News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

January 2, 1910

BUILDING LARGER,

LIGHTER BIPLANE.

KANSAS CITY INVENTOR'S MA-

CHINE TO CORRECT DEMON-

STRATED FAULTS OF OTHERS.

J. A. McCallum Expects to

Be Ready for Trial Flight

Within Two Months.

THE M'CALLUM STYLE OF AIRSHIP.

A flying machine that has a greater spread of wings, coupled with less weight than any other now in use has been constructed by J. A. McCallum, president of the Midland Electric Company, Gibraltar building. The machine has a thirty-two foot span, a five foot four-inch cord, or breadth, and tips the beam at precisely 550 pounds.

The big skeleton, for it has not yet been covered with the cloth, occupied the better part of a hall on the third floor. In appearance it is very much like the Curtiss plane now on exhibition at Overland park.

For as long as he can remember Mr. McCallum has been interested in the navigation of the air. When he was a little boy, which was not so many years ago -- he is now 31 -- he made many models of flying machines, some of them of the Darius Green kind, and calculated to break the neck of the adventurous aviator who tried them out.

CORRECTS WEAK POINTS.

The idea on which the present machine is built came to him after careful study of the Wright and Curtiss planes, six months ago. It seemed from the drafts of the successful flyers that there were many weak points in their construction, and McCallum set about improving them.

In the first place, he believed that the life of the army officer who was killed while testing a Wright would have been saved had the heavy motor been in front of the operator instead of just behind him. He reasoned that all the accidents so far had been with the machine hitting the ground head on and the engine piling on top of the person in the seat. Suppose, he said, that the engine was in front; why, then the operator could reach down and make his temporary repairs in case it stopped working. Sometimes the engine stops with nothing more the matter with it than a detached sparker, a defect that can be remedied by a turn of the wrist, and before the power is really shut down.

WILL WEIGH 550 POUNDS.

Another shortcoming he found in the foreign machines was the position of the weight of the man, the running gear and the engine above the center of gravity.

Place the operator, passengers, running gear and all beneath the wide spreading wings and in case of a catastrophe in the air the big bird would soar rather than tumble end over end to the ground.

"I will have my machine ready for a trial flight in a couple of months," Mr. McCallum said yesterday. "The engine is on the way here from London and the cloth covering, also an invention of my own, is ready. Perhaps I shall borrow a motor for a few days and make a flight in Overland park early in February.

"This bi-plane of mine is different from all others from the fact that it is intended to carry passengers. If it is a success, you can imagine how many passengers it will support. When I tell you that the Voisin plane of France weighs 1,312 pounds and carried three passengers while this one weighs, without sacrificing strength, only 550 pounds, and has a much greater spread."

LIKE AUTOS IN FIVE YEARS.

Mr. McCallum says that in five years flying machines will be as plentiful as automobiles in Kansas City. He believes a central spot in the downtown district will be reserved for a large shed to cover the machines of business men flying to and from their offices.

"A machine to thus become popular needs to be practical in the extreme," he went on. "It is needless to say that a flying machine which has to run at a rate of forty miles an hour in order to take wings is not practical. With my huge wings and light weight I am able to leave the ground at a speed of fifteen miles an hour, but, of course, this is entirely theoretical. No one can tell what a flying machine will do until after the trip. There is that inevitable chance that it won't work at all."

MAY NOT FLY ALONE.

"Will you make the first flight yourself and alone?" was asked.

J. A. McCALLUM.

"I may, but that is not necessary," was the reply. "Before making the maiden flight an expert aviator will examine the craft to see if it is airworthy, and if he declares it is, he will probably be as eager as myself to be in it at the start.

"The trouble with getting someone else to operate the machine is that it is so different from all the others in its leading principles. For instance, the manner in which balance is preserved by Curtiss and the Wrights is by several levers which tilt the wings. In my flyer we will accomplish the same result by merely shifting the weight of the engine, passengers and running gear, and there will be one lever to do everything."

Mr. McCallum has worked at the biplane constantly since he decided to build one six months ago. He has had several helpers at times, but usually he has worked alone. The finer plans, he says, have been worked out at night in the library of his home near Northern boulevard station on the Independence street car line.

Labels: airships, Independence, Overland Park

December 29, 1909

AEROPLANE BOWLS

OVER A CONSTABLE.

OFFICER GETS IN TRACK OF CUR-

TISS AIRSHIP AND PREVENTS

ITS DESTRUCTION.

Grabs Machine and Holds On,

Though Dragged for

Thirty Feet.

The several hundred people who attended the airship exhibition at Overland park yesterday afternoon and were treated to some genuine thrillers, and although Aviator Charles K. Hamilton succeeded in making only two flights in his Curtiss aeroplane, no one could complain because there was not enough excitement.

In his first attempt to fly Hamilton gave a pretty demonstration of the feasibility of the machine for aerial navigation until he tried to land in front of the grandstand. Just as the supporting wheels reached the ground a strong gust of wind caught the planes and despite the fact that the aviator had all the brakes on the machine fairly skidded across the field at a rate of about twenty miles an hour.

SAVES MACHINE; IS HURT.

It seemed inevitable that the aeroplane would crash into the grandstand and accomplish its own complete destruction, but Homer Breyfogle, constable of Johnson county, Kas., was standing near by and before he could get out of the way, the machine struck him and knocked him about fifteen feet. Officer George A. Lyons, a member of the motorcycle squad of the Kansas City police force, rushed to the rescue, but when he grabbed the swiftly moving machine he was hurled into the air and dragged to the ground. However, he "stayed with the ship" and was dragged fully twenty feet before the machine came to a standstill.

With the exception of a few bruises about the limbs, Officer Lyons was uninjured, but Constable Breyfogle sustained a painful cut on his neck and severe bruises on the face. Aviator Hamilton wrenched his foot in an effort to stop the airship.

HARD LUCK AGAIN.

The plane with which Breyfogle collided was so badly damaged that it required an hour to repair it, but at about 5 o'clock Hamilton was again soaring down the field majestically, and for a few seconds it appeared that he was at last to make a record-breaking trip, but after he had t raveled over a mile and was trying to turn for the homeward stretch, the engine suddenly stopped and the machine landed in a snowbank.

"I simply can't conquer that wind," said Hamilton after his last flight. "One can't imagine how strong this wind is until you get a few feet in the air and then it seems to be twice as fierce. It was all I could do just to keep the machine from capsizing just now, because the wind twisted me in every shape in a cyclone fashion. Dangerous business on a day like this, but I always hate to disappoint the crowds, and if there is any flying to be done, I'll do it no matter what kind of weather prevails.

"Aren't there too many trees and hay stacks around here to make aerial travel very safe?" asked a spectator.

HIGH WINDS HIS ENEMY.

"Yes, there isn't hardly enough room on this field, but if the wind would only go down for one day, I'd make some surprising flights. We may get some ideal weather yet. How's that? No, I don't imagine the North Pole district affords any desirable aviation fields. Anyway, we're not going to attempt any emulation of the Dr. Cook stunt. I am heading for sunny California, where I expect to carry off some prizes in the contests to be pulled off next month."

Hamilton will make the usual flights this afternoon at the park, and he promises to avoid any further attempted "assassinations" of police officers.

Labels: aeroplanes, airships, California, daredevils, Overland Park, police, visitors

October 23, 1909

BOY-HUSBAND OF 19

CRUSHED BY A CAR.

Clyde Bailey, Married But Two

Months, Is Instantly Killed at

Eighteenth and Indiana.

Clyde Bailey, a carpenter, and a bridegroom of two months, who lived with his father-in-law, Andrew Curtis, 2811 Bales avenue, was killed by a southbound Indiana car between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets at 6:18 o'clock last evening.

Young Bailey, who was only 19 years old, had been working all day with his father and brother on a building at Overland park, and at 5:30 in the evening left them at Thirty-ninth and State line with the words: "Well I'll see you in the morning, kid." He changed cars at that point and eventually transferred to the Indiana avenue car which would take him to his home and supper.

Charles L. Bowman, proprietor of a night lunch wagon at Eighteenth and Indiana, who was a passenger on the car with Bailey, said they got off at Eighteenth. Bailey walked south on Indiana to the center of the block, said Bowman, and seeing a northbound car coming, crossed the west track and tried to catch the car on the inside. He was thrown back on the west track in the path from the southbound car from which he had just stepped and which by that time was going very rapidly. the top of Bailey's head struck the inside rail of the west track and was crushed by the wheels, the motorman being unable to stop the car until it had entirely passed over the body.

Fifteen minutes after the accident Deputy Coroner Harry Czarlinsky had the body removed to the Carrol-Davidson undertaking rooms, where it was identified by a book of Overland Park line tickets which he had purchased yesterday morning. His father, Nathan H. Bailey, 4435 Madison street, was notified, and his son, Cal W. Bailey, a brother of Clyde, was the first to arrive at the undertaking rooms.

The streetcar conductor, Jerome Moore, 835 Ann avenue, Kansas City, Kas., and the motorman, William Erickson of 1049 Ann avenue, were arrested by Officer Fields and taken to police headquarters where Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Woodson released them on their personal recognizance for their appearance this morning.

It was at first thought Bailey was Roland Allshire, son of Roy B. Allshire, a contractor living at 2421 Indiana avenue, as Bailey had one of Allshire's cards in his pocket. A verdant young man immediately repaired to the Allshire home, where he threw the family into hysterics with the news. They telephoned to the Loose-Wiles factory, where young Allshire works nights, and he soon appeared on the scene to contradict the story.

Labels: accident, Bales avenue, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Eighteenth street, Indiana avenue, Kansas City Kas, Overland Park, streetcar, telephone, undertakers

September 18, 1908

FORTY-ONE CARS WILL

RACE TO OKLAHOMA.

START WILL BE MADE EARLY

TOMORROW MORNING.

Eight Days Will Be Consumed in

Making the Return Trip.

Rules Governing the Start.

The forty-one entries in the automobile touring contest were assigned places last night at a meeting of the Automobile Club at the Coates house. The first car to start on the tour will be the pilot car carrying W. G Coumbe and H. G. Blakely, officials in charge of the tour. The car, which will be a six-cylinder Stevens-Duryea, will leave the north end of the lake in Penn Valley park shortly before 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. The other cars will follow each other at intervals of two minutes, the first entrant leaving Penn Valley park at 7 o'clock.

It was given out at the meeting last night that every entrant must make out a report of the condition of his car at the start. The club will furnish two blank reports to each entrant. It is presumed that all cars will be in good condition when starting, but if there be some defect the report must be made before the start in order for the entrant to be able to avoid the starting defect as a penalty in the course. The second blank must be filled out and carried on the tour until taken up by the committee in the official car.

The tour will be to Oklahoma City, Ok., and will extend over a period of eight days. Many of the entrance have announced their desire to take friends and members of their family with them. Each entrant must make out a list of all who will ride in his car and leave one copy of the list with the officials at the start and give the other copy to the committee en route.

The following is the official list of the entrants:

1. Official car.....Stevens-Duryea
2. J. F. Moriarty.....Stevens-Duryea
3. D. B. Munger.....Peerless
4. H. E. Rooklidge.....White Steamer
5. Winfield Demon.....White Steamer
6. A. C. Wurmser.....National
7. C. A. Muehlebach.....Pope-Hartford
8. P. C. Rickey.....Stevens-Duryea
9. W. L. Walls.....Studebaker
10. H. G. Kirkland.....Overland
11. Frank E. Lott.....Premier
12. E. H. Jones.....Maxwell
13. Fletcher Cowherd, Jr. .....Corbin
14. C. J. Simons.....Maxwell
15. E. P. Moriarty.....Chalmers-Detroit
16. R. C. Greenlease.....Cadillac
17. W. S. Hathaway.....Maxwell
18. H. E. Rooklidge.....Reo
19. H. E. Rooklidge.....Premier
20. E. P. Moriarty.....Chalmers-Detroit
21. T. C. Brown.....Peerless
22. Charles B. Merrill.....Moon
23. J. F. Moriarty.....Chalmers-Detroit
24. Frank Woodward.....Knox
25. E. P. Moriarty.....Chalmers-Detroit
26. Frank Woodward.....Knox
27. W. S. Hathaway.....Maxwell
28. H. F. Wirth.....Buick
29. E. P. Moriarty.....Chalmers-Detroit
30. H. G. Kirkland.....Brush
31. J. E. Anderson.....Rambler
32. George Hawes.....Stoddard-Dayton
33. H. F. Gleason.....Gleason
34. A. O. Hunsacker.....Acme
35. Charles Norris.....Ford
36. C. A. Boyd.....Ford
37. L. A. Robertson.....Franklin
38. C. F. Ettwein.....The K. C. Wonder
39. Frank Woodward.....Knox
40. G. W. Graham.....Stoddard-Dayton
41. T. B. Funk....Ford

The rules governing the course of the tour will be furnished each entrant at the start.

Labels: automobiles, oklahoma, Overland Park, races