A MARVELLOUS- ACHIEVEMENT

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2636, 19 October 1909, Page 4

A MARVELLOUS- ACHIEVEMENT

A brief message from New York, which appeared in yesterday’s issue, conveys information which, if confirmed, will prove the most notable that has .come over the cables for many a day. It is to the effect that an American named H. Forbes has aeroplaned from St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, to Richmond, a Virginian town, in 19 £ hours. The distance is given as 731 miles, and a glance at the map vindicates that this measurement is approximately correct. Missouri is one of the middle States of America, whilst Virginia is on the eastern coast. The average rate of speed works out at 38 miles an hour, which compares very favorably with the world’s record of 43 miles an hour, set up by Hubert' Latham at the Rheims tournament in August. But it is not the speed of Forbes’ run which entitles, it to distinction, but the fa-ct that lie should have been able to sustain it for so groat a period. Hitherto- these high speeds have only been maintained on runs that lasted but a short half-hour or' so. As for length, a hundred miles appears to have been the limit for the best of the .aviationists in the .past. At Rheims the Comte de Lambert flew 72i miles in an hour and 54 minutes, whilst M. Paulhan accomplished a flight of 82 miles in two hours and forty-three minutes. This latter created . a new record for the greatest duration of time in the air. It will thus be seen that Mr. H. Forbes has made all previous performances look tamo and commonplace by comparison. • Of course, it is just possible that there has been some error in transmission, but the information has come in so definite a form that there is no reason to doubt its accuracy. Even if Forbes’ machine were an airship, and not an aeroplane, his achievement would still be a great one, for he would rank second only to the famous German, Zeppelin, in performances with the larger type of flying machine. A feature which has to be explained in regard to the latest record is how the adventurous American succeeded in making his supply of petrol hold out for so long a. journey. The proprietors of tho “Daily Mail,” in offering a £IO,OOO prize for the ...London to Manchester flight, allow for two stoppages for petrol, and this is a very modest . journey in, comparison with that alleged to have been traversed by Forbes. ; ; v v\.