NEW AEROPLANE RECORD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2389, 2 January 1909, Page 6

NEW AEROPLANE RECORD.

TOWN TO TOWN FLIGHT

Great interest (says the Pans correspondent of the “Hailv Telegraph”) has been shown m Mi. I^ anan’s performance "ilii-i the Se” nl vue which really biokc tne ice Fn town to town (Chions to Rheims) proclaim travels, and he has e iv 7‘ his impression as follows, m an ai V l in the Paris contemporary, Les a lit«° inliipb was unite natural,, if you axe wha? and the idea of this first voyagereaUyimnrpssed me. How, I asked my sen, would I feel when I would be up n tspace depending entirely upon the stability of my machine and the regularity of my motor and when I should get to those high poplars S Stood in the distance against the skv? So far things had been easy, because I had travelled over perfectly level and smooth ground. Is I reflected on this, the poplar trees beyond kept growing ingbor .and higher m my fancy. But ott i went. Idler© was. a meeting ot crow * in the trees, and on my--approach they clamored furiously, and scattei - ed in all directions. They were the popolars! Was I to pass them to the right or left? I hesitated tor a moment, but just as I got within about fifty vards I gave a to tho lever, and up went my machine right over the top. I looked below rather nervously to see if I was not inn- the tips of the branches. But-, no° I had sailed over the tops easily, anil everything was well. . , But I was only easy tor a short time. Soon I saw the old mill, of Mourmelon, and then the village itself. “Oh, what’s the use? I said to myself. “I can die only once, and 'straight I steered over the mill, the village houses, and the railway, tins was the real critical point ox my journey. I kept a c ose eye to the direction of the wind, which vyhirls over the tops of tall trees and can brino - you. down with one fell swoop as you are crossing over, or which can lure you upwards into space into unknown danger. It was these currents -which kept me continually uneasy. But my machine never shookf For the first time one may be nervous, but once aviation becomes "enoral and the aerial currents are known, ft will bo merely child s play. I scarcely havo ’any notion of the height at which I was soaring. I was told I was about 150 ft up m the air ; bnt this did not bother me. I had to devote all my attention to steering the machine in a straight line, and to keeping a close watch on the •motor, which hung fire now and then in a way to make me shivci. But when the propeller kept steadily, and all was going well, 1 had the most delightful sensation of tmv life. There is nothing compared to the joy of soaring high above the heads of people. I saw the peas;ants, who appeared small down below, run ning away for dear life, as if tl y were frightened, and others trying to follow. A train pulled by a smoky engine was running along on a, straight line, and any number oi automobiles disappeared on the road in a cloud of dust while I was »ail;i n2 up in tho pure air with the fresh breeze in my face and the sun smiling down on my path. The exact distance covered by Mr. Farman was 16 miles m- a straight line, as he started from B<my, whiop is at the other • end of the Chalons military camp. A correspondent wtio ( tried to. follow Mr. Farman -in .an automobile writes to the ~ Figaio. .

“When avo sa w the aeroplane set out on a straight line along the road, we decided at once to folloiv in our motor cars. But it soon out-distanced us. Still,, avo suav Mr. "Furman for a while sail over the village of Veuve and cross tho railway lino some distance ahead. Then he soared over the forest of the Grandcs Logos, a good height above th© tops of the trees. While avg Avero stopped by the ©anal of tlie Marne he continued, and disappeared over the hamlet of Petitos Loges, leaving th© church and steeples of Versy and Vernzonay to the left, then passing by Beaumont-sur-Vesle, crossing the stream towards Sillerv and 6aint Leonard, and finally reaching Rheims, • where he landed an the yard of the Pommery establishment. He had taken twenty minutes to fly 16 nnles. He had already stepped out of his machine and met us Avith a smile Avhen av© arrived in our motor c<vrs. ,J