NEW ALTITUDE RECORD

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 16

NEW ALTITUDE RECORD

SADI LECOINTE'S FEAT.

Sadi Lcc'ointe, lioHcr of. the' world's altitude record since sth September, improved on his previous best performance by flying from Issyies.-Mpulineaiix Aerodrome to a height' o£ 36,700 feot at the end of October, thus beating his own record by over 1300 feet. Lecointe was about to leave'for the French West Indies on a propaganda mission for the Ministry of the Colonies and the UnderSecretariat for Aviation. He announced when he accepted this duty that he intended, before he left. France, to make certain, as far as possible, that no one should wrest his record from him during his absence. Macready, the American aviator, who held the altitude record until September, was known to have the intention of trying to regain it, but Lecointe was now quite satisfied that this would not be an easy matter. The' figures given for Lecohjte's latest performance must be taken as approximate, as they had to be confirmed by the Arts et Metiers Laboratory, y/herc his instruments were being tested. There were two height recording instruments in Lecomtes machine, and as there was a differenco of about 600 feet in the heights they registered the mean figure was taken, fpr the present, as representing Leeoiiite's achievement. He had been in the ..air <for "two hours-and. live minutes when- he alighted at Villacoublav and confessed tlmfche- was sufferinfffrom strain and exposure. Describing his s.ensationsduring his altitude'flights, ho said that any flight above 30,000 feet exhausted him. At -such a height he Mt as though his head had doubled in sire and weight, and it, invariably took him about twenty-four hours to recover from . the experience.' • \ ■ •••