Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1911 — U. S. Lags at Flying Game [ARTICLE]

U. S. Lags at Flying Game

Clifford Harmon Thinks French Machines Are Better Than Those Manufactured Here. New York. —Clifford Harmon, amateur aviator, who Is just back from a trip to Europe, thinks America Is being outstripped in the flying game. “They are too fast for us over there." he says. “They are flying every day and have big machines. We have nothing here that can compete with the French machines. I don’t know what the future will 'bring forth.” With regard to his own plans, he says he is going to make experiments with water planes. ”1 have a big Farman biplane.” said he, “and tq that I shall add a hydroplane attachment and also a catamaran to enable me to rise from water or- land and also fly over land or water with perfect safety. Grahame-White constructed some of the parts of the water plane, and I have also brought over some French mechanics to construct parts. lam going to carry out

my experiments at Greenwich, Conn., and hope to be ready for the tests in July or August" Mr. Harmon was on the aviation field .at Issy-les-Molineaux, near Paris, when the French war minister, Berteaux, was killed. “I sat near the starting place,” he said, "and saw Train circle the field. The power stopped when he was over a group of mounted officers, numbering about 100, and he thought the space in the rear was clear. In malting the sweep the blades mowed down Premier Monls and the war minister and bis party."