The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • Page 107

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 1, 1935. FIRST A Woman Researcher Exhumes the Long- Overlooked Record of the Extraordinary Feats of Gustave Aviation's Unsung Pioneer, Who Flew a Half-Mile Before This Century Began UNSUNG PIONEER OF AIR-LANES yOne of the Few Starving Photos of Gustave Whitehead, Who Made Several Amazing Between 1899 and 1903, in Planes That He Built Himself. Photo Copyrighted by Miss Stella Randolph, Whitehead's "Discoverer," and Harvey REWRITES AIR HISTORY MUi Stella Randolph of Waihington, D. Who "Discovered" Gustavo Whitebead and Now for the First Time Hii Amazing' and Forgotten Aviation Feats, A 4 v-J 1 J- A BRAVE springtime morning, back in 1899, some eight months before the turn of the century. town of Oakland, soburb of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Only a few oarly-riscrs are on the they nre open-mouthed, completely bo- staring goggled-eyed into the air. They are looking at a contraption, flying crnzily along, exuding steam and maintaining an average elevation of 25 feet above the ground. It -wobbles, it Tw.o men, wild-eyed and hatlcss, ride its rickety spine, "Darius Green and his flying-machine" had come true! Suddenly the few watchers gasp. The crazy thing is headed directly for a three-story brick building! It can't turn. They see it strike that building, crumple, not until it has covered a distance, by careful estimate.

Of 2,640 feet, or half a mile! In the crash, ono of the men -was scalded by for the ship was steam-driven. His name was, and is, Louis Davarich, and ho resides today in Bridgeport, Conn. He was the "fireman" on that historic trip. The other man, -was only shaken up, was the Whitehead, apparently America's and the -world's true aviation pioneer, -whoso name you almost certainly never heard before! The situation is extraordinary. History has totally ignored above episode, awarding the palm for the first heavier-than-air flight to the Wright Brothers' world- famous 120-foot hop nt Kitty- hawk, N.

C. That occurred late in 1903. The Wright craft has a proud place in a London museum today, and there's a monument to them on the Kittyhawk sands. It fo with not the slightest purpose- of detracting from the iame of the Wright made, in fact, the first publicized flight that started air-history on its way and inspired a -world of Miss Stella Ran- colph, researcher, of Washington, D. now for the v( 'MvmeiyftEKjflii IMilM: HfflSH CONU WHITEHEAD'S "PLANE NO.

IT FLEW! Actual Photograph of the Amazing Craft in Which the Forgotten Inventor Made a Quarter-Mile Flight August 14, 1901. Of Unu.ual HUtoric Importance Is This Photo, by Permission of Miss Stella Randolph and Harvey Philipps, Who Hold the Copyright. u. now tor the first time discloses to the world the unknown, amazing, strangely overlooked figure of Gustave Whitehead, apparently aviation's actual first successful pioneer. Miss Randolph was looking through old newspaper files, on a quite different mission, when her eye was caught by a brief item New York Herald of Angnst 19, 1901.

It told of a half-mile flight in the fields back of Fairfield Coniu, by Whitehead, his partncr- mw. of the Amazing 7-Mile Flight of No. 22" Over Long Island Sound on Jan 17, 1902. On This Flight, a Plane Was lurnad in the Air for the First Time. Based on Drawing in "Amorican Inventor" of 1902.

ship with a Texan named W. D. Custead. Seeing the date was more than two years before- Kittyhawk, Miss Randolph set herself to run down every shred of astounding results! She found that Whitehead, unsung German-born inventor, had mnde a number of successful flights, with both steam-driven and gasoline-driven planes, starting in that he built as many as 56 different "boats," many of which flew! In 1901. least two Orville Wright, Hero of the Famous 120- Foot Flight at Kittyhawk, -N.

Standing Beside the Memorial That Was Unveiled in 1929 in Honor of That History- Making Achievement. years before the Kittyhawk flight, one of Whitehead's planes, No. 21, an amphibian, mads a seven-and-one-half- mile flight over the waters of Long Island first recorded flight in which a heavier-than-air machine was turned and made to fly in circles. The landing on that occasion was safe; for among Whitehead's inventions was the device of putting wheels on his stunt that wasn't developed by anybody else until some years later! From Whitehead's widow, still living at Bridgeport, and various men who worked and flew with him, including Davarich, Miss Randolph rounded out the amazing story. It will shortly appear in book form, with elaborate proofs, and permission to reveal the "high spots" of her findings was accorded exclusively for purposes of this article.

Here, in part, was the item that first put Miss Randolph on the was published, remember, in 1901: "Bridgeport, the purpose of perfecting a Sying machine that will solve the problem of aerial navigation to the point of commercial success, Gustave Whitehead, of this city, and W. D. Custead of Waco, Texas, have formed a partnership. Both men are inventors. "Mr.

Whitehead last Tuesday night, with two assistants, took Aj's machine to a long field back of Fairfield, and the inventor for the first time Sew in his machine for half a mile. It worked lilt, Vln perfectly, and the operator found no difficulty in handling it. "Mr. Whitehead's machine is equipped with two engines, one to propel it on the ground, on wheels, and the other to make the wings or propellers work. "In order to fly, the machine is speeded to a sufficient momentum on the ground by the, lower engine, and then the engine running the propellers is started, which raises the machine in the air at an angle of about six degrees.

"But the hopes of the inventors for success are pinned to a new pressure- generator which Mr. Whitehead has invented. Miss Randolph's next discovery was a letter written by Whitehead to the editor of the American Inventor, who had politely requested proof that the whole thing wasn't a fantastic fraud. Whitehead not only explained the workings of his machines, but described two flights at Lordship Manor, near Bridgeport, on August 14,1901, another, a circular flight of 7 miles, over Long Island Sound on January 17, 1902. "Dear Sir," the "Replying to your recent letter, I take pleasure in sending you the following description of my Sying machine No.

22, the latest that I have constructed. "This machine was built in four months with of 14 skilled mechanics and cost about 1,700 to build. It is run by 'a 40 horse-power kerosene motor, which is of my own design, especially constructed for strength, power and lightness, weighing but 120 pounds complete. "This new machine has been tried twice, on January 17, 1902. It was intended to fly only short distances, but the machine behavsd so well it covered nearly two miles over the water of Long Island Sound, and settled in the water without mishap either to machine or operator.

"The length of Sight oa the first trial was about two miles and on the second about seven miles. The last trial was a circling Sight, and js I successfully returned to my starting place with a machine hitherto untried and heavier than air, I consider the trip quite a success. To my knowledge it is the first of its kind. This matter has never been published before. In Bridgeport, Miss Randolph traced members of Whitehead's -family, as well as Louis Davarich.

Mrs. Whitehead, widow of the inventor, and four 'children are living today. Davarich signed an affidavit testifying under oath to that first disastrous flight in Pittsburgh. Similar affidavits have been from Anton T. Pruckner, of Bridgeport, who assisted Whitehead in constructing his various machines; from Junius Haworth, of Detroit, who witnessed the Lordship Manor flight, and others.

Whitehead, Miss found, born in Germany." As a child he was already building wings and trying to fly with them. He was an expert at gliding and was determined to fit his glider with a motor. He ran away to sea, landed in America, and worked in the coal-mines near Pittsburgh. There he met Davarich. They were penniless and had to do gruelling work in the mines by day, experimenting by night.

The first step was a search for a boiler that wouldn't burst. They found one after various failures, when the boilers exploded. In the first flight, the fire brigade helped them start the machine. Davarich fed charcoal to the flame, heating the boiler. The clay-walled firebox had a sheet of asbestos at its base and over that a sheet of iron.

The engine had two cylinders with a 4-inch bore and a 10-inch stroke. Davarich recuperated in the, hospital from his scalding. The two men later journeyed on bicycles to Bridgeport, got jobs there, worked harder than ever. Here Whitehead built many more machines. The women" helped by sewing the silk into the wings.

When "No. 21" was ready for flight, the wings were folded back so it could get through the Whiteheads' front gate. And in the middle of Pine Street, not. far from where the Sikorsky plant stands today, it took off. Following his Long Island Sound flight in 1902, Whitehead suffered a hitter disappointment, which harried him, to his dying day.

In his hunger after perfection he quarreled with certain backers and had no money to build a hangar. As a result, "No. 21" had to be left in the backyard all winter; by spring the motor was wrecked, the body useless. His brother, John, came from California to help him. Penniless, both of them, they worked at odd kept on building bat-winged planes! Whitehead finally abandoned airplane building temporarily and turned to his early love, gliding.

He became an He shunned publicity and made no effort to trumpet his accomplishments. As a result, the public paid very little attention to him. Mechanically Interesting Photo of Light-Weight Steam-Engine Devised by Whitehead for One of His 56 Planes. (Copyright, Miss Stella Randolph and Harvey Philipps.) It Was a 2-Cylinder Reciprocating Engine With Slide Worked by Eccentrics on tho Main Shaft. Generations ahead of his time, he be- Jieved that the future of practical, commercial aviation lay in vertical ascent.

Finally, to obtain desperately needed funds, Whitehead and his brother took to building motors for other people. Thev designed a 200 horsepower light cylinder, four-cycle V-shaped motor, and found a backer from New York. Testing the motor in a boat on the Sound, craft capsized and it was lost. Then, says Miss Randolph, Wrights made their flight at Kittyhawk. From all over the world praise and congratulations poured in.

The Wrights were famous, honored; Whitehead still an unknown, obscure mechanic Utterly disheartened, he withdrew into himself. He puttered about with his lifelong a helicopter with a unique device for condensing the air and avoiding "slipping." He died some years later, still unrecognized as the genius, that he was. But for a happy accident, Whitehead's greatness would lie mould- ering in a few crumbling newspaper clippings. It has fallen to Miss Stella Randolph to give him, belatedly, his meed of immortality. i 4.