THREE AIRMEN KILLED

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1194, 1 August 1911, Page 6

THREE AIRMEN KILLED

DISASTROUS START OP A GREAT RACE, SPECTATORS OUT OF HAND. WOMEN AKD CHILDREN HURT IN STAMPEDE. Tho "Daily News" of Juno 19 states :— Tho start yesterday morning of, tlic great air raw, known as tlio Circuit of Europe, was attended with disaster. So far three airmen have lost their 'lives, lieinartin, one of the Bleriot pilots, 1011, from a heiyht of about 200 lout. Tho machine fell upon, him and crushed his head to a pulp. Tho uiachiuo of Lieut. Princotoau look fire in. the air. When the body was extricated from tho ruins of his aeroplane nothing remained, of tho unfortunate aviator but scorched fragments of ilesh. Near Chateau-Thierry, Londrou, another competitor, was killed, ilis petrol caught fire, and ho was burned to death. Several other airmen havo had more or less serious accidents. Collisions between' tne populace and the troops occurred on tho aviation field at Vinconnes. Some 150 women and children received minor injuries. At Buda Pesth a novice crashed into a group of spectators, and a girl was decapitated. . . Several records wero achieved m tho race—a. record in tho number of spectators (estimated at half a million), a record in the nuinijcr of picked airmen taking part, and a record in the number of deaths and accidents. Half a million people witnessed the start. All round the courso tho spectators wero pressed together in solid masses. Several times they broke through the barriers and invaded the enclosures and even the sheds. Even the tees were loaded with men an< bays. Many, too, had taken their stand on the roofs and terrace of tho old castellated fortress of Vinceunes on the north side of the aerodrome. In ono of tho rushes by the crowd many people wero thrown down and trampled on. Scores had to be attended to by tho ambulance staff. "I watched the ill-fated Lemartm ascend under a grey sky (writes tho correspondent of tho "Daily News"). From the manner in which the aeroplane pitched and rolled at the start I could see at once that a catastrophe was impending. When ho reached the far end of the aerodrome he endeavoured to turn tho machine eastwards, but something liad gone wrong. For a second tho aeroplane swayed from side , to sido, and then swooped to the earth. At the moment tho aeroplane was 200 feet above some elm trees before the grandstand on the neighbouring racecourse. Before it reached the ground Lemartin was seen to make a jump, but he could not escape tho fallin? mass, which crashed upon him as ho lay on-the ground. His head was terribly battered, but death was not instantaneous. Injections of ether and cocaino wero administered, but ho was past human aid. He lingered for two or three hours, and died without recovering consciousness. Lemartin was only 26 years of age. A year ago he was appointed head of the Bleriot School. He held the record for pass?nger carrying, having taken up no fewer than ten people in a flight over tho Pau aerodrome.

Machine in Flames. "Permission had been given to a dozen airmen to follow the race. One of them, Lieutenant Princetean, rose into tho air on his Bleriot monoplane at Issy-les-Mou-lineaus, intending to follow in the track of the racers. Suddenly the petrol leaking from his carburetter caught fire. The aviator was then some ninety feet in Ine air, and before ho could reach tho ground the whole machine was in flame?. \\ hen they went to pick him up from under the smoking ruins of his aeroplane, nothing was left of him but some unrecognisable fragments of chnrved flesh and clothing. "Every precaution had been taken to prevent'a repetition of the awful disasters of a few weeks ago. Instead of tho narrow compass of the flying field at Issy. tho great manoeuvring ground of the historic little town, ot Vincemica had been chosen, and htrge bodies of polico and troops wsrb requisitioned to keep the crowds within safe limits. Therowas apparently a sort of fatality which defied all human calculations. From three o'clock on the morning tho roads to Vincennes were black with people. The majority came from the papulous suburbs of SI. Denis, Pantin, and Aubervillicrs, and thero was a somewhat turbulent clement composed of artisans and factory girls, who gave no little trouble to the polico. Time after time they broke through tho barriers, and, although pressed back, returned to the attack threatening to storm tho enclosure. -' "At the moment of the start thero was a wild stampede. The barricades were swept aside, and for the time being tho troops were helpless.- Altogether some 150 women and children were hurt, though none of them suffered more than bruises or shock. "From the beginning of the race it was evident that tho conditions were far from favourable. The sky was overcast, and rain threatened all through the morning. The wind was meliorate, but the gusts blew in a direction unfavourable to tho competitors, catching them in tho rear of their machines, and neutralising (heir lifting power. Almost every starter experienced trouble in rising from tho ground, and it was not without a feelir.f of relief that the spectators saw them after prolonged flutterings shoot away eastwards in the- direction' of Bheims. "Morrison and Valentine, the two English competitors, were given a splendid send-off. They were loudiy cheered by tho crowd to whom they waved their hands as they were racing through the air at a height of 1000 feet. Mornsou came to grief near Gagny in the Seine-ct-Oise> and smashed his machine. Ho escaped without injury. Several of tho other competitors met with accidents.

Badly Hurt. "Lieutenant Gaubert was very badly hurt by a foil near Soissons. He sustained serious injuries to the head, and it is feared ho may lose the sight of one eye. According to one message both his legs are broken. - "\lto»cther 3S aeroplanes passed the starting point. Of these, about 20 covered the 'first stage of the circuit from \ incoimes to Rheims, and eight reached Lie"e. Vidart, on a Deperdu.ssin, was the first to arrive, having done the journey in under-3} hours. Vedrines was close by, while Weymnnn also accomplished the journey iii le?s than four hours Beaumont, the winner of the Paris-Home race, was fourth in a little over four hours, and then came Duval, Barra, and "Tho last-named got into trouble at the stnrt over a very imprudent action. Ho experienced considerable difficulty in rising satisfactorily, and mado several falso starts. After one of these he returned to the starting point and crossed tho line in the opposite direction to that taken bythe other competitors. This was a direct breach of regulations, ami the Commissioner at onco fined him .£2O. M. Lepinc, .who had all his work cut out to handle the crowd, declared that if there was a repetition of this incident ho would not allow tho departures to continue The warning was sufficient. As a matter of fact, Garros's imprudence very nearly caused a nasty accident, for •it 'one moment ho was bending straight for the crowd. The sandy soil of the manoeuvre ground served as a check on the impetus of the machine, which stopped just in lime."