#FantasyFreeFlight Lindsay Hittle has set a new world record for Hydro-Launched Duration 116 seconds in the air! If you had Hittle as a club member, not only have you earned the 4 points for his 1st place win, but 1 advantage point for the world record. Congratulations!
How did the other competitors do? Here are the results:
“The Green Club held its hydro meet of September 19th, at Lake C. The very first flight of the afternoon broke the former world’s record. Pease raised the record for twin propeller models from 67 seconds to 71.8 seconds. Hittle followed with a flight of 70.6 seconds with a single propeller tractor hydro model. From there on the record went up to 82 seconds by Hittle, then to 100.6 seconds by Cook, finally stopping at 116 seconds; average 89.6 seconds, made by Hittle. The tractor that Hittle used was quite large, being over 50 inches in length and having a span of over 40 inches, and yet it weighs only 1.75 ounces. It is quite slow and very steady in the air and interesting to watch. The model Cook used was a 40-inch twin propeller model weight 3 ounces. It gets off the water immediately and quickly climbs to a good altitude, which it maintains during the flight, which ends with a good glide.” (“Model News Column,” Aerial Age Weekly, October 4, 1915)
“In a storm of wind and rain the Purple Club held their final contest for hydro models on G Lake, September 30th. Although the average duration of the Club is low, under the unfavorable weather conditions, it is remarkable that even this was made. All the models entered were wrecked at some time during the contest, and the repairs that were hurriedly made were not of a very substantial nature. After every official flight repairs were needed and this required may trial flights which prolonged the contest till nearly dark. George Stoneham, the club’s best hydro flyer, was unable to be present, and Rene Valadon acted as substitute. After completing his official trails, Robert La Tour made an attempt to establish a record for flying boats. The best time caught by the judges was 43 seconds. Several flights of 40 seconds were made previous to this. Mr. C.J. Kearny, of the Park Board, Mrs. H.P. Hanson and Prof. C.A. Guerard, of the Aero Club of France acted as judges.” (“Model News Column,” Aerial Age Weekly, October 18, 1915)
For the Gray, Red and Yellow Clubs: “The results of the clubs in one area fell below what was expected. Irrespective of the fact that there are no places in the near vicinity of a city for the holding of such a contest, weather conditions during the past few weeks were against the contestants. Mr. Wallace Lauder, holder of the world’s distance and duration record, made several attempts to launch is model from an improvised pond, but each time as his model was about to leave the water the pontoons would strike the bank causing the model to overturn, and finally broke both forward pontoons. Other models that did succeed in getting off were caught in gusts of wind and thrown upon the stones, breaking the pontoons and propellers.” (“Model News Column,” Aerial Age Weekly, October 11, 1915)
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