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AERO
September 23, 1911.

Busy Days at New York Fields

Miss Moisant's Skill Increases
  Garden City, L.I., September 16.- There are now 14 pupils enrolled at the Moisant Aviation School.  Andre Houpert, the chief instructor, has, however, had a very quiet week owing to the inclement weather.  on Monday last, September 11, Miss Mathilde Moisant took out what is known as the "mile-a-Minute Machine"-a Moisant monoplane fitted with a 50 horsepower Gnome- and ascended to a height of between 1,500 and 2,000 feet.  No other filer went out during the day.  
  On Tuesday Capt. George MacKay, of Company A, Signal Corps, Michigan, one of the Moisant pupils, took his fourth lesson in the school machine, which is fitted with a three-cylinder Anzani. After some rolling exercise Capt. MacKay made his first jump.  In doing so he ran into a wire fence which he had failed to see in the fog.  The only damage done was a smashed propeller.  
  There was quite a little flutter of excitement on Wednesday morning when the Michelin-Farman-type biplane designed (photo here: caption Andre Houpert Coaching a pupil) by Philip Wakeman Wilcox and Albert Triaca was wheeled out on the field for this first tryout.  Abraham Ragarosky, a Russian pilot, who was licensed at the Farman School at Mourmelon, France, was selected to put the areoplane through its first real test. After a run of about 300 feet, the machine rose gracefully,and Ragarosky made a highly successful flight of six minutes. 

In the evening the machine was taken out again. While out on a short cross-coutry jaunt Ragarosky tried to improve the mixture while in the air, and in consequence the engine stopped and he landed near the Meadowbrook Hunt Club. Ragarosky succeeded in starting the engine again by himself and flew back to his hangar. 
  The Wilcox-Triaca biplane has an upper plane of 47 feet and a lower plane of 34 feet.  the ends of the lower surface are set in a dihedral angle of four degrees.  The depth, fore and aft, of the planes is 6 feet 9 inches.  The 50-horsepower Gnome engine is set well forward in order to lighten the burden on the tail.  The tail, which is of the box-type is small.  There is a large elevating plane in the rear.  Later some experiments are to be made without the front elevator. 
  The control is similar to that on the Howard-Wright.  Lateral stability is secured by six ailerons.  The military extensions can easily be put on or taken off.  The running-gear consists of Farman skids and wheels fitted with 26x3 Goodyear tires.  The curvature of the wings is similar to that of the Wright machine.  The wings are covers top and bottom with Goodyear fabric No. 6.
  The same evening Dr. Henry W. Walden, of Manhattan, after nice unsuccessful flights, which resulted in practically nine unsuccessful flights, made a long and successful cross-country flight in his original type of monoplane.  This machine has frequently been described in the technical press.  
(photo here: caption - One of the Temporary Moisant Hangars)

Its most noticeable feature is perhaps its seating arrangement.  The pilot sits below the planes.  In the respect the machine is reminiscent of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle.  
  On Thursday, Mortimer F. Bates, a Moisant pupil, made a practice flight on the "License machine No. 4."  Bates hoes to secure his brevet next week.  
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Kimball Produces Portable Hangar
  Mineola, L. I., September 16.-A new portable hangar, designed and built by William R. Kimball, of Brooklyn, has created a good deal of interest and favorable comment among the aviators at Mineola.  Portable hangars have been used in Europe for several years. But these foreign hangars are huge affairs, built for dirigibles and taking eight days to put up.  They are, as a rule, about 250 feet long and 40 country for anything of the sort.  Tents have been good enough for the showmen with small dirigibles and even for aviators. 
  Kimball had been working on his shed for over a year.  The Kimball hangar is cased outside with sheet iron.  The trusses are built up of sheet steel bands and wooden compression members.  The roof is of corrugated galvanized iron. There are 14 small doors in front, half opening up and half down.  The shed is practically fireproof.  It can be put up in a day, and costs no more than a permanent building of the same size would. The shed is 42 feed square. The sections are fastened together with one-quarter inch bolts. 
  Kimball, by the way, hopes to have his tailless twin-propeller biplane in a few days.  He has an original way of avoiding the Wright twist to one of the chains. He has a spur gear on the engine shaft which meshes with another similar spur gear.  The latter drives a sprocket carrying the second chain in the opposite direction to the first.  
  As to the aeroplane itself, its most characteristic feature is the absence of any controlling surfaces at the back of the main planes.  Right and left steering is accomplished by rudders on the wing tips.  The plane is fitted with a heavy automobile-type engine of 26-30 horsepower that was built by the American-British Manufacturing Company.