Viewing page 154 of 468

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

---
HER FIRST DISTANCE EFFORT
---
Travels Without a Hitch at 103 Miles an Hour Till Supply of Gasoline is Exhausted
---
WORLD'S WOMAN RECORD
---
Gets Away from Chicago in Gusty Wind - Aviators Are Amazed by Performance. 
---
Ruth Law, a slim young woman of 28, at the wheel of a two-year-old, now obsolete type of Curtiss biplane, flew without stop yesterday from Chicago to Hornell, N.Y., at a distance of 590 miles, breaking the American cross-country and nonstop record made by Victor Carlstrom in the modern 200-horsepower Curtiss military biplane, "The New York Times," on Nov. 2. Carlstrom's nonstop distance was 452 miles-from Chicago to Erie, Penn. Miss Law bettered this by 138 miles. Incidentally she broke the world's record for continuous flight for women's pilots. Until her achievement of yesterday, she had never flown a greater distance cross-country than twenty-five miles. Moreover, she flew yesterday purely as a sporting proposition. 

Having stopped at Hornell for lack of gasoline, Miss Law, with replenished fuel, resumed her flight and winged ninety miles to Binghamton, N. Y., where she spent the night. At 7 o'clock this morning she intends to take to the air again, to finish, as did Carlstrom, a flight from Chiacgo to New York, with a landing at Governors Island. With good luck she should accomplish this between 9 and 10 o'clock.

In her flight yesterday the young woman's schedule was:
Miss Law's Actual Flight Time,
Left Chicago, (Eastern time)......8:25 A. M.
Arrived Hornell, N.Y..............2:10 P. M.
Left Hornell, N. Y................3:24 P. M.
Arrived Binghamton................4:20 P. M.
                            Time.   Miles.
Chicago to Hornell.........5:45:00    590
Hornell to Binghamton......  56:00     90
Flight time................6:41:00    680

Her speed for the record-breaking part of her journey average close to 103 miles an hour, while the ninety miles between Hornell and Binghamton were made at 07 miles an hour. Carlstrom's average speed for the distance traveled on the first day was 107 miles an hour.

Miss Law's announcement several weeks ago that she would attempt the Chicago-New York flight was not taken seriously by any one connected with aviation in this city. It was said that she did not own an aeroplane capable of making even one-third the distance, and when James S. Stevens, Vice President of the Aero Club of Illinois, sent word early yesterday morning that she had left Grant Park at 7:25 A. M. (central time) and was on her way here, there was universal admiration at her pluck in making the attempt. 

This changed to amazement when word came in from various cities along the line of her flight, telling of her passage. At 10:23 A. M. (central time) it was reported that she has passed over Vermillion, Ohio, and then it began to seem likely that she would make a remarkable flight. No one yet believed that she would break the record set by Carlstrom, but it was soon seen that she had broken the women's record for continuous flight made by Mile, Helen Dutrieux in 1912, when she won the Femina Cup in Paris, by flying 200 miles. 

Flying practically due east, the next report came from McKean, Erie County, Penn., where the observer reported that Miss Law has passed ten miles south of that place. There is was estimated that she was flying at about 2,000 feet, and was making more than 100 miles an hour. Continuing due east, she drove her old machine for all it was worth, with the antiquated motor delivering its maximum of power, until she found that her gasoline supply was nearing its end. Miss Law then decided to land and replenish fuel, and at 2:10 P. M., (Eastern time,) she dropped to earth at Hornell, N. Y.

She made a perfect landing and soon procured the needed supplies. While at Hornell she told the correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES that she expected to reach New York by night. 

"I did not have the slightest mishap," she said, "and if nothing occurs I'll be in New York by dark. This old machine has been in constant use for more than two years and only carries fifty-three gallons of gasoline. There is no reason why a machine cannot travel from Chicago to New York without a stop if the gasoline supply is big enough. It is might cold up where I've been flying, but you don't mind it after a while."

Miss Law had some difficulty getting started at Hornell. The motor had gone
---
Continued on Page 4.
---
PINEHURST HOTELS AND GOLF LINES
Now open. Inquire Seaboard Air Line, 1,184 B'way, e-Adrt.

[[page ends]]

[[photo of Ruth Law]]

Miss Ruth Law
---
Miss Law Tells of Her Record Flight; To Try Non-Stop New York Trip Next 
---
Proud That She Has Beaten Carlstrom's Recent Record and Has Done So In a Small and Old Machine With Limited Fuel Capacity
---
By RUTH LAW.
(Telephoned to THE NEW YORK TIMES from Binghamton, N. Y.)
Copyright, 1916, by The New York Times Company. 

I have made the longest flight a woman ever made. But I am not boasting about that; the real thing I have done is to show that it is an easy thing to fly from New York to Chicago without stopping if one has the equipment. My little machine, even with its extra tank, could carry only fifty-three gallons of gasoline, and i had to stop in Hornell to get more fuel. 

If I had been able to carry 100 gallons of gasoline, I would have eaten dinner in New York. There was no trouble, absolutely none, with the machine, and the stop in Hornell was as I had planned. There was a man waiting on the racetrack there with the cans of gasoline I had told him to bring. That I had to stop here in Binghamton was due to no fault of mine or of the aeroplane - I stopped because it was dark and I didn't have any lights. You see, I had planned to leave Chicago an hour and a half earlier than I did, but it was so cold that the engine wouldn't start because the gasoline and air wouldn't mix in the carburetor. As soon as I can get a machine that will carry enough gasoline I am going to make the flight from Chicago to New York without stopping. 

Anyhow, I feel pretty proud about it. I don't know just how far I flew and only generally how fast I went. I just started and flew until I had to stop to get more gasoline. I know I flew further than Carlstrom did. 

Her First Distance Flight. 

Now this flight of mine is a personal affair, the expenses are paid by me. I have done quite a bit of flying of many sorts, but I had never tried any distance flying - that was the only kind of flying I hadn't tried. So I decided to try the flight from Chicago. Accordingly, it was arranged that the affair should be under the auspices of the Aero Club of America, so that whatever I did might be a matter of record. 

Before I took my little army scout plane to Chicago I had tried to get a bigger machine, but Mr. Cutiss was so busy making aeroplanes for the war that he couldn't get one ready for me. I then decided that my little one would have to do. It is a baby machine, with a wing spread of twenty-eight feet, has a 100-horse-power motor that will develop 110 horse power, and is a "pusher," that is, the propeller is behind the driver, who sits out unprotected. The tank carried only sixteen gallons of gasoline, and so I had another tank fitted in that brought the fuel capacity of to 53 gallons; that was half enough for the flight of about 900 miles from Chicago to New York. Even that crowded the little plane so that all the extra clothing I could take along was one skirt. How that skirt proved to be most convenient I will explain later. 

I woke up Sunday morning before 5 o'clock, Central time. I ate a light breakfast, and then put on my flying suit - or suits, to be exact. First there was a woolen suit, then another woolen suit, then a leather flying suit, and over all a second leather suit. I wore a helmet of leather and wool, with a face mask of wool and goggles. Then I went to Grant Park, on the shore of Lake Michigan, with my manager. We got there about 6 o'clock. The machine was oulled out, water and gasoline were put in, and we tried to start the engine, for I had planned to leave at 6:30 o'clock, Central time. But it was so cold we couldn't get the engine to run. The temperature was freezing, and the air and gasoline wouldn't mix together in the carburetor. To make this part of the story short, it was 7:20 before we got the engine running. Mr. Stevens, a representative of the Aero Club, was with us all the time. 

Skims Chicago, 200 feet Up. 

I took off the skirt I had been wearing over my flying suit, stored it behind the seat, got in, gave the word, and was off. at 7:25. The dozen people in Grant Park cheered me as I started, flying low, south over Chicago. I skimmed over the city, flying about 200 feet up, for about twenty-six miles, and then turned toward Cleveland, going up to 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 feet. I had with me a barograph, an aneroid, a compass, and a clock, ad well as my speedometer. I had left the lights behind, because I thought they would be in the way. I didn't keep close track of the time, but noticed that I was making about 100 miles an hour consistently a short time after leaving Chicago. When I started there was a southwest wind of about 26 miles an hour, but this soon died out, and there was almost no wind. 

I passed over Cleveland, with everything going fine, at a height of about 6,000 feet. I couldn't see whether there were many people watching me, and I supposed there were not, because my flight hadn't been advertised much. The little machine, which has never before done anything more than such stunts as looping-the-loop, was doing everything that could possibly be asked of it. 

A slight shift in the course, and I was headed fro Erie, which I passed at an elevation of 3,000 feet. When I passed Erie I thought of Carlstrom and the loosened gasoline pipe that forced him to stop. To guard against such a mishap I had equipped my machine with ordinary rubber gas pipe which couldn't jar loose if it had tried. When I steered due east from Erie to Olean, I knew I had beaten Carlstrom's record. 

When I passed over Olean I began to remember that it was time for luncheon, and I didn't have a thing to eat. I hadn't brought anything, because I didn't have room in the machine. But I comforted myself with the thought that I would get something to eat at Hornell, where I had planned to stop for gasoline.

Glides Two Miles to Earth. 

It was in landing at Hornell and leaving that I had the two close shaves of the trip. I had calculated that the 53 gallons of gasoline I had when I left Chicago would just carry me to Hornell. But I had counted some on a wind which wasn't there to help me. Ten miles from Hornell I saw that my gasoline was almost gone; it gave out absolutely two miles from Hornell, and I glided for the two miles onto the racetrack just outside the city. It seemed that every one in Hornell was there to welcome me, and that the racetrack was so crowded that I almost struck some people in landing. The heavy clothingI wore had made it hard to
---
Continued on Page 4
---
MALLY'S BLOUSE SHOP, 104 W. 57th St.
Special Sale Blouses at [[?]], $5.95, and $10.95 Worth double. - Advt. 

[[page ends]]

[[seal of the Aero Club of America]]
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF 
THE AERO CLUB OF AMERICA
FOR 1917
---
Officers
ALAN R. HAWLEY, PRES.
HENRY A. WISE WOOD, VICE-PRES.
CORTLANDT F. BISHIOP, VICE-PRES.
CHARLES JEROME EDWARDS, VICE-PRES.
GODFRET L. CABOT, VICE-PRES.
CHARLES ELLIOT WARREN, TREAS.
WILLIAM HAWLEY, SECY

Governors
CORTLANDT F. BISHOP
JAMES A. BLAIR, JR.
ROBERT J. COLLIER
HOWARD E. COFFIN
W. REDMOND CROSS
CHARLES JEROME EDWARDS
BRIG.-GEN. ROBERT K. EVANS, U.S.A.
MAX C. FLEISCHMAN
JOHN HAYSS HAMMOND, JR.
ALAN R. HAWLEY
MAJOR F. L. V. HOPPIN
HENRY B. JOY
ALBERT BOND LAMBERT
W. W. MILLER
JAMES E. MILLER
GEORGE M. MYERS
HAROLD F. McCORMICK
HEAR ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY
RAYMOND B. PRICE
ALLAN A. RYAN
ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT
EVERT JANSEN WENDELL
HENRY A. WISE WOOD
HENRY WOODHOUSE

Finance Committee
ALLAN A. RYAN. CHAIRMAN
BERNARD M. BARUCH
JAMES A. BLAIR, JR.
J. PARKE CHANNING
CHARLES JEROME EDWARDS
CHARLES ELLIOT WARREN

Contest Committee
ALAN R. HAWLEY, CHAIRMAN
W. REDMOND CROSSS
HOWARD HUNTINGTON
J. C. MCCOY
LIEUT.-COL. SAMUEL REBER, U.S.A.
HENRY A. WISEWOOD
HENRY WOODHOUSE

Military and Naval Aviation Committee
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, CHAIRMAN
CAPTAIN MARK L. BRISTOL, U. S. N.
LIEUT. RAYNAL C. BOLLING, N. G. N. Y. 
CAPTAIN A. S. COWAN, U. S. A. 
BRIG. GEN. ROBERT K. EVANS, U. S. A.
REAR ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE
MAJOR F. L. V. HOPPIN
LIEUT.-COM. H. C. MUSTIN, U. S. N.
LIEUT.-COL. SAMUEL REBER, U. S. A.
MAJOR CHARLES ELLIOTT WARREN
LIEUT.-COL. C. DEW. WILLCOX, U. S. A.
MAJOR A. WHITE

Marine Flying Committee
J. STUART BLACKTON, CHAIRMAN
VINCENT ASTOR
FREDERICK M. BOURNE
ROBERT J. COLLIER
ROBERT GLENDINNING
HAROLD F. McCORMICK
RODMAN WANAMAKER
HARRY PAYNE WHITNEY
HENRY A. WISE WOOD
HENRY WOODHOUSE

Aeronautical Map and Landing Place Committee
REAR ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY, CHAIRMAN
ARCHER M. HUNTINGTON, VICE-CHAIRMAN
BION J. ARNOLD
A. G. BATCHELDER
AUGUST BELMONT
JAMES GORDON BENNETT
CORTLANDT F. BISHOP
J. STUART BLACKTON
CAPTAIN MARK L. BIRSTOL, U. S. N.
EDGAR BREECHER BRONSON
W STARLING BURGESS

The Aero Club of America
297 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK
TELEPHONE MURRAY HILL 71-72

14th December, 1916.

My dear Miss Law:

I have thepleasure of notifying you that the distance you covered in your flight from Chicago to Hornell, N. Y., was homolgated at a meeting of the Governors, held on Tuesday last, the figures as allowed being:

512.123 miles

You are therefore holder of the American Cross-Country distance record, pilot alone.

Once more congratulating you on your wonderful achievement, I am 

Yours very truly, 
AERO CLUB OF AMERICA
[[signature]]
Chairman
Contest Committee

Transcription Notes:
I did not transcribe the other articles on this page that were not about Ruth Law or aviation because they were obscured by the certificate from the Aero Club.