GORTON '20 PILOTS WINNING PLANE

Lieutenant A. W. Gorton '20, on October 8 won the Curtiss Marine Flying Trophy by pilotting a Navy TR-1 biplane to victory in a thrilling airplane race at Belle Isle, Michigan. Ten planes were entered in the race, nine answered the starter's summons, and only two were able to complete the eight 20-mile laps above Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. Gorton's average speed, including the water controls, was 112.65 miles an hour. His average speed for the second, third, and fourth laps, the fastest of the race because they included no water controls nor ascents from the water, was 117.8 miles an hour. Lieutenant H. L. Sanderson, of the Marine Corps, pilotting a faster plane, achieved an average of 125 miles an hour but was forced down within a mile of the finish of the last lap, by his fuel tank having run dry. Gorton's plane was designed and built last summer by naval engineers for launching from battleships and airplane carriers to fight off aerial attacks at sea. The engine was a newly designed 220 h.p. Lawrence J-l radial air-cooled- motor. It is said that no airplane race of major importance has ever before been won by a plane equipped with a radial motor or an air-cooled motor.. This race was the first race of navy sea-planes ever held in this country.