Biplanes in Mexico (was ATDTDA (33) - p. 927-30 - railroads)

[kelber at mindspring.com]

great find!

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com>
>Sent: May 22, 2008 2:27 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Biplanes in Mexico (was ATDTDA (33) - p. 927-30 - railroads)
>
>
>Laura (kelber at mindspring.com) wrote:
>>
>> "The harsh hum filled the valley."
>>
>> A biplane turns up. "Though this was the first time it had come up this
>> way, the Tarahumares appeared to know what it was."
>
>Just stumbled across this!!!! 
>
>"Although, at the beginning of the year 1911, there was practically no aviation in Mexico, the development was so fast that by 1913 the airplane had demonstrated its usefulness in was and had even been used to bomb naval vessels. To those who would see, the events taking place in and over Mexico clearly foreshadowed the future importance of this weapon [...] in February, 1911, Charles K. Hamilton [of the John Moisant flying circus!] [...] took off from El Paso and flew to Ciudad Juarez, circling twice above the latter city. It was then held by the forces of the Mexican General Navarro. The soldiers, Hamilton reported, showed great fright when he appeared in the skies, running frantically for shelter. Then Roland Garros [...] flew his monoplane over the same route, but at an altitude greater than Hamiton’s 900 feet. The following day Rene Simon flew [also in a monoplane?] directly over the camp of the insurrectionist General Orozco. These were the first scouting flights of an!
>  airplane under actual war conditions.” (Freudenthal 1945, _How Aviation “Firsts” Took Place in Mexico_, from JSTOR)
>
>Is the biplane on ATD p. 927 Hamilton’s flight? 
>
>The event feels right: the first wartime use of a plane for scouting (not long before aerial WWI combat).
>
>Are the time (Feb. 1911) and location (Ciudad Juarez at 900 feet over General Navarro's troops) correct -- or even close? (My sense of the text-time and -geography are too poor here...)
>
>See http://www.earlyaviators.com/ehamilch.htm for more on Hamilton, including pictures of his planes (Garrow and Simon are also have pages on this site).
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