Evening Star Newspaper, March 3, 1929, Page 41

PANTHER OF SKIES NEW BATTLE UNIT Army Air Corps Bomber Be- ing Put Through Its Paces at Wright Field. BY WILLIAM E. BERCHTOLD, Associated Press Aviation Editor. DAYTON, Ohio (#).—The “Panther of the skies,” a new Army Air Corps bomber, is being pup through its paces :t} t‘.’nght Field to determine its capa- ilitis, The big plane, the first of 35 ordered by the Army, is designed to carry heavier loads of bombs at higher speeds than any bombing planes now In use by _the Army. Twenty-two hundrad pounds of bombs, a sufficient quantity to cut off a city from outside communication or sink a bamcshlr cen be carried by the plane on a single flight. It is protected from fire of “enemy” planes by five ma- chine guns, mount2d at strategic points to insure the safe flight of the plane while on a bombing mission. Two Guns Mounted on Turret. Two guns are mounted on a turret in the rear of the fuselage, permitting & gunner to ward off fire from the sides, above and rear. Two others mounted in the nose of the plane, guard it against attack from the front or sides within a wide arc. A fifth gun man- ned by a gunner concealed in the fuse- lage is ready to beat off “enemy” fire from below, out of range of the other four guns. { Special glass observer's bays have | been constructed in the nose and along | the bottom of the fuselage to direct the bombing activities of the plane as it ap- proaches an objective and prepares to drop its load. Two air-cooled engines mounted in | wing nacelles are capable of pulling the plane through the air at a maximum speed of 128 miles an hour and main- tain a cruising speed of more than 100 miles an hour. The plane can remain in the air with a full load for six hours. Air-Cooled Engines Used. Use of air-cooled engines in the new bumbtntg finnned: |: a cgep-nm'e fro{‘rln the licy follgwer e Army until re- geonll_%. hwe;yn{u:hgz‘;m;o ‘bombers will be equipped Wi rsepower Pratt &ngumey engines, while the etvhgs are equipped with new Wright engines. The plane has been named Pan- ther by its designers, the Keystone- Loeing Aircraft Corporation, and will be known officially in the Army as the LB-7, representing the seventh in a line of light bombers evolved along the same principles of design and construction. —_— KANSAS CITY AIRPORTS TO COVER 1,500 ACRES Gr‘eund Is Broken for New Factory and Hangar to Accommodate Twenty Planes. KANSAS CITY (P)—Fairfax Flying Fleld, until recently operated privately viation school, is to be enlarged 00 to 800 acres as an open air- Since its opening to the public, an- cther large flying school Has faken up headquarters at Fairfax Fleld, ground has been broken for a new air- plane factory and a 20-plane hangar is under construction. Whnen enlarged, Fairfax Airport will parallel eme Kansas City Afrport, by from port. two fields will be about 1,500 acres. Fairfax Airport is ideally situated, surrounded by much level land suitable for emergency landings. It is only a few minutes’ drive from the districts of Kansas City, Kans, and Kansas City, Mo. BELGIAN QUEEN LENDS HELP TO AIR CONGRESS Elizabeth, Devotee of Flying, Will Be Joint Sponsor of Paris Meeting in May. BRUSSELS (#).—Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, long a patron and devotee of flying, has consented sponsor gress of aviation at Paris in May. The President of France is the co-sponsor. ‘The Belgian King and Queen have traveled by air more than any other | Toyal rulers in the world. When visif the Congo last year they flew for alm 8 thousand miles over virgin forests and jungleland. They expressed great de- ht in the experience. Queen Elizabeth on several occasions during the war went to England by air. Since then she has missed no chance to most of her trips being in company ‘;{'mng Albert, “HAWFINCH” IS CLASSED AS SPEEDY MACHINE New British Plane Performs Excep- tionally Well at High Altitudes With Full Load. The new Hawker “Hawfinch” all- metal fighting plane for high alti- tudes, recently developed for the British Royal Air Force, is claimed to be one of the fastest climbing and speediest ships at extreme heights the world ever has seen. While details of construction and performance have been withheld as military secrets, it is understood that the single-seater will climb 4 miles in 12 minutes and maintain a speed of 166 miles an hour at that height. Its maximum ceiling with full load, in- cluding two machine guns, ammuni- tion and four 20-pound bombs, is said to be 6 miles. ‘The Hawfinch, a biplane with a &pan of 33 feet 6 inches and a length of 24 feet, is of steel tube fram'ng, covered with duralumin, and has a Bristol Jupiter motor. It will be pro- | duced both as a land machine and sea- | plane, . . FOKKER ORDERS MOTORS. Contract Divided Between Wright ! and Pratt & Whitney. Orders for $2400,000 worth of air- plane motors, said to be the largest ever placed by any American manufacturer | of commercial airplanes, have been let | by the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America. The contract, to be filled dur- ing the present year, was divided betwen the Wright Aeronautical Corporation end Pratt & Whitney. A total of 350 motors is to be pur- chased, including 200 of 425 horsepower and 150 of 525 horsepower. The Fokker corporation is working to fill orders for nirplanes totaling approximately $3,000,- 000 in value for use on air transport lines ’ the Ulnted States this year. Ogden Field Complete. The Ogden, Utah, airport is now com- plete and available to air traffic. Three runways have been provided, the short- est of which is 3400 feet. Another Development of gliding and soaring as a sport and method of training airplane pilots in the United States will play a large part in making the American people feel at home in the air, in the opinion of Admiral Willlam A. Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Acronautics of the Navy and a member of the board of directors of the Nation- al Glider Association, in a recent letter to Edward 8. Evans, president of the association. “Taking into account the sccumulat- ing interest in aviation throughout the country,” Admiral Moffett wrote, “it that, in progressing from the novelty class, it should become adapted to the needs of all. “An excellent means to this end is through the development of glider clubs. These clubs serve, or may be made to serve, a dual function, of which the most important is the inculcation of the elementary principles of flying. Many planes, once in the air, will almost fly themselves; but to ‘solo’ a glider, one has to be thoroughly acquainted with the elementary principles and practice of flying. With gliders this NORWEGIAN INVENTS SILENCER FOR PLANE Motor Noise Believed Overcome by Device to Kill Sounds in Exhaust Pipe. By the Assoclated Press. BERLIN.—The problem of eliminat- ing the noise made by airplanes is be- lieved to be a step nearer its solution through an invention demonstrated on Tempelhof Airdrome by a Norwegian engineer, Carlsen. It consists of a stovepipe-like contraption in which the mwe of the exhaust pipe is practically ed. Carlsen does not claim to eliminate noise entirely. He does not silence the propeller or the motor—merely the ex- haust pipe. As this is nearest to the passengers, however, it is the most disturbing. “My present invention merely aims to make it possible for passengers sit- ting in a plane to converse with each other even when a window is open, and without having to yell at the tops of their voices,” Carlsen said. His silencing device is %ulh simple; the exploding gases which ordinarily must be blown out forcibly, thereby causing a noise, are conducted into a contraption looking like a stove pipe at the near end, and an elongated bag at the farther end. Accroding to the in- ventor, a vacuum is produced at the farther end which causes the exhaust gases to be removed by suction rather than propulsion. This kills the noise. PREDICTION OF FLYING PERFORMANCE SIMPLER National Aeronautics Committee Report Deals With Level, Climb- ing and Propeller Speed. A new and simpler method for the prediction of airplane performance in level and climbing flight, together with complete information regarding pro- gellel speeds, is described in a report y E. P. Lesley and E. G. Reid of the National Advisory Committee for Aero- nautics. ‘The new method, developed from the Bairstow system, which has been used generally up to this time, is said to be less laborious and complicated than the older system and is better suited to the American aeronautical engineer, be- cause it has been formulated in terms of the American, rather than the British, system of absolute coefficients. GETS LAND FOR AIRPORT. Galveston Field to Have Night Flying Equipment. Galveston, Tex., has acquired 160 acres of land to be developed into a munieipal airport. Plans call for con- ditioning of the area and installation of complete facilities, which will include night flying equipment. Offigials in charge of the project plan to seek recognition of the fleid as an “ais of entry” at which custom officla’s may be stationed. The Army alrpert at Fort Crockett will be used for all operations until the new city airport is completed. Western Air Line Tests Propellers Every 200 Hours Inspection of metal airplane propellers by etching with caustic soda and nitric acid solutions, so as o remmve the outer surface and reveal flaws in the metal, is made after every 200 hours of flight by a Western air mail and passenger line. Should the acid bath reveal any defects the blade is immedi- ately discarded. A magnifying glass is used to examine the en- Ure propeller and especially the portion adjacent to the hub and runway is to be constructed in the| Spring so that landings and take-offs | i.2y be made in any one of eight direc- | tions. Lighting equipment is sched- uled for early installation. Ogden is a malil stop on the Salt Lake City-Great §alls air mail route, bolt holes. The slightest indica- tion of an imperfection there is traced with aandpa}nr and more acld, and if the defect continues below the surface the propeller is rejected. Y I “PANTHER” BOMBER GOES ON TRIAL The new Keystone “Panther,” an evolution of a long line of light bombers, is the Army Air Corps’ latest addition to its aerial fighting units. along the fuselage from the rear (above) shows the gunner’s cockpit, in which two 50-caliber machine guns will be mounted. SPORT FLYING HOLDS PROMISE IN OPINION OF ADMIRAL MOFFETT e e The view may progress through easy and less dangerous stages than with powered | planes. ~ Wing areas are so large and | weights so low that gliders fly at ex- | I ceedingly low speeds; and the student, | ‘soloing’ from the very start, makes | a series of short ‘jumps’ rapidly ac- cumulates experience, and acquires the | ability to fly by ‘feeling,’ the posession of which is invaluable to a pilot in any type of plane. “A second aspect to the use of gliders | is their adaptability for pu;poses of | sport. Gliding and soaring flight de- | mands a nicety of skill and affords com- pensating results highly interesting to the average able-bodied man. Further- more, the cost of such a plane is within the means of nearly any young man in America. Engineless planes have stayed in the air over 14 hours, and have trav- eled over 40 miles in a single flight. ‘With such results as these already at- fained, and with Americans alive to the potentialities of such a sport, the imagination can readily conceive of a race of Americans in the near future wtkrm will be completely at home in the GERMANS PLAN NIGHT AIR PASSENGER LINES Success of Route to Russia Causes Lufthansa to Prepare for Starting Other Links. —_— By the Assoctated Press. BEHLIN, February 23.—Night pas- senger air lines soon will be Inlufill; rated between Berlin and the Fol {rontier and between Berlin and South- ern Germany. The Lufthansa is also at work devising a night route from Hanover to the western frontier. The success of the night route to Russia has encouraged the Lufthansa to extend its system of neon and other powerful lights greatly, and to plan in time to cover Germany with a network of illuminated routes. Travelers from the Scandinavian countries will, before many months are over, be able to leave Stockholm or Oslo in the morning, arrive at Berlin before darkness sets in, depart thence on & night route and reach Munich, Frankfort, Stuttgart or even Switzer- land by the next morning. A further innovation in aviation is a project of the North German Lloyd to equip all the steamers that are to go on pleasure cruises next Summer with airplanes so the participants in a cruise may obtain a good bird's-eye view of the countries they touch. AIR MAIL LINE OPENS BETWEEN FLORIDA CITIES Jacksonville-Tampa Route Connects State With All Parts of U. 8. Macon, Ga., Regular Stop. The new Jacksonville-Tampa, Fla., afr mail line, contract for which was awarded to Pitcairn Aviation, opera- tors of the New York-Atlanta and At- lanta-Miami lines, began operations March 1 by way of Dayton Beach and Orlando. At the same time Macon, Ga., became a regular air mail stop on the present line. ‘The opening of the new route gives all the major cities of Florida direct air mail contact with all parts of the United States and the eastern part of Canada, Coincident with the opening of the new division to the west coast of Florida, the present schedule north- bound from Miami was set back about 90 minutes to permit the handling of letters posted in Miami as late as 11:30 a.m. for delivery in cities on the Eastern seaboard in the first delivery on the following morning. FLYING FIELD PLANNED. Chamber of Commerce Sponsors Newport News Project. Newport News, Va, is working on preliminary plans for a suitable airport. The Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the program, has enlisted the aid of influential citizens in furthering the campaign to put Newport News on the air map. ‘The Federal Government sent a rep- resentative to inspect several sites un- der consideration and his recommenda- tions soon will be made to officials of the city. Castle to Head Air Company. Col. Benjamin F. Castle, New York financier and one of the first American aviation attaches delegated by the War Department for foreign service, has been elected president of the Great Lakes Aircraft Corporation of Cleveland. Col. Castle served in the Army Air Service during the World War and since has been int@rested in commercial aviation. He is governor of the Aero Club of America and treasurer of the National Aeronautic Association. Atlantic City Port Ready Soon. Atlantic City, N. J., will have its new municipal airport ready for service this Spring, and several passenger airplane lines are‘*expected to be in operation [ron. various Eastern cities when the re- | sort season opens. An extensive filling- {In process is under way at the airport, which will be known as Bader Field. Hangars and shops will be erected, and ultimately complete night-lighting equipment will be installed, TIE_RUNDAY _STAR. WASTINGTON T ACRIAL LINES OPERATEINU. . Planes Fly More Than 40,000 Miles Daily, Commerce Department.Reports. There are 57 air transport lines operating in the United States, with| planes flying more than 40,000 miles | daily on regularly scheduled flights, according to reports received by the Department of Commerce. In addition, there are eight foreign transport lines operating out of the United States over routes totaling nearly 4,000 miles in length. ¢ The longest line operated in the United States is 1,949 miles, from San Francisco to Chicago. Over this route Boeing Air Transport planes fly every day, carrying mail, passengers and express. The sec- ond longest line is 1,080 miles, from Los Angeles to Seattle. Pacific Air Transport planes fly this route daily, also carrying mail, passengers and ex- press. The shortest line, 14 miles, from Agua Caliente to San Diego, Calif, is gperated by Maddux Air Lines daily, carrying passengers only. ‘The longest foreign line operating out of the United States is 1,640 miles in ‘length—from Key West, Fla., to Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone. This is a mail line operated by Pan-American Airways. No passengers are carried, though passenger service is to be pro- vided later this year over the route. Pan-American Airways also operates the second longest foreign line—from Key West to San Juan, Porto Rico, 1,260 miles, carrying mail and passen- gers three times a week. 19 Lines Carry Passengers Only. Of the 57 domestic air lines, 12 carry mail, passengers and express, the express matter being carried under con- tract with the American Railway Ex- press Co. Five carry mail and express only. Seven carry passengers and ex- press only. There are 19 lines which confine their service to passengers and only four which carry mail exclusively. There are but two lines which handle nothing but express matter. Seven of the lines carry mail and passengers. Of the 57 lines, there are 29 which carry air mail, 45 which carry passen- gers and 26 which carry express matter. Of the foreign lines all but one carry mail and six of the eight carry passen- gers. Five of the eight carry both mail and passengers, leaving two which carry nothing but mail and one which carries nothing but passengers. Forty-five of the 57 domestic air So 0. C. MARCH 8. l Air Line Head I R. M. NORRIS, Newly appointed manager of the New York terminus of the Washington-New York air line ” the United States Air Transport. He is well known here and is a graduate of George Washing- ton_University. transport lines are operating every day in the week, four of them operating over their routes twice a day and one operating both day and night trips. Nine of the other lines operate six days a week, one operates five times a week, both daily and nightly, and the other two operate three times a week. Only two of the foreign lines are now oper- ' ating on a daily basis. ‘The American Air Transport Asso- ciation estimates that last year com- mercial crafé in the United States flew more than 40,000,000 miles, of which approximately 7,500,000 miles were with the air mail and express, 2,500,000 miles with passengers and the remainder in such activities as aerial photography, airplane’ dusting of crops, forest patrol work, scientific studies, aerial adver- tising, ieogrnphlnnl study, surveying, map making and first aid. New Air Service Line Planned. Inauguration of an air passenger service from St. Louls to El Paso, Tex., as the first Iink of a contemplated Southern transcontinental passenger line is planned this Spring by South- western Air Fast Express, which has ordered five trimotered Ford transports for this service. About April 1 a new line from Kansas City, Mo, to Dallas and Fort Worth, Tex., will be flown by the same company, the lines joining at Tulsa, Okla., where headquarters will be maintained. €mi 1M PART ¥ AERIAL INSURANGE INCREASES 40PCT. Companies Consider Aviation Industry Still in Its Infancy. BY DON BROWN. NEW YORK, March 2.—Aviation in- surance has increased more than 400 per cent during the last year, a high official of one of the three most im- rtant American companies spectal- zing in such policies sald today. “The enormous increase experienced by us and other companies during the past year is a reliable barometer of the gains of aviation in the United States,” he continued. “And we consider it an industry which is still in its infancy. It is useiess and impossible to predict the approximate rate of growth which may be expected within the next few years, but it is safe to say that it will be many times greater than the aver- age layman realizes. “As flying becomes safer and the airplane is more highly developed, the premiums on such policies are being slowly but surely reduced. The re- ductions in some cases are as much as 40 per cent of the rates current in 1922, when the first aviation insurance policles were written. “In a few instances, old line insur- ance companies are omitting clauses in regular life insurance policies making them vold if the holder rides in an airplane. This change, however, is coming about slowly. It will probably be some time before it becomes general. “The writing of aviation policies re- quires such a highly specialized experi- ence that a number of companies, which went into this business without sufficient technical knowledge of avia- tic®, were forced to retire with heavy losses. “Today, however, the successful com- panies handling such bfisiness employ men experienced in aviation, many of them being pilots or ex-pilots. “Aviation insurance, like aviation, is at the beginning, but it is a healthy beginning and the future looks—weli. It looks great to me.” (Copyright, 1929, by North American News- Paper Alliance.) iy Mexico to Buy Seaplanes. The Mexican government has decided to buy three of the latest and largest seaplanes for the Mexican navy. Fur- ther purchases are expected soon. The machjnes will be used for coastal patrol dutymon the Gulf of Mexico and the cifie. é eI Alr Corps Oflee ’ Jarved by Lotter Sent A Jutam Pusiness was interrupted rdely in the ofed of the ehief of the Army Ailr Corps & | . by & letter from an educs tional institution transmitting the scholastic record of one of s un- dergraduntes who had applied for appointment as & flying cadet The office In the past has re- ceived from various sources let. ters which are horrible examples of spelling, poor grammar and sheer nonsense, but it is safe to say none of them ever created half the sensation caused by the letter from the college office. It was addressed as follows: “A. D. Jutant, General Washington, D. C. “My dear Mr. Jutant: 'AIR TRAIL MARKERS WILL COVER U. § Travelers to Find Routes Properly Posted, Guggenheim Foun- dation Reports. The United States will be properly “sign-posted” for the benefit of aerial travelers before the end of the Summer, according to reports received by the Daniel Guggenheim Pund for the Pro- motion of Aeronautics, which is con- | ducting a campaign for roof-marking | of all towns and cities in co-operation | with the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce and Post Office Department. | Since the fund began its Nation-wide roof-marking campaign last Fall letters and instruction bulletins have been sent to nearly 8,000 postmasters in towns of between 1,000 and 50,000 population asking them to take the initiative in seeing that their towns wefé marked by civic organizations or individuals. “Out of 7,400 communities where aerial identification is particularly de- sirable the work is either completed or under way in more than 4,000,” Harry F. Guggenheim, president of the fund, stated. “This leaves a total of about 3,000 towns not yet marked so as to lndltcau the route or locality for an air ilot. “The fund is now corresponding with these communities, many of which Lave been retarded in this work due to the cold weather, and it is hoped that with- in the mext three months the United States will be properly and maluuly provided with sign posts for aviation.” 82 CADETS QIVEN WINGS AT KELLY Targent Class n Misteey of M vanced Nying Sehonl Ie Oraduated ot Poid War ived thelt wings during | past week. The elase somprived ying eadets and 4 o*nn Mom comey branches of the Negular Army These students have Anished monthe’ advanced fying ‘*aining & | Kelly id, following eight months of work at the primary flying sehonls Of the 82 gvadustes 71 will be com missioned as second lieutenants in the Air Corps Reserve. Ton students. who hold Reserve commissions in other branches of the military establishment | The lnpaes history of the { the A Ten e the class, Cadet Ramon Arias, & native of Pdnama, who is & graduate of the United States Military Academy, West | Point, and & son of Panchot Arias former Panaman Minister to Germany The National Capital is represented in the class by four graduates, R. F. C Vance, James H. Wallace, Charles W Alverson and Edwin M. Day. Forty-eight Qualify for Air Corps. As a result of examinations held last month of candidates for appointment as second lieutenants in the Air Corps, Regular Army, 48 men from va parts of the country were qualified for appointment. Two of these newly com- missioned Air Corps officers have been assigned to duty at Bolling Pield. They are Lieuts. Leland S. Stranathan and William A. R. 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Recipient, too, of all Chrysler progress in engineering, the Chrysler “65” performs en- tirely over the heads of all cars anywhere near it in price. Its big high-compression engine utilizes the famous Chrysler “Silver- Dome” principle, and develops 68-horse- power without apparently half trying. CHRYSLER a driver who is unaccustomed to Chrysler The acceleration of the Chrysler “65” literally startles Fope Everybody is equally impressed by the quick positive control of Chrysler weatherproof 4-wheel hydraulic brakes—by far the safest brakes ever developed. Pivotal steering and balanced front wheels make the Chrysler “65” incredibly gentle to handle and easy to park —while rubber shock insulators on the springs, 1040 AND UPWARDS F. 0. B. Factory ‘Worthy companion to the ’ v ’ New Chrysler “65"—Six body styles priced from $1040 t0 $1145 ¢+ + + New Chrysler “75"—Nine body styles priced /j'huh&,” to $2345. AU prices . o Factory. 66 fi £ CHRYSLER MOTORS PRODUCT H. B. LEARY, JR., & BROS. 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