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The Aeronautic Society of New York

in none of these mishaps was Mr. Kimball much hurt. The worst misfortune of all befell him on Dec. 5th, 1909, when a fire broke out in the new workshops in which he was working just outside the Park. The entire building was destroyed and with it all its contents, including a new machine built for W. H. Butler.

The exhibition came off eventually on Saturday, June 26th, 1909. As was expected, it suffered through the postponements, and from the effects produced in the minds of the public and on the Press by the absurd show that had been held at Arlington, N. J. Circumstances also prevented it from being properly advertised.

Mr. Curtiss promised to make some flights during the week preceding the exhibition, and the fulfillment of that promise was relied upon solely to advertise the event. Once or twice, just at dusk, he made short, straight hops down the track for a couple of hundred yards or so. All who had part in that memorable exhibition will be long in forgetting how hour after hour every eye was glued to the flagstaff across the grounds, and everybody wished the flag was glued to the pole too, for it was only when that flag was absolutely dead still that Mr. Curtiss would think of flying-and then, sometimes, that wretched flag would go and move again before the machine could be gotten out.

It is beyond all doubt that if Mr. Curtiss had made anything like the flights his machine was capable of, or had given on the afternoon of the Exhibition even such a flight as he did make at dark, when practically everybody had left the Park tired out with waiting, the Exhibition would have been a great success, and the forerunner of many successful shows during the rest of the Summer.

Despite these misfortunes, the Exhibition of June 26th was a highly creditable one. Its

[[image - two black & white photographs: left photograph, a propeller turning. left photograph, pilot sitting in a large monoplane, with large propeller]]
[[caption]] The Beach-Willard Monoplane [[/caption]]
[[caption]] Photo Edwin Levick, N. Y. [[/caption]]

most inspiring feature for the Society lay in the remarkable advance it showed over the Exhibition of the previous Nov. 3rd. The work done in the eight months' interval was of the most promising character, and the display of machines on the lawn was a very fine one. In almost every instance, even also in the great collection of models, there was an entire absence of the freak idea, and members showed that they had advanced on the right lines.

The full-sized machines exhibited were those of Dr. Greene, the Brothers Lawrence,