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Sunday, April 26, 1953 THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL 1906 Flight Was First Powered Craft Here Dirigible Made Trip Downtown From the Fairground; Second Attempt a Failure This is the first of several Sunday articles on early aviation events in the Milwaukee area. Pictures are in the Picture Journal. By ROBERT H. WILLS Of The Journal Staff On a mid-September day 47 years ago, thousands of Milwaukeeans were figuratively "up in the air" as they watched a stubby, sausage shaped dirigible head downtown from the state fair ground. They were watching history being made as Charles K Hamilton, of Toledo (Ohio) stunt flier, carried out what is believed to have been the first powered flight over Milwaukee. It was Milwaukee's introduction to the age of powered flight-- a kind of analogous event to one that had taken place on the beach at Kitty Hawk, N.C., several years before -- Dec. 17, 1903, to be exact. That's when the Wright brothers made their now famous first powered airplane flight. This year the nation is celebrating the golden anniversary of that event. List Pictorial Display The celebration there will include a pictorial display in the administration building at Gen. [cut off]tchell field of historic aviation [cut off]rsts: in Milwaukee. The display [cut off]s compiled by George Hardie, a postal clerk who makes a [cut off]by of the history of Milwaukee [cut off]ation, and John Ferrier, an old-[cut off]e mechanic who is in charge of [cut off]intenance at Gen. Mitchell [cut off}d. The display leads off with a pic-[cut off]e of Hamilton's flight in the [cut off]gible built by A. Roy Knaben-[cut off]e, another easterner. The pic[cut off] is included in a selection of [cut off]oric aviation pictures in the [cut off] Journal. The flight was billed as one of spectacles of the 1906 state [cut off] According to newspaper clip-[cut off] compiled by Hardie, the [cut off] to thousands of sky gazing [cut off]aukeeans was "the most sen-[cut off]nal aerial flight ever seen in [cut off]aukee." Hamilton had made one flight [cut off] at 4 p.m. that had carried [cut off]to a height of 700 feet. He [cut off]euvered for a half hour and [cut off]ned to the ground. Started Second Trip [cut off]thused over the success of [cut off] leading attraction, the fair [cut off]gers went to Hamilton and [cut off] him to make another ascen-[cut off] - and take the ship to the [cut off] town district. Hamilton [cut off]d. [cut off] short time later he took off, [cut off]d for a few minutes, and then [cut off]d for the city. On the way [cut off]cled a high church steeple [cut off]lal times, then continued east. [cut off]ssed over the downtown area [cut off] eight of about 500 feet, then [cut off]d the city hall tower. [cut off] feat accomplished, he head-[cut off]st for the state fair ground [cut off] - but didn't make it. He ran [cut off] gasoline. [cut off}was forced to descend. The [cut off]nded near the Calvary cem-[cut off] causing considerable consternation among fair officials when it failed to return. The next day the dirigible was returned to the fairground. The detailed reporting of newspapermen who witnessed the event was perhaps a tip-off to the novelty of the flight. One reported that Hamilton carefully scrutinized every part of the machinery before his initial flight, and "unconcernedly" directed his men in the preparatory work. Few Were Unconcerned Few of the 10,000 persons present would have been able to register "unconcern" at the idea of flying in those days. "Well, I'm ready, fellows," Hamilton announced quietly, shortly after 4 p.m. He beckoned to the people to stand back in order to give the machine an opportunity to get away. The motor was started, and the propeller began to revolve "like that of a ship," one writer said, "until a rate of 25 revolutions per minute had been reached." "Let her go," yelled Hamilton. The ship gracefully climbed into the air at an angle of 45 degrees, witnesses reported, barely skimming the trees. In a few seconds it was well skyward, its big gas bag outlined against the sky. Hamilton busily tugged on ropes controlling the steering gear to maneuver the craft. Could Steer Craft His ability to steer the gas bag awed the people. The framework on which he sat consisted of a triangular arrangement of three long poles. The motor was in the center of the framework. It operated the propeller, which was at the front. At the rear was a large piece of canvas, a rudder with which the ship was steered. The rudder was manipulated by two ropes. If Hamilton decided to send the ship upward, he would slide back on the framework. When he desired to descend, he would go forward, his weight steering the ship down and up. Actually, while powered flight was new to Milwaukeeans, balloons were already old stuff. In 1860, a Prof. Steiner made an ascension from Milwaukee in a big balloon called the Europa, and reportedly went 103 miles and to an elevation of 12,000 feet. He is said to have landed in the lake, close enough to the shore to swim to safety. He later blamed a thunderstorm for forcing him down. Made Trip in 1879 In 1879, a Milwaukee librarian reportedly was one of the four men who made a balloon voyage from what was then the East Side high school building on E. Knapp st. They sailed eastward over the lake-then winds blew them back westward, until they landed near Waukesha. "The exhilaration of the voyage was delightful," the librarian later recalled. "We felt as secure as if we were on a boat or train." Capt. Otto Eiermann ascended from Schlitz park on Setp. 3, 1893. Newspapers reported that he had expected to cross the lake-in a few hours. But he was gone seven days. After a "terrible experience," he was picked up out of the lake by a schooner and landed at St. Ignace, Mich. There were other ascensions. Ida LeRoy, a woman "aeronaut" from Mount Vernon, Ohio, made an ascension form Milwaukee on Sept. 15, 1899. She reportedly landed on a railroad track just as a freight train approached. The engineer saw her and stopped the train a few feet away. But, by then, aviation enthusiasts around the country were toying with the idea of putting engines on the balloons, and making them go where the "aeronaut" wanted them to go. One inventor who worked with motorcycles and automobiles, as well as "flying machines," predicted, however, that a powered airship would have to be "fully 15 times as large as the largest ocean steamer to be able to properly float in the air and travel." Some expert of the day figured out that the airship would then have to be about 10,000 feet long, slightly less than two miles. But Hamilton, at the time he was circling the city hall, already had little faith in the practicality of the dirigible balloon he was flying. The "automatic airplane"-of the type which the Wrights had flown just a relatively short time before-would be the only flying apparatus of any practical value, he said. Cites Danger of Winds "Even if other defects are remedied, the airship will remain impractical in high wind," he said after his Milwaukee voyage. He was in a position to know. His flight over the city had been delayed while 22 mile winds died down to a point where he could safely take off. "I do not think that sufficient power can be generated on a ship to control the craft in a gale," he predicted. "This is where the automatic aeroplane is to be the coming form of aerial navigation if this is ever obtanined. The ability to control an aeroplane increases with the wind, while it decreases in the case of the airship." Other aviators shared his views. The development of the airplane began to pass that of the dirigible-balloon. Flight in 1910 By 1910, the state fair officials had shifted to sponsoring a powered flight by one of the early Wright model airplanes. It was piloted by Arch Hoxsey, an exhibition flier for the Wright Airplane Co. He took off from the race track Sept. 13 of that year in what was then the Wright model B, and was air borne for 17 minutes. Newspapers reported that the impression on the crowds was one of "awe." The next day Hoxsey raced an automobile around the race track-and lost. The "aeroplane" went around the track only once, it was reported, at a speed of 45 miles an hour. The automobile won the race by several car lengths. Track Was Rough Hoxsey complained about the rough condition of the area encircled by the race track from where he had planned to fly his plane. He was forced to land and take off from the track itself-a feat which was called very dangerous. Hoxsey raised the curtain, so to speak, on the age of powered airplan flying in Milwaukee as the public got to know it. The airplane in the next few years became a familiar sight at the state fairground-where Lincoln Beachey, Farnum Fish and James Kaminski, echibition and stunt fliers of their day, thrilled thousands. Next Week-Fairground Flights
