Chasing Icarus

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Chasing Icarus Page 33

by Gavin Mortimer

“plane was dancing right down the”: Ibid.

  “He’s up!”: Ibid.

  “Aviation is so contrary to all our hitherto conceived”: Warren (PA) evening Mirror, November 11, 1910.

  “roared around the course twice like an eighteen”: New York Evening Sun, October 25, 1910.

  Chapter Eleven: Here Are Two Men in a Boat

  “supplying information leading”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 25, 1910.

  “I concede that as the situation now stands”: Albany (NY) evening Journal, October 25, 1910.

  “a bark canoe, on the south side of Sotogama”: Century Magazine, December 1910.

  “He was facing the mountain north”: Ibid.

  “Another night has passed with no sign”: Ibid.

  “Come out, Post! Here are two men in a boat”: Ibid.

  “We dropped here in a balloon”: Ibid.

  “they had suffered much misery”: Ibid.

  “We will take you up the river”: Ibid.

  “We have not had anything”: Ibid.

  “It is remarkable how different”: Ibid.

  “whipped out the pistol and pointed”: Ibid.

  “Count de Lesseps handles his machine with such confidence”: New York American, October 26, 1910.

  “the foreign birds and their mechanics”: New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “you can’t tell whether Orville is”: New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “When I have time, I will turn out propellers especially”: New York Herald, October 26, 1910.

  “The innate fault of the single-plane machine is its weakness”: Ibid.

  “I don’t know. I can’t tell yet”: New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “conversed gently but earnestly with his pupil”: Ibid.

  “Yesterday was Wright Day all right”: “Ladies & Gentlemen, the Aeroplane,” Air &Space, May 1, 2008.

  “height of about 4,000 feet and to the east of the aviation”: New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “Wow, that was cold”: New York American, October 26, 1910.

  “I am encouraging the War Department to take”: New York Herald, October 26, 1910.

  “The sight of the auto chugging over the hillocks”: New York Evening Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “the rivalry between the English-speaking and French”: Ibid.

  “That is, I merely”: The confrontation was described in full in the New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  Chapter Twelve: Are You These Gentlemen?

  “The big yellow gas bag is down”: New York Herald, October 26, 1910.

  “Now all you have to do is follow”: Century Magazine, December 1910.

  “It will be three days’ work for us”: Ibid.

  “With light hearts we hastened forward”: Ibid.

  “sure we were thought to be visitors”: Ibid.

  “The wire is broken”: Ibid.

  “Are you these gentlemen?”: Ibid.

  LANDED PERIBONKA RIVER. LAKE CHILAGOMA: Several newspapers, including the October 27 editions of the New York World, New York Herald, and New York Times.

  “Well, I hope you had the same good luck”: St. Louis Globe-Democrat reproduced the exchange between Post and Guay on October 28, 1910.

  Post agreed to speak to the reporter: The lucky—or rather, canny—reporter who met Post and Hawley in Chicoutimi had his report syndicated to a raft of newspapers, though in this case I quote from the New York Times, October 27, 1910.

  “was disappointed but not surprised”: Ibid.

  “breeziest race track now in use”: New York Times, May 5, 1905.

  “for a daily promenade around the track”: Wallace, Claude Grahame-White, 117, and St. Louis Republic, October 26, 1910.

  “air chauffeur”: New York Sun, October 26, 1910.

  “Aviation is vexation”: Wallace, Claude Grahame-White, 117.

  “most effective in preventing and overcoming the effects”: South Wales Post, August 28, 1910.

  The evidence was right there in front: The New York World, American, and Herald all ran prominent photographs of Sears and Grahame-White on October 26, 1910.

  “person on the box did not lose himself”: New York Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “I’m crazy about it and I came down”: New York evening Mail, October 26, 1910.

  “Hardly had the two conspicuous”: New York World, October 27, 1910.

  “there is no further cause for controversy”: New York Herald, October 27, 1910.

  “brought disappointment to the calamity:” New York Evening Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “There goes the winner of the big race!”: Ibid.

  “Seven seconds better in each lap than”: New York Herald, October 27, 1910.

  “raised their voices in excited arguments as one”: New York Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “Where are they?”: Ibid.

  “and a black form was seen flitting across”: Ibid.

  “it was only after an hour of brisk rubbing”: Ibid.

  The dining room of the Hotel Astor: The New York Herald, October 28, 1910, carried a report on the aviation craze sweeping the city.

  Chapter Thirteen: There’s Always a Chimney for a Man to Hang On To

  “began sending messages to all points”: Chicago Daily Tribune, October 27, 1910.

  “He wins the cup!”: New York Herald, October 27, 1910.

  “My God”: New York World, October 27, 1910.

  “For two weeks before leaving for”: New York Herald, October 27, 1910.

  “Overjoyed”: San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 1910.

  “Indications are that you have beaten”: Chicago Daily Tribune, October 27, 1910.

  “immediately dropped the telephone receiver”: New York Times, October 27, 1910.

  “I am frank in saying that I never expected to see”: New York World, October 27, 1910.

  “believing that he had won the race”: Century Magazine, December 1910.

  “may join in the last days of our meeting”: St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 28, 1910.

  “There was never a time when I considered”: Chicago Daily Tribune, October 28, 1910.

  “We made a good landing in the trees”: Ibid.

  “I can stand a good deal of pain”: Ibid.

  “it’s lost in a good cause”: Boston Daily Globe, October 28, 1910.

  “she reached Belmont Park with Claude”: New York Evening Mail, October 27, 1910.

  “You newspapermen are a nuisance!”: Ibid.

  “prevaricators”: Ibid.

  “revoked its rule that all aviators taking part”: New York Herald, October 28, 1910.

  “I took out my Farman biplane on Sunday”: New York Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “certain death”: New York Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “after considerable dipping and diving”: New York Herald, October 28, 1910.

  “he had the moral support in his protest”: New York Herald, October 28, 1910.

  “There’s always a chimney for a man to hang on to”: New York Sun, October 27, 1910.

  “journeyed his way around the curves by”: San Francisco Chronicle, October 28, 1910.

  “had an offer of $750 by the management to fly”: New York Sun, October 28, 1910.

  “he hadn’t even soiled his collar”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 28, 1910.

  “flitted the air with whirling autumn leaves”: San Francisco Chronicle, October 28, 1910.

  The accident to Baldwin: Described in the October 28, 1910, edition of the New York Sun.

  “to whom he is supposed to be engaged”: New York Sun, October 28, 1910.

  “a long session, productive of several heated arguments”: New York Times, October 28, 1910.

  “For nearly three hours”: Ibid.

  “The failure to select a representative”: Ibid.

  Chapter Fourteen: I’ll Be Able to Give the Wrights a Good Race

  “asked how four figures would look”: New York Herald, October 29, 1910.

  “Nothin
g doing”: New York Evening Mail, October 28, 1910.

  “reluctantly left their beds in the stateroom”: Boston Daily Globe, October 29, 1910.

  “Peroxide!”: New York Evening Mail, October 28, 1910.

  “Well, it’s a secret”: Ibid.

  “Nature fakirs!”: Ibid.

  PLEASE ACCEPT THE ASSURANCES OF OUR: New York Herald, October 29, 1910.

  “but I shall also have a look around”: Ibid.

  “people learned who was present on the train”: Boston Daily Globe, October 29, 1910.

  “he shared the pride of all Americans”: Ibid.

  “A clean shirt each”: Ibid.

  “justified in shooting himself”: Ibid.

  “There was one incident about our trip”: Ibid.

  “finally won his consent”: Ibid.

  “Mr. Hawley is not a man of emotional”: Ibid.

  “just a strong gripping of hands”: New York World, October 29, 1910.

  “to equip its [coastal] life saving stations”: Ibid.

  “their contribution to the romance of adventure”: Ibid.

  “It must not be supposed that the balloon”: New York Herald, October 28, 1910.

  “aerial drifting competition”: New York Daily Globe, October 27, 1910.

  “seemed nervous when he was welcomed”: New York Times, October 29, 1910.

  “You cannot imagine how it feels”: Ibid.

  YOU OWE ME NO THANKS FOR THE ASSISTANCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 29, 1910.

  “Keep your seats. You are men of action”: Boston Daily Globe, October 29, 1910.

  “would make a chapter in himself”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1910.

  “raised his hand for the helpers”: New York Evening Sun, October 28, 1910.

  “His monoplane banked gracefully”: Ibid.

  “Oh, I think I’ll be able to give”: Ibid.

  “I must again on principle respectfully”: Ibid.

  “The engagement was not announced”: New York Evening Mail, October 28, 1910.

  “I am in no position to say anything about”: Ibid.

  “he would probably make the trip”: New York evening Sun, October 28, 1910.

  Elsewhere, the table of Mr. George Huhn Jr.: New York Evening Sun, October 29, 1910.

  “he encountered an unusually strong head”: New York Herald, October 29, 1910.

  “as he neared the enclosure he dropped”: Ibid.

  “Tell you what, boys”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 29, 1910.

  “It was just like shooting the chutes”: Ibid.

  Chapter Fifteen: I’m Not Hurt Much but I Want a Long Rest

  “There were almost 1,000 determined aero”: New York Globe, October 30, 1910.

  “You want more than a blur as a souvenir”: Ad that appeared in the New York evening Mail, October 28, 1910.

  “Room!” shouted the first guard: New York Sun, October 31, 1910.

  “Under the rules, the Gordon Bennett Cup”: New York Times, October 29, 1910.

  “There’s nothing she can’t do”: Henry Villard, Blue Ribbon of the Air (Smithsonian, 1987).

  “Curtiss got away with the cup at”: New York evening Sun, October 29, 1910.

  “There was an instant turning of faces”: Ibid.

  “were clocking him carefully watching every shift”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “There was no one who watched Mr.”: Ibid.

  “Lee Blank”: New York Tribune, October 31, 1910.

  “its motor humming a fierce”: New York World, October 30, 1910.

  “as a hound would chase a fox”: Ibid.

  “as he went persistently on”: Ibid.

  “feel the woodwork of the monoplane heating”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “Le Blanc was shot forward”: New York Sun, October 30, 1910.

  “crumpled up into a smashed bundle of wreckage”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “threw his arms around the policeman”: New York Sun, October 30, 1910.

  “tall, lithe, boyish-face of Walter”: New York World, October 30, 1910.

  “and in a dense dust cloud it turned tail”: New York Sun, October 30, 1910.

  “and tore it from his head”: New York Times, October 31, 1910.

  “I’m not hurt much but I want a long rest”: New York Sun, October 30, 1910.

  “his head rounded in white linen bandages”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “My dear young man”: New York World, October 30, 1910.

  “that was nothing of insinuation”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “thoughtful aviator would always”: Boston Post, November 13, 1910.

  “I found that the tube which carries the”: Aero, November 23, 1910.

  “only an accident that occurred to Le Blanc’s”: Boston Post, November 13, 1910.

  “could not understand why the”: New York World, October 30, 1910.

  “Come, Monsieur Hamilton, I have a Blériot”: New York Times, October 30, 1910.

  “the smallest thing ever done”: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 30, 1910.

  “narrowly missed a chimney top”: Ibid.

  “fairly pulled him from the machine”: New York Times, October 30, 1910.

  “the only manner in which I can account for Le Blanc”: New York World, October 30, 1910.

  “his debonair swagger”: Ibid.

  Chapter Sixteen: It Isn’t True, It Can’t Be True!

  “We don’t believe in speed for its own sake”: New York Sun, October 30, 1910.

  “It was a spectacle spectacularly modern”: New York Herald, October 30, 1910.

  “most any girl would give a lock”: New York Tribune, October 31, 1910.

  “You’re going to win”: Evening Mail, November 1, 1910.

  “Just be careful, John”: Gwynn-Jones, The Air Racers, 56.

  “running over the ground on”: Boston Daily Globe, October 31, 1910.

  “looking like a man who wanted to fight somebody”: Ibid.

  “It will cost me about two thousand”: Ibid.

  “in automobiles and crested carriages”: New York World, October 31, 1910.

  “it was a restless crowd, filled with”: New York Herald, October 31, 1910.

  “turned constantly to the east, from which direction”: Ibid.

  “headed straight for the tower”: Boston Daily Globe, October 31, 1910.

  “the broad wings dwindled into mere patches”: Ibid.

  “the broad wings dwindled into mere patches”:

  “nobody was quite prepared for it”: Ibid.

  “He might be an Englishman”: New York Herald, October 31, 1910.

  “I am now the owner of that machine”: New York World, October 31, 1910.

  “It will cost you ten thousand”: Ibid.

  “Roll her out, boys!”: New York Herald, October 31, 1910.

  “Come on, you, Moisant”: Ibid.

  “lace handkerchief was being ripped”: Ibid.

  “hands of the men holding stopwatches”: New York World, October 31, 1910.

  “seemed filled with mad people”: Philadelphia Press, October 31, 1910.

  “It isn’t true”: New York World, October 31, 1910.

  “gave a yell like a Comanche Indian”: New York Tele gram, October 31, 1910.

  “That’s my opinion, boys”: Ibid.

  “the crowd made a rush toward”: Boston Daily Globe, October 31, 1910.

  “with his brown eyes dancing”: New York World, October 31, 1910.

  “Really very well done, old chap”: Ibid.

  “If I did, I’d be a Dutchman”: Ibid.

  Chapter Seventeen: My Disgust at This Betrayal

  Hanging from the ceiling among the chandeliers: Many newspapers carried descriptions of the Plaza Hotel event, but the New York Times and New York Herald of November 1 had the most comprehensive accounts.

  “there had been so many accidents”: New York Times, November 1, 1910.


  “hysterical”: New York Herald, November 1, 1910.

  “called for the fastest flight from Belmont Park”: New York Times, October 31, 1910.

  “under all the rules of international meets”: Ibid.

  “it had been announced on Saturday”: Ibid.

  “The committee announces that the”: New York Evening Sun, October 31, 1910.

  “It’s a bally injustice, sir”: Ibid.

  “What’s the use of making protests?”: Pall Mall Gazette (London), November 1, 1910.

  “anywhere, at any time”: New York Herald, November 1, 1910.

  “poor loser”: New York evening Journal, November 1, 1910.

  “for their flights were being watched”: New York Herald, November 1, 1910.

  “the men who only a few days ago”: Ibid.

  “He got the most enthusiastic reception”: New York Times, November 1, 1910.

  “which was something of a protest meeting”: Ibid.

  “I wish through your columns to protest”: Transcripts of Drexel’s letter were reproduced in many newspapers around the world, such as the New York Times on November 1, 1910.

  “they are jealous and very difficult to manage”: New York Evening Journal, November 1, 1910.

  “Would you explain the reason for”: New York Times, November 1, 1910.

  “In handing you this cup”: Ibid.

  “an aviator of far greater experience”: Ibid.

  “We aviators are sometimes prone to”: Ibid.

  “extending an invitation to all the aviators”: Ibid.

  Epilogue: We’re Sending Sputniks to the Moon

  “proved that the airplane will be a great”: Chicago Daily Tribune, November 15, 1910.

  “financiers, sportsmen and hundreds”: Pekin (IL) Tribune, October 22, 1910.

  “a year of triumphant progress”: Fly, January 1911.

  “He swooped down in a narrow circle”: Chicago Daily Tribune, November 18, 1910.

  “Frantic for souvenirs”: Ibid.

  “high noon had come and gone in the careers”: Harris, First to Fly, 219.

  “Poor Ralph, poor Ralph”: Orange County Times-Press, November 22, 1910.

  “clothe, feed and educate”: Des Moines Daily News, October 1, 1911.

  “His head is round and shapely”: New York City American, November 6, 1910.

  “There’s no danger in making an airplane flight”: New York Times, January 2, 1911.

  “confident of winning the Michelin Cup”: Indianapolis Star, January 1, 1911.

 

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