eight-cylinder machine and flies around in circles over the field until he is able to take the test for his Aero Club of America Li- cense, which requires him to make two series of figure eights around two pylons fifteen hundred feet apart, landing each time within one hundred and fifty feet of a mark and rising to an altitude greater than two hundred feet. This is the goal of the novice, and after his test, the student is ready to fly as far and as fast as he likes. He has become the complete airman. RETURN CIRCUI TO 202 M LOAN PERIOD 1 4 ~i ^ = LATION DEPART am Library 2 5 1 1 MENT 642-34D.-3 3 J - ore clo.in 9 .in., on ,he lo s, da,e s,a m ped b.,o, DUE AS STAMPED NO. DD6A, 20m, J. uuu, orn, 4 / / YB 7016 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRWES 259861 C