IN SKY SHOWN BY POST-SUN Pittsburgh Post-Sun Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Friday, August 14, 1914, Collection of Mike Kane, Aug. 23, 2005 Advanced Aviation by These Newspapers. END OF FLIGHTS TODAY The flight in the still air last evening was the highest in all the series, which began Thursday of last week. The Wright aeroplane attained an altitude of 3,000 feet. The aviator and a passenger were invisible, and the plane was dimly outlined against the evening sky. There was no sound of the motor as the flyer soared at the greatest height, the 40 foot plane appearing no larger than a table. More than half a ton of machinery was represented in that night excursions of $5,500 worth of property in the air. Today's flying will close the seven days' series of public demonstrations arranged by these newspapers to inform the people of Pittsburgh in the most impressive and instructive way regarding the latest development of aviation. The final flights will take place at 3 this afternoon and 7 this evening. Last night's evolutions of the aeroplane hundreds of feet above the oval racetrack was a revelation to many who saw in The Post and Sun exhibition the approach of the wondrous empire that the conquest of the air means to humanity. The crowds rushing into the infield at the termination of the flights and pressing around the roped enclosure to get a nearer look at the flying machine after its long sweep across the evening sky attested the quickened public interest in aviation. In war maneuvering, the aeoplane scouted about 700 feet above ground yesterday, and darted toward the zenith of the moving battleship represented by the big, five-ton White motor truck, which was proceeding toward the middle of the aerodrome. When the marksman high in the air flew almost directly over the truck he dropped the flour-filled bags which struck the earth near enough the target to have spread annihilation had they been aimed at a warship. An army or city would be powerless against the foe in the clouds, stealing through the night, for which reason high-power searchlights are playing across the heavens at night above the battling hosts of Europe to detect in time any deviation and hurl a destroyer upon it. Racing between the aeroplane and an Indian motorcycle will take place at Schenley oval this afternoon. A. G. Schmidt, fastest motorcyclist in Pittsburgh and holder of numerous records, will race over the oval track against the Wright flyer speeding overhead. |
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