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? MAWKKIt WAITED SIX WEEKS TO START. :Sopwitli Pilot Repeatedly Post|K?ned | 'Hop Off iiecaiise of Unfavorable Weather. Harry G. Hawker, the Australian1 'who is the pilot of the Sopwith air-j plane which started in an effort to 1 cross the Atlantic to Ireland and win U The Daily Mail's $50,000 prize, has: ' been for several years one of the best known 'aviators in England. His nia-' chine was one of the most successful *- ? "* k,- Rrit ! 0f tiie fighting type uscu v.^ , ish in the war. and was said to be equipped with several secret devices and to represent the last word in Sop with construction. It was a two seat-j ed machine, the motive power being J a twelve cylinder Rolls Rovce Eagle engine of 375 horse power. Before he left England in the early f part of last March Hawker stated I that he estimated the flight would re-J quire about nineteen and one half liours, and that he was confident that1 with an even break he would be sue-1 cessful, as the machine, he added, had been built to make a continuous flight of twenty five hours at a speed of 100 miles an hour, which is about twenty-six miles faster than the offi-1 i cially announced maximum speed of \ the American seaplanes of the XC; type. Before leaving England Haw-1 ker said that he had made 900 miles in nine hours and five minutes in the1 1 ? ,/>f* Vou-fnnnd. I machine in wnicn ne icn , land. Hawker and Grieve arrived in j Newfoundland on March 2S. Their machines, one a reserve air j plane, were assembled in a little more ; than a week and on April 10, six weeks ago. the Sopwith transatlantic j, entry made its first flight soaring, over the city of St. John's. It remained in the air about thirty minutes, < flying in an altitude of about 4.000 ] feet and at an estimated speed of 100 ] miles -an hour. On that trail only 25 j per cent, of the 350 gallons fuel capa eity of the petrol tanks was carried, i . and after the flight it was announced:] that the start for Ireland would be j' made as soon as weather conditions i| renorted favorable. j On April 11 the Martynside ma-;i <dmie in which Captain E. P. Rayn-(' ham and Major C. W. H. Morgan ex-, pected to attempt the transatlantic < ^ I Touring Car $925 iK The Dort is a cat good will throug performance. i n It is a very easy-ri not bump you an roads as many ligl It hangs closely to when traveling at |( AI1U IIS d.'ClClgC Ai gk of gas, quart of oi p" is distinctly high. Prices F. O. Wire Wheels and J0 HAYES BROS., Distributors f flight arrived at St. John's and with their arrival Hawker and Grieve spurred their preparations and announced that they would leave St. John's the moment and sort of favorable weather news was received. Major Arthur Partridge, the official starter of the Royal Aero Club at St. John's recorded the number of the engine in the Sopwith machine on April 12 and at the same time placed the seal of the club on one of the struts of the plane. The Newfoundland Postmaster General, expecting that the tiight would start on April 12, gave a mail pouch to Hawker containing letters from the Governor General to King George and other prominent persons in England. No other persons took advantage of the Sopwith Company's offer t0 carry letters at the rate of $500 per ounce. But the Sopwith did not take the air as scheduled, and the start has been postponed from day to day. Hawker Says Machine Can Float. Asked what were the chances of floating if he were to drop in midocean, Hawker said: "If we land a few miles from home we can float for a week, for the petrol tanks will be empty and they are specially designed, after much study, to be strong enough to float the machine. Otherwise she will float but a little while We could pump the fuel out of her. "I regard the flight as a perfectly straightaway job, and I expect to get there. I anticipate no trouble. We ought to land at Brooklands twenty or thirty one hours aft,er we start. We reckon it at just under 2,300 miles, we have cruising speed of 100 miles an hour until we slip the under carriage. Then we will have about 106. "I do not look for any trouble because of physicial strain. I felt absolutely none after more than nine hours flight and am confident I will feel none from twenty or more." Hawker and Grieve dropped the entire undercarriage of their machine into the sea in order to conserve weight, make it impossible for them to rise if they dropped into the sea ind also making it impossible to reach either land or water, except by 'crashing." *' Lieut. Commander Grieve, whose experience as an aerial navigator was loes GearThrough that earns your h its own good i )\ * I [ding car. It does d jar you on bad it cars do. the road bed even high speed. lileage per gallon I, and set of tires k" B. Factory Spare Tires Extra > Lake View, S. C. or Dillon County gained during three years on a sea-J plane carried on the old Cunard liner Carmania attached to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, explained that the exact conditions of the flight would depend upon the weather reports at the very moment of starting and upon the actual conditions encountered during the journey. *Foz navigation,'' he said, *1 will have a servant and a compass to serve us. The sextant is not very accurate, especially when we have not a eood horizon, but we hope to J make out with it. It will be a big i help if any ships we pass give up their position from which we can cal- j culate ours, which will be nearly the: same. They can communicate by: wireless, as I carry a receiving set. There will be no difficulty in seeing ships from our flying altitude unless there are clouds underneath us. Harry Gt Hawker the pilot of the; Sopwith machine, came to England from Australia several years ago and I as mechanic entered the employ of( the Sopwith company. On Oct., 24, j 1912, flying a Sopwith biplane, design | ed after the pattern of the American Wright biplane, Sopwith established; the then British record of 8 hours 1 and 23 minutes for a duration flight) and won the British Michelin trophy for that year. A year later, flying j a Sopwith equipped with a Gnome motor, he established the then British, altitude record of 12,900 feet. On the, same day he carried aloft two passen-| gers to a height of 16,600 feet. In 1913 and in 1914 Hawker made' two attempts in a Sopwith to win The: Daily Mail prize of $25,000 for a flight around Great Britain. The first, time he had to descend near Yar-I mouth because of illness, and in 1914 | he met with an accident when near; Dublin. During the war he was ex- \ perimental flier assisting in the development of the Sopwith machines. The six entries which have been announced for The Daily Mail's $50,000 prize are: Machine and Pilot H P Speed Sopwith, H. G. Hawker 350 1.00 Martinside, F. Raynhani 385 100 Fairey, S. Pickles 375 130 Short, J. C. P. Wood 350 95 Whitehead, A. Payne __ 1,600 115 Seaplane, H Sunstedt 440 Major Wood is to attempt the flight from Ireland to Newfoundland. He started for Ireland some, weeks ago, but met with mishap and had to come down before reaching his starting point. A Handley Page bombing machine is also at St. John's being assembled for the transatlantic flight, while a British Government machine, the rone, is saia 10 De enroitie. xnis is a seaplane and will fly under the auspices of the British Admiralty. o AIRMAN LEAPS TO HIS DEATH. Cleveland, May 26?Hundreds of persons saw Frank McCusker of New York, pilot of a small airplane, leap 200 feet to his death from a burning machine today. Fifteen minutes before the leap he had announced that he would attempt to establish a record on his flight to Chicago. The cause of the accident is not known. Witnesses saw puffs of black smoke come from the rear of the machine, which was -at a height of between 300 and 400 feet. McCusker was seen to climb from his seat to the frame; then the airplane pluned and the pilot jumped. The empty machine flew forward 200 yards before it plunged to the ground. McCusker was formerly in the Britup. He died in a police patrol while being taken to a hospital. His skull was fractured and his neck broken. McCurker was formerly^in the British naval flying corps, instructor for the De Haviland airplanes at Elizabeth, N. J., and instructor at the Uni ted States aviation field in Texas. He is said to be the first fatality since the inauguration of the government aii-plane mail service. Superintendent J. W. Jordan of the Chicago-Cleveland air mail service, arranged for the care of the body and then started Pilot Lester Bishop to Chicago with the mail, which escaped the, flames. McCusker was twenty-three years old, the youngest aviator in the Chicago - Cleveland service. o M \ L. A. WOODRUFF, G. OPt. Eye Silght Specialist Oiffce New Jewelry Store No. 10, Main St. MULL1KS, S. C. BUILD YOUI ^ wmi I Your cost of fuel will be 75 f. surance fully 50 per less. Pa eral repairs 100 per cent less. these savings accummulated would be equal to an old age real economy. 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