SEATTLE JAP TO TEACH FLYING IN MIKADO'S ARMY

GEORGE TAKASOW, Seattle Japanese aviator, whose struggles and triumphs in the profession of airman would fill a modest-sized volume, will leave tomorrow on the steamship Aki Maru with his 80-horsepower Curtiss headless biplane to tour Japan for ninety days and then return to Tokyo, where he will act as civilian instructor of aviation for the aerial corps of the Japanese army.

Great secrecy has characterized the movements of Takasow for the last two weeks and it was not until he went this morning to the office of the Japanese consulate to arrange for his trip that it became known definitely that he is to fly in Japan. Even then the officials declined to admit that orders covering Takasow's employment have been received, but it is a known fact that he is traveling on government transportation and that his machine is being carried under government frank on the Aki Maru, under the terms of the Japanese subsidy.

Takasow's career in Seattle is but another evidence of Japanese tenacity of purpose. He came to this city more than ten years ago, and like many of his fellows, accepted menial work while gaining a foothold. The unwritten law of progression obtaining among the Japanese carried him through the various stages of advancement in position as rapidly as the mastered American customs, until he was enabled to save a little money.

In 1909, Takasow became enamored of the great bird-like things of wood, fabric and steel wire that sailed so confidently about through the air and he braved the derision of his countrymen by announcing that he some day would be an airman.

Works to Prove Theory.

With true Japanese capability he set to work to study the theory of aeronautics. No aviator came to Seattle during this period and escaped without answering hundreds of questions propounded by Takasow. The latter made drawings galore of plane construction and to prove his theories worked gratis, day and night, about the aviation camps to familiarize himself with aeroplane requirements.

Then came the proud day when his first machine was complete. But, alas, it would not fly. The camber, or curve of the wing surface, was not great enough and the game student made kindling of the wings and rebuilt them. Then came accidents in plenty. Bad landings shook his machine to pieces and snapped off struts as though they were matches. Once, fire from the exhaust ports of the engine burned one wing of the machine. But he persevered and in the end found what others had learned -- that the recognized builders are the reliable ones after all.

So Takasow purchased a headless Curtis biplane with an 89-horsepower motor and began "aviating" in first-class style. During the Potlatch, 1913, he made daily flights under the auspices of the Japanese Association of America, as the Orientals' donation to the success of the occasion. Since that time he has been flying regularly and has attained probably a greater degree of efficiency than any other Japanese airman.

Friends in Seattle declare that he is "stalling" when he declares he is going to give a series of exhibition flights through Japan, asserting that this is merely an explanation to cover his real mission. No government is more jealous of its state secrets than Japan and Takasow would be the last in the world to reveal them.

However, it is certain that he has arranged his affairs in Seattle that he can be absent for at least two years, if necessary, as a lease on some property on Maynard Avenue given yesterday will indicate.

Takasow is today fully competent to vie with the best of the American aviators -- with the exception of such fancy flying as Beachy and Christofferson accomplish -- and is credited with a recklessness sufficient to qualify him for army work.