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MILLING, T. DEWITT, BRIG. GEN. USAF - BIOG FILE - FOLDER NO. 3 ITEM NO. 11 THE NEW YORK HERALD NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 27TH, 1911 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM Oldest of Aviation Records Is Smashed at Nassau Boulevard by Lieutenant Milling, an Army Flier Remains in Air with Two Passengers for 1h., 54m., 42 2-5s. UNIQUE MAIL CARRYING Postmaster General Hitchcock, in Captain Paul W. Beck's Aeroplane, Acts as Postman. To-Day's Programme 2:30 P.M - Weight carrying contest; five miles (four laps); greatest live weight carried to count, regardless of speed. First prize, $300; second, $150; third, $50. 3:45 P. M. - Passenger carrying for altitude. First prize, $600; second, $300; third, $100. 4:30 P. M. - Passenger changing race. First prize, $300; second, $150; third, $50. 5:15 P. M. - Cross-country race for biplanes. First prize, $600; second, $300; third, $100. Exhibition flights by women pilots. Hour to be announced from the field. Aviation's oldest world record was smashed yesterday at Nassau Boulevard when Lieutenant T. De Witt Milling, of the United States Army, remained for 1 hour, 54 minutes and 42 2-5 seconds in the air with two passengers. Although barely fifteen hundred persons witnessed this achievement, Lieutenant Milling was greeted with the heartiest applause any aviator has received at the meet when he descended. The crowd cheered heartily for several minutes, the band blared forth the "Star Spangled Banner" and Postmaster General Hitchcock and Attorney General Wickersham hurried into the field to congratulate him. Lieutenant Milling had broken a record which has stood for fifteen months, longer than any other record in existence at this time and longer than any other aviation record has ever stood. The world's record for carrying two passengers, besides the aviator, was made at the second Rheims meet fifteen months ago by Mons. Mamet. The record established then and which was broken yesterday was 1 hour, 38 minutes and 40 seconds. The American record, made by George Beatty recently, was 1 hour, 18 minutes and 22 seconds. Postmaster General in Air. Yesterday's meet at Nassau Boulevard was also distinguished by the actual carrying of a sack of mail by the Postmaster General of the United States through the air in an aeroplane. This is the first time in the history of this country that mail has actually been carried by a Postmaster General. That it was carried in an aeroplane makes it a feat of unique historical interest. Mlle. Dutrieu, the French woman champion, also appeared in the air yesterday and won the approval of the most critical of the aviators on the field. She flew a small model Farman with such grace and ease as to call forth an almost continuous volley of applause from aviators and spectators. Postmaster General Hitchcock went up with Captain Paul W. Beck at fifteen minutes after five o'clock. The Postmaster General carried a sack of mail weighing ten pounds and dropped it into a whitewashed circle on the ground at Mineola, returning in a few minutes to Nassau Boulevard. Another sack of mail was carried by Earle L. Ovington in a monoplane bearing the ominous number 13. The two machines were in constant view of the spectators throughout the entire trip and were watched with intense interest by the groups in the grand stands and in the fields. There was just a chance, a bare chance, of course, but had there been an accident it would have been the first time in history that a Postmaster General had been involved in such an affair, and no one wished to miss the sight if it were destined to occur.
