Viewing page 181 of 459

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[newspaper clipping]]
ONLY GALE WILL STOP BIG FLIGHT

IF WIND is Too Strong at Selfridge Field, Radley Will Ship Monoplane to San Jose in Express Car-Wells Fargo Company Co-operates With Plans of the Birdman.

[[image of biplane in flight with caption- "CAPTAIN F. A. MARRIOTT, Vice President of the San Jose Aero Club, flying with Brookins in a Wright Biplane at Selfridge Field Jan. 21. Captain Marriott was in the air about 10 minutes and rose to an altitude of 600 feet."]]

JAMES RADLEY was seen by a representative of the Santa Clara Valley Aero Club yesterday morning and said that he would fly to San Jose on Saturday unless the wind was blowing a gale or the rain would keep him from doing so.

Mr. Radley's manager has made arrangements with the Wells-Fargo Express Company to have an express car at the Selfridge field at 7 o'clock Saturday morning. This car will remain on the sidetrack until 12 o'clock. This will be done simply as a precaution in case that weather conditions are too severe to allow Mr. Radley to get off the ground with his racing Bleriot. If at 12 o'clock the weather conditions are such at the field that Mr. Radley finds that he cannot get in the air, his monoplane will be immediately placed in the express car and brought to San Jose so as to reach the Driving Park not later than 2:30 o'clock in order not to disappoint the spectators at the big show.

Statistics Are Favorable.

Weather statistics show that conditions are always much milder in the vicinity of San Jose than anywhere north of the county. Should a gale be blowing at Selfridge Field, it would not necessarily affect conditions in this locality. Of course if it is possible for Mr. Radley to make the flight as promised, he will certainly do so as it will be of great value to him in future meets throughout the world, both in advertising and financial standpoints. A wind of 20 or 25 miles an hour will not affect the flight.
Captain Marriott returned from San Francisco yesterday afternoon where he had been in consultation with the flyers and several amusement managers. It is his desire to obtain a captive balloon for either Saturday's or Sunday's entertainment. The balloon is to be used for the purpose of an aerial fight between the balloon and two aeroplanes. Marriott has not been successful so far in obtaining this attraction but from his past reputation it is believed that he will do his best to secure it and will undoubtedly give the spectators an excellent entertainment at the Driving Park.

Police and Militia Guards.

All arrangements have been made for the proper policing of the Driving Park during the Aviation Meet on Saturday and Sunday. The services of the members of Companies "B," "L" and "M" have been obtained for the purpose of keeping the crowds off of the race course during the automobile and motorcycle races, during the exhibitions given by the birdmen. Many detectives have been employed who will be scattered through the grounds to keep their eyes open for pickpockets and sneakthieves. In fact everything has been done for the safety of those who will attend the meet as spectators or participants.
Fred J. Wiseman has completed all arrangements to ship his biplane to San Jose so as to reach the Driving Park on Friday. Mr. Wiseman is fortunate in securing nearly all the big prizes for amateurs given at the San Francisco meet. He is now a full-fledged professional, with a reputation far greater than any other flyer in the history, considering the small experience he has had in the game. Mr. Wiseman is a young man who, like Radley, does not know what the word fear means. The flights he has made at Selfridge Field have been considered by all professional aviators as simply phenomenal. In San Jose, where the atmospheric conditions are so much superior to those in the northern counties, there is no doubt but that Wiseman will make flights which would be a credit to the older professionals.

Deputy vs. Policeman.

Emile Agraz, who has charge of the motorcycle races Saturday and Sunday, states that entries are coming in thick and fast from local riders who would possess the Radley trophy which is valued at $100. Agraz, who is a Motorcycle Deputy Sheriff, has just purchased a seven-horsepower Flying Merkej machine which is good for 70 miles an hour on a straightaway course. He is convinced that with this machine he will be able to trim Motorcycle Policeman Jimmy Margason. In a recent meet Margason, handicapped by his great weight, beat the Deputy, but he had to travel miles under a 60-miles-an-hour slip to make good. Margason will also ride a more powerful machine than that which he uses in running automobile scorchers to earth.

[[newspaper clipping]]

RADLEY WILL FLY IN BLERIOT MONOPLANE FROM SELFRIDGE FIELD TO SAN JOSE SATURDAY

[[photo of Radley captioned - "J. RADLEY, Famous English aviator. - Photo by Bushnell."]]

[[photo of Hope captioned - "R. J. H. HOPE, Mr. Radley's Manager. - Photo by Radley."]]

SAN JOSE will have an aviation meeting, whether or no. The contracts will be signed this morning and the meet will be held Saturday and Sunday next. J. Radley, the famous English aviator, who startled the world a few days ago by his wonderful flights over San Francisco Bay, will fly from Selfridge Field to San Jose in his Bleriot monoplane Saturday afternoon and will give an exhibition at the San Jose Driving Park grounds. Sunday afternoon he will give another exhibition and will endeavor to fly to Mount Hamilton.
All this was agreed upon yesterday at a conference held in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce, between Radley and R. J. H. Hope, his manager, and members of the Santa Clara Valley Aero Club. For several hours the aviator was closeted with the boosters and later was taken in an automobile to inspect the Driving Park field. He pronounced the track one of the best adapted places for his purpose he had ever seen and expressed himself as thoroughly satisfied with everything he saw.
Besides Radley, the San Jose aviation fans will have an opportunity to see Fred A. Wiseman, the young amateur who won his spurs last week at the San Francisco meet in this Farman-Curtiss biplane. Wiseman took the $1000 amateur prize and obtained his professional license. Yesterday Wiseman again astonished the experts at the meet with some very pretty flying.
Five aeroplanes, built in Santa Clara County by amateurs and a number of models of aeroplanes will be on exhibition at the meet, and the San Jose Driving Club has arranged to fill in the waits with the events of a harness meeting. Two local amateurs have been offered and have accepted chance to make their first flights in one of the home-built machines.
At a joint meeting of the Rose Carnival Committee and of the 1909 Fourth of July Committee, to be held tomorrow evening in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce, the representative business men present will be asked to appropriate, donate or raise in some manner the sum of $500 to be used in promoting the meet and in advertising San Jose. After many delays and not a little bickering the Aero Club people have decided that if the business men of San Jose will not support the movement they will back it themselves. It is to be a public proposition, they declared last evening, and $500 will cover the entire expense, which will include advertising and other necessities. None of this money will be returned. Mr. Radley has agreed to contract for his part of the show and will take all the gate receipts, taking his chances on making anything for himself. Should he not fulfil his part of the contract the admittance money will be returned. In the event of their being unable to obtain $250 from the Rose Carnival fund the Aero Club people will endeavor to raise the entire amount by public subscription. The advertising value of the flight from San Francisco to San Jose, they argue, would be worth thousands of dollars to the city. It will cost $500.
The flight to San Jose will attract the entire world and will be one of the greatest means of advertising the city that has ever been afforded, as the distance, 40 miles, is greater than that covered by Hamilton in his flight from New York to Philadelphia, and that of Curtiss when he made an attempt to go from Albany to New York. Should Radley be able to accomplish this distance without a stop, it will attract as much attention as did Ely's sensational soaring over San Francisco bay and his alighting on the U. S. S. Philadelphia. It will be another very impressive demonstration of what Santa Clara Valley is in the winter.
Radley came to San Jose yesterday at the invitation of F. A. Marriott of Palo Alto, Vice President of the Aero Club, Ray Mead, Manager of the Driving Park, and Argyll Campbell, an officer of the club, conducted the negotiations.

[[newspaper clipping]]

BIRDMAN SHOWS PLUCK
Fred J. Wiseman, the aviator from Santa Rosa, essayed a flight today with disastrous effects to his biplane and a narrow escape from serious injury himself. The field was ill-suited for aviation, owing to the great oak trees. Probably none of the famous professionals would make a trial in a field so hazardous. Then, the wind was blowing wrong, but Wiseman flew over a vineyard to a hillside half a mile south of the field. There his machine went wrong and he was forced to descend on a hillside, damaging the propeller. From the hill he made another attempt to fly, and while coming back to his starting place his engine went dead and he had to come to the ground. He landed in a lumber yard and damaged the planes. It is doubtful if the biplane can be repaired for several days.
Wiseman has been billed for another flight Saturday. The accident may necessitate a change in the plan.
The aeroplane field was lined with spectators, among them many Indians from the camps around Cloverdale. The women in their bright silk handkerchiefs and gay calicoes were conspicuous even among the blightly dressed white folk.