Few in the audience had ever seen a model flight, and the contest held the great crowd’s attention more closely than had any of the evening’s athletic events, which had come before. There was a breathless moment of suspense when the whistle had sounded for the first flight. A beautiful white monoplane led off, but in the excitement of the moment, it had not been properly adjusted, and failing to get its altitude, spun daintily across the floor. The second model yawed sharply and flew into the crowd at the side.
The third model found itself, however, rose perhaps twenty feet and, settling down to a steady horizontal, darted across the arena. Every eye followed it. A burst of handclapping greeted its graceful rise, which increased in volume, and as it reached the farthest corner of the great armory, more than 200 feet distant, there was a perfectly spontaneous cheer.
The program was so well organized and carried on that the flights followed rapidly without a break. There was scarcely a moment when an aeroplane was not aloft, and the interest never faltered. There were Scores of excellent straight-away flights of 200 feet or more, at various altitudes. Occasionally a model would fly wild, even refuse to rise, but the flights followed one another so continuously that a failure was quickly forgotten in the delight of watching the next flight.
The rapid development of the model aeroplane was shown particularly in the spectacular flights. The thrilling volplanes and daring aerial feats of the famous air pilots were imitated by the model aeroplanes. The models were made to dart about at unexpected angles, and, while keeping clear of the ground, perform many astonishing feats. The prize for these spectacular flights was won by Henry Ragot whose aeroplane actually looped the loop repeatedly, in obedience to skilful adjustment of the planes and weights.
In launching the model for this flight, the model was held well above the ground and launched at a sharp upward angle. It rose with astonishing speed, in a vertical line, fully twenty feet, when it turned and descended with accelerated speed. The crowd naturally expected a bad smash, but with a good clearance of the ground the model suddenly swept around in a narrow semicircle, rose and repeated the performance. It seemed to many spectators that the model was enjoying a miracle of good luck, but they were mistaken. The flight was repeated several times. Indoor aviation was an instantaneous success.