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Ross Soars 121 Miles; 76 Flights Reported

America predominated in an international duel between Harland Ross of Montebello, Calif., and Peter Riedel, the German entry, who led cross-country flights in the 13th day of competition in the Eighth Annual National Soaring contest.

Ross, flying the Ross-Stephens, a high-performance sailplane which he designed and built, competed against Riedel who piloted his Senior Sperber, built in Germany.

The American not only made the best distance flight of the day - 121 miles to Milford, Pa. - besting the 117 mile jaunt of Riedel who landed near Port Jervis, but he won the first Silver "C" license of the 1937 contest. Riedel is one of the 10 pilots at the meet who hold Silver "C" licenses.

76 Hops Are Recorded
While Ross' barograph has not been checked officially, on his unofficial performance he will be entitled to the Transcontinental-Western-Airline prize of an all-expense round trip flight from New York to Chicago and return for winning the first Silver "C."

A light northwest wind and twirling thermals that sent the high-performance ships to lofty altitude, first requirement for distance hops, offered the best soaring conditions since the meet started June 26. Seventy-four hops were taken from the 2,000-foot runway and as many as a dozen motorless craft were in the air at one time.

Four other pilots launched on cross-country jaunts.

Chester Decker, 1936 soaring champion, fighting hard to hold his title, maneuvered his Albatross to Rollins, Pa., a 116-mile flight, one mile less than Riedel and five less than Ross.

Lehecka Soars 104 Miles
Emil Lehecka, who climbed from third to second place in point competition for the American championship, landed near Carbondale, Pa., 104 miles from take-off point.

Lewis B. Barringer soared to the Honesdale, Pa., Airport, 97 miles from Harris Hill. Barringer phoned for airplane tow to return to the headquarters site, desiring to get to base station before dark. The tow ship took off from Elmira but near Towanda, Pa., made a safe forced landing when a piston crashed through a cylinder head. Barringer's crew left immediately with the trailer for Honesdale. 

Arthur Schultz at 3:50 p. m. lofted the ABC sailplane he designed and built and rode evening

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