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Lake Christopher’s the Flight Deck for 1914 Ice Sled

January 16, 2012 - Woodstock-Mother Nature has not been kind to winter-sport recreationists of late.

But for Phil Smith of Bryant Pond, the conditions have been perfect to try out his 1914 Aero-Sled, a gasoline-powered ice sled.

A century-old newspaper advertisement for the sled led with the headline above the photo here, and bragged “Racing down the wind like a bird a-wing, cheeks glowing, nostrils dilating, every nerve tense with the thrill of this newest, most exhiliarating outdoor sport – Aero-Sledding.”

Smith has owned his two-person sled since 1979, when he spotted it in a stable in Ardmore, Pa.

He was working with a crew there to move the belongings of a 92-year-old woman.

“I got it from her for the $22.50 in my pocket, working for free to clean out the stable, and a promise I would ride in it,” said Smith.

The sled had belonged to the woman’s grandfather, who operated it on Lake Placid, N.Y. She told Smith she had a ride in it during World War I.

She also told the story that the sled was so fast that it beat out a Sopwith-Camel mail plane over the lake, according to Smith.

The pilot then asked to use the sled to deliver mail under weather conditions unsuitable for the plane, she said.

The wooden propeller that drove the sled, said Smith, was made by the same company that built the airplane propeller for Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.

But Smith didn’t get around to making the sled operable right away. Over the years he moved it from storage place to storage place. It sat on a friend’s woodpile in pieces for a time, then at the Lewiston-Auburn airport, while workers there vowed to fix it. That didn’t happen, and eventually the sled disappeared for about nine months. Smith was able to track it down.

Finally, with the 100th anniversary of the sled approaching and his friends encouraging him, Smith decided it was time. With the help of a mechanic who got the magneto generator to operate dependably, Smith was able to get the five-horsepower, two-stroke engine running.

On Jan. 2 Smith and friend John Clukey took the Aero-Sled out onto the glare ice of Lake Christopher for a test run.

The sled moved, said Clukey.

“I was scared, and I don’t scare easily,” he said.

Smith said the sled was traveling more than 60 miles an hour.

There is no throttle. The speed is controlled by adjusting the timing and the fuel mixture, said Smith. A steering wheel guides the front blade, and the sled brakes (sort of) by digging two metal rods into the ice.

Smith took the sled back out on Lake Christopher Tuesday. The speeds were much slower, however, because an inch of snow had fallen and adhered to the ice.

He plans to continue work on the sled, sharpening the blades and otherwise tuning it up. If glare ice conditions return, he’ll head out for another try at higher speeds.

How fast does he think it can it go?

“It’ll go until you chicken out,” he said.

Alison Aloisio, Bethel Citizen, January 2012


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