Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1929, Page 56

AVIA BY JOSEPH TION S. EDGERTO! PLAN PACIFIC BASE FOR DIRIGIBLES TO REACH NEW YORK IN 90 MINUTES SPEEDS FORWARD CANADAAIRMAIL 2 557 Senr senne Navy Men to Leave Soon for P sacola for Flying Instruction at Base. Twenty-nine officers of the Navy | | have been selected for aviation training. and have been ordered to report to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla., on the dates indicated: July 18, Comdr. Aubrev W. Fitch and Lieuts, Harold L. Meadow, Walter C. Day, George C. Montgomery, Harry B. Temple and En- signs Ethan W. Allen, Argyll E. Buck- ley. John L. Burnside. Lannie Conn, Rapid and Safe Transporta-| tion Channels Established for Remote Areas. Congress Asked to Establish| TARTLING development of rying ground personnel from the Army attack aviation to a|various Air Corps fields to the point where a single flight |two Ohio points. The pursuit of recently developed attack | squadrons, for example, cannot lanes are able to deliver against | carry any ground personnel, and ostile ground forces a brief all the necessary mechanics and assault of terrific intensity, equal- | their equipment must be carried West Coast Port for Giant Bags. ing the fire attack of an entire Army division of 30,000 men, with divisional artillery, monstrated to the American people by the Army Air Corps during the annual Spring ma- neuvers beginning this week in Ohio. This new aviation arm, accord- ing to Air Corps officers, has been so developed that during the 90 seconds to 2 minutes required for a single diving attack a flight of 18 attack planes, manned by 36 men under command of a second lieutenant, can get off 64,3800 rounds of .30 and .50 caliber ma- | chine gun bullets and 144 25- pound fragmentation bombs. The third attack group, com- posed of the 8th and 90th Attack Squadrons, which will take part in the maneuvers, is capable of delivering a machine gun attack on ground troops with 70 per cent of the machine gun strength of an entitre army, composed of three Army Corps of three divi-| sions each, or 270,000 men, ac- cording to the figures of Air Corps | experts. View of Tacticians Quoted. What such an attack, made upon the key points of an enemy line at the critical point of a battle, actually would mean in practice scarcely can be imagined, the Air Corps tacticians say. Not only would the terrific hail of nta- chine gun bullets and bombs exact their heavy toll, but the tre- mendous spectacle of formation upon formation of planes diving like meteors upon an enemy line should prove exceedingly de-| moralizing to the ground forces. | Attack aviation is a develop- | ment of recent years. The germ of the idea was born during the | World War when fighting pilots | wirning irom missions over the lines would swoop low over the enemy trenches or columns of troops and fire away the re- mainder of their ammunition. This form of ‘“ground strafing” was just beginning ‘to develop de- finitely when the war ended. The attacks were made, however, with pursuit and observation planes| which never were intended for that purpose. The creation of a type of plane intended to be used almost exclusively for attacks upon enemy ground elements has come as one of the important post-war developments. War-Time Planes Destructive. Though the old war-time planes were not designed for the pur- pose of ground strafing, they were used at times with horrible effect. Army Air Corps officers tell of an attack made by a German ob- servation plane upon a detach- men of 80 American engineers who were caught in an exposed position. When the plane finished its attack with two machine guns there were only two of the 80 men who had not been hit, according to the story. The attack plane is designed to deliver an overwhelming burst of fire and get away before the enemy can retaliate. The attack is over ‘and the planes out of range within two minutes after they come in sight of the hostile ground forces, according to the theory behind their development. So rapidly does the aerial attack develop and so tremendous are its consequences upon the hap- less ground forces that before any sort of effective return fire can be brought to bear the planes are away. ‘The Army attack plane of to- day is a high-powered, two-place | plane scmewhat similar in ap-| pearance to the Army observation plane. It carries a pilot and a gunner. Each plane carries three .50-cabiler. armor-piercing ma- chine guns and three .30-caliber guns arranged in tandems. The yllot fires four of the guns, two hrough the propeller and two mounted in the lower wing outside the sweep of the blades. The gun- ner has two guns on the conven- tional type of mounting. Under its wings the plane has racks for eight 25-pound bombs. The planes are fast and highly maneuver- able. At low altitudes they pre- sent almost impossible targets. Attack Planes Due for Test. The use of attack planes in modern warfare is only one of the phases of modern aviation which will be demonstrated by the Army Air Corps in Ohio during the next two weeks. For the first time ground forces will co-operate with the air forces, which are to be divided into equal opposing armies. Conditions approximat- ing those found in actual war- fare will obtain. ‘The Air Corps will conceritrate its fighting forces from various parts of the country, as follows: Langley Field, Va., 2d Bombard- ment Group, composed of the 20th, 49th and. 96th Bombard- ment Squadrons; Rockwell Field, Calif., 95th Pursuit Squadron and 11th Bombardment Squadron; Mitchel Field, N. Y.; the 9th Ob- | servation Group, composed of| group headquarters and the 1st| and 5th Observation Squadrons; Selfridge Field, Mich., the 1st| Pursuit Group and the 15th Ob- servation Squadron; Fort Crock- ett, Kans,, the 3d Attack Group, will be de-| | on New York by means of the re- |last January. | ardment | Cost of Each Letter Is Estimated to | by air transport. | ~Actual operations will begin at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, when “hos- | tilities” will open. Operations will | continue until 12:01 a.m. Friday | and will be recpened at noon, con- tinuing until dark. On Saturday | the operations will commence at | daylight and continue until noon. | These three days will be devoted | |to the final organization of the |Red and Blue Armies and will | cover the period of their move- ment forward to the point of es- | tablishing contact. | Aerial Battle Due Saturday. At 2:30 Saturday afternoon the | first aerial battle is to occur, when | opposing air forces will meet over |the outskirts of Cincinnati and | “fight” to a decision under the watchful eyes of flying umpires. | Another Army plane, hovering on | the borders of the whirling, div- |ing fight, will broadcast its prog-‘ ress and the result. For the first! time in history an aerial “dog|( fight,” real in every detail except | the clatter of the machine guns, will be broadcast from the air through a national radio hook-up. Next Sunday afternoen at 3 o'clock a review of the aerial| forces will be held at Norton Field, Columbus, the ground base of the | Blue Army. May 20 will be devoted to a cri- | tique for the benefit of the officers | and men participating in the ma- neuvers and to the repair of| equipment, in preparation for the final phases of the maneuvers. The Red and Blue forces, aug- mented by ground troops from the 5th Corps Area, under command of Maj. Gen. Dennis Nolan, will | resume hostilities May 21, the “pattle” in all its phases continu- ing until nightfall May 25. Dur-! ing this period a long-range| bombing attack will be delivered fueling-in-flight principle devel- oped during the world's record endurance flight ef the Army transport plane Question Mark A bombing plane selected at random from the as- sembled squadrons will take off at 2 pm. May 22, refueling in flight over the air depot at Mid- dletown, Pa., and continuing to New York. After dropping para- chute flares, simulating bombs, the plane will head back to Ohio, refueling in the air a second time at Middletown. It is scheduled to land at its temporary base in Ohio at 2 p.m., May 23, after spending 24 hours in the air. Maneuvers Close at Wright Field. The maneuvers will close with a critique and demonstrations at Wright Field May 26, the aerial units departing the following day for their home stations. All of the planes Particlpatmg in the maneuvers will be equip- ped with radio transmitters and receivers and will be at all times within control of their com- mander-in-chief, Brig. Gen. Ben- jamin D. Foulois. It will be pos- sible for Gen. Foulois to maneuver the planes as if the pilots were sitting in the same room with their commander. Radio will be used during the refueling bomb- flight, an observer broadcasting his impressions of the experience over a national hook-up of stations. During the concentration and maneuvering and through the entire problem of battle, both in air operations and in conjunction with ground forces, the radio will be used continually by ground commanders and units in the air. Its use, under these conditions, Army officers point out, is of the utmost importance. Observers in planes high over the battle area can gauge the progress of battle and report instantly to the com- mander below. Pursuit squadron leaders, searching the skies for enemy planes while flying at the heads of their formations, can issue orders to all planes in the forma- tion so that all may know his plan of campaign. Bombers en route to far distant points can report their progress and ask for assistance or be diverted to other more important objectives. The capabilities of radio in aircraft long have ‘been known, Army chiefs point out, but its practical use in warfare and its value in time of unusual stress will be demonstrated this year on a scale never before known. i g il AIR MAIL POSTAGE RATE FIGURED TO FINE POINT Be .0000215 of One Cent Per Mile. The cost of carrying a single air mail letter is .0000215 of 1 cent per mile, according to an estimate made by the Post Office Department, on the basis of 1,400 miles as the average distance flown by an air mail letter. The ordi- nary letter is carried by air 466.66 miles for every cent of the three-cent air mail surcharge. The 5-cent air mail stamp, good for the carrying of letters of not more than one ounce in weight to points in the United States, Canada and Mexico, in- cludes ordinary postage, the _extra charge of air service being but 3| composed of the 8th and 90th At- tack Squadrons, and Fort Riley,| Kans, the 16th Observation | Squadron. | The concentration thus will in- clude four squadrons each of pur- | suit, bombardment and observa- | tion planes and two squadrons of | attack planes. In addition, there | will be a number of unattached | planes, including all available| Army transport planes. In all,| there will be more than 200 planes | Wind Interference. available for duty. Plans Immediate Concentration. Concentration of the aerial forces is to begin immediately and will be completed by sundown ‘Tuesday. The opposing forces will be organized at Wright Field, Da: ton, and Norton Field, Columbus, nearly 100 miles apart, the Army has announced. On Wednesday the organiza- tion of the Red and Blue Air Forces will be completed. Dur- ing the period of the concentra-| tion and organization the trans- =y, Port, planes will be kept busy, fer- nts. Four ordinary sheets of business paper and the envelope may be sent | under the one-ounce rating. NEW AIRPORT BEACON THROWS 66-MILE BEAM All Moving Parts Are Inclosed Within Glass Dome, Blocking Development of a new type of re- volving airport beacon, with all moving parts inclosed within a single glass ! dome and with a beam visible 66 miles in clear weather, has been announced y the General Electric Co. A 24-inch hemispherical glass dome incloses a 20-inch parabolic mirror, automatic lamp changer equipped with two 1,000-watt lamps, louvres for cut- Ung out stray light and the rotating mechanism. All parts may be inspected through the glass, which may be raised ! for easy access to all of the mechanism. | Inclosing the unit within the glass dome prevents wind pressure interfering By the Associated Press. Laying plans for the operation of the Navy's two new giant dirigibles, to be built in Ohio, Congress has been ask to establish a lighter-than-air base the Pacific Coast. | | of airships for both military merctal purposes are planned. flights, Navy officlals have intimated, | may be made across the Pacific to the | Hawaiian Islands if the West Coast | base is approved. Cost of the base is estimated at $5,000.000. Since the new airships are to be as- signed to the fleet for tactical dutles, Navy officials say a base should be pro- | vided on the West Coast where the ships | would be close to the battle flect and its aircraft squadrons. Better conditions prevail over the Pa- | cific than over the Atlantic, which | would make feasible the operation of | the new dirigibles on a regular schedule between California and the Hawalian Islands. | Contact with the American outpost | in the Hawatian Islands for both com- mercial and military reasons has been considered important by the Govern- ment for years. The present naval air base at San Diego has been considered by Navy air officials to be too crowded for success- ful operation of aircraft. Two hundred and forty planes are now operating with the fleet on maneuvers at sea, and planes In reserve must be maintained at shore bases. Establishment of an adequate air base at some point on the Pacific Coast, de- cided upon after a survey of possible sites, would make possible operation of both’ heavier-than-air and lighter-than- alr craft from the same base with an appreciable saving of funds, Navy offi- clals say. SR SIX BIG AIR BOATS 70 FLY NEW ROUTE New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line Is to Use Amphibians. 1 H [ By the Associated Press. NEW YORK.—The’ largest fleet of flying boats and amphibians ever as- sembled for air transport service will be used on the projected 8,000-mile inter- national mail and passenger air service recently organized as the New York, Rio & Buenos Aires Lines, Ltd. This fleet, authorized by the lines board of directors, will consist of six consolidated 32-passenger Commodore flying boats, already in production, and eight 10-passenger Sikorsky amphibians, delivery of the first of Wwhich is ex- pected soon. ‘The line, organized by J. E. Reynolds, president of Trimotor Safety Airways, Inc., will function as the operating con- cern under the terms of a 20-year air mail contract awarded to the Trimotor company by the Argentine government. The passenger transportation time between New York and Buenos Aires, the two terminals, will be cut to ap- proximately one week, according to the schedule drawn up. The fastest steam- ship schedule now is 21 days. The giant Commodores, first built for the United States Navy and known as the KYP-1, will be especially designed for the service. BAY STATE'S MAIL AIR COURSE POPULAR State Correspondence School for Flyers Gets Big Response—En- rollment Limited. BOSTON, (#).—Many persons are keen to learn about aviation by mail. More than 400 inquiries were received in less than one month by the univer- sity extension of the Massachusetts Department of Education concerning its course in aeronautics. Of these 138 came from residents of the Bay State, while Tesidents of 24 other States, the District of Columbia and the Island of Haiti joined in mak- ing requests. This course includes topics covered by the examination given by the United States Department of Commerce for mechanics’ and pilots’ licenses, and is designed to be equivalent in content to the ground school technical trgining usually given candidates for pilots’ and mechanics’ positions. Elementary aeronautics, the engine, structure and rigging of the airplane, plane design and transportation are listed. Only a limited number of en- rollments can be accepted on account of the tremendous detall involved. REED PROPELLER FIRM IS BOUGHT BY CURTISS Metal Blade Company to Be Con- tinued as Entity by Its New Owners. NEW YORK, May 11 ().—The Reed Propeller Co., organized by S. A. Reed, inventor of the all-metal airplane pro- peller, has been purchased by the Cur- | tiss Aeroplane & Motor Co., with Frank | H. Russell, vice president of the Curtiss company, as its new president The Curtiss Co., after working with Reed in the development and perfection of the steel propeller, became the first license in this country, manufacturing the Curtiss-Reed single-piece blade used on_all Pulitzer race winners. The Reed Propeller Co. will continue to operate as a separate concern and will Temain as licensor of the Curtiss Co. MODEL AIRPORT PL, Development at Columbus, Well Under Way. Development of a model airport at Columbus, Ohio, to be known as Port Columbus, is proceeding rapidly on funds provided by an $300,000 muncipal bond issue. The port will be developed with A passenger station near & trunk line raflroad, hangars, shops and adminis- trative offices. It will be lighted with a newly de- veloped 3,000,000-candlepower _flood- light, which will make the 320-acre fleld as bright as day. The light will be so strong that a mile from the air- port & newspaper can be read without strain, ANNED. Ohio, Cape May Completing Airport. For the accommodation of Summer vacationists who wish to travel by air, Cape May, N. J., is completing a’ mu- nicipal landing field, which is designed eventually to merit a Department of Commerce AlA rating. The field prob- ably will be ready for use about June 1, | with the speed of rotation, which can | be adjusted to & maximum of six turns » P Iminute, when the first umit of 200 acres will be completed. The field lies due east of this city, 1t was pointed out, This plane is one of a fleet of new Lockheed-Vega passenger ships soon to be put in service by the Washington. York Air Line, photographed at Washington Airport, the local terminus of the line. between the two cities to little more than an hour, a regular 90-minute schedule having been arranged. the Ryan cabin planes now in use on the line. These planes will cut running time AIRPORTS UTILITIES | DESIGNER OF NC-4 HULL QUITS IN TWO STATES NOW Permission Given in Kansas and Oklahoma to Issue Bonds for Fields. OKLAHOMA CITY, May Two Southwestern States, and Kansas, have enacted legislation that puts airports in the same status as other municipal utilities. may issue bonds to establsih airports and maintain them by taxation. Oklahoma claims it was the first State to inaugtirate a program, in co- operation with the United States De- partment of Commerce, for the estab- lishment of standard airports. Thirty- three landing fields, to be completed this year, have been financed by Okla- homa cities. A total investment of $3,000,000win airports and $15,000,000 in all phases of aviation is planned. 50.000 has been invested in landing fields for the 12 interstate and trans- continental lines that cross the State. 11 (P)— Dubois, Wyo., Would Develop Pub- lic Lands as Airport. Dubols, Wyo., has applied to the Sec- retary of the Interior for authorization to develop public lands in the vicinity as an airport. If the application is ap- roved, immediate improvement of a arge arca is planned. and oil facilities will be provided and the airport identified with appropriate air markis Oklahoma | Cities now | Already $1,- | Hangars, gas | mi NAVY TO JO By the Associated Press Just 10 years after the NC-4's his- toric transatlantic flight the designer | of her great hull has resigned from the | Navy to enter civil aeronautics. | Capt. Holden C. Richardson, affec- tionately known as “Captain Dick” by men and officers of all ranks in the Navy, will assume new duties as expert designer for an aircraft corporation in Cleveland. His ideas have dominated the design of a long line of flying boats and sea- planes which have been recognized as superior in that class of aireraft. The PN-11, now nearing completion at the Philadelphia naval aircraft fac- tory, represents the fruits of Capt. Richardson’s last design problem. It hull is a development of the famot NC flying boat hull, which caused world authoritics to shake their heads in de- spair in 1918 and since has demon ted its superiorit Ten_years xperimentation with 1 construction has failed to produce up:! n known by the prefi planes. for “Curtiss, ponsible for design and ion of the plane: “If we were to build a fle for transatlantic service today, | would be along the same basic lines | that we followed in design of the NC 1y | "“With added fiying range it would | be possible to fiy from Boston to_the | Azores and then to England or Por- | tugal as an alternative for the longer oute chosen in 1919, but stops in the atlantic still have a sound basis in added safety that cannot be over- looke: Th NC boats left New York | a s bee letters of the ' stood for ying boats.” Capt. Richardson says. IN PRIVATE FIRM May 8 ten years ago with Plymouth England as their ultimate destination by way of the Azores and Lisbon, Por- tugal. - The NC-1 lost her bearings and landed on_extraordinarily rough seas 100 miles west of Flores, an island in the Azores. It was found by a steam- ship after running five hours on the | surface, its crew taken off and the | fiying boat taken in tow to be aban- doned a short time later. The NC-3, which was piloted ‘by | Capt. Richardson, landed to take a | compass bearing in rough seas, breaking | important _structural = supports, but finally reaching the Azores. | 'The NC-4, commanded by Comdr. Al- | bert C. Read, reached the Azores on schedule, hopped to Lisbon and then to Plymouth, England, to receive the acclaim of an excited world which pre- | dicted regular transatlantic flights on | a weekly schedule within a few years. 252 PLANES IN CANADA. | Shows Gain Since January 1. There were 252 registered aircraft in | Canada at the beginning of last month, 'y | as compared with 233 on January 1, | according to a report received here by | the Department of Commerce from A. H. Thiemann, assistant trade commis- sioner at Ottawa. At the same time private pilots num- bered 183, commercial pilots 220, air | engineers 222, and licensed airports 39. The total number of pilots in Canada last year holding commercial licenses is estibated at 250, the reduction being due to the fact that many pilots allowed thele licenses to lapse New They will replace | were cut off completely from com- | ceed | | OTTAWA, Ontario (#).—Canada’s air | mail has provided rapid and safe chan- | nels of postal communication into places | difficult of aceess. To the remote mining districts of | Ontario and Manitoba, the scattered isolated communities on the north | Benjamin S. Cucter, Eugene E. Davis, Myron W. Graybill, Patrick Henry, jr., Samuel G. Mitchell, Thurston B. Clark, Thomas F. Halloran, Alan R. Mont= gomery, Willilam R. D. Nickelson, Leonidas _W. Pancoast, Robert T. Symes, Francis E. Cromwell and George L. R. Jones, jr.; September 12, shore of the St. anrf‘n(‘!x‘ ‘R“;r :1 | Lieuts. Georze W. Evans, jr., Willlam costi and the Magdalen are conveyed s otherwis Wi use of canoe, dog-team and other slow and | costly means of transportation. | " After Winter closed navigation, fisher- men in the Magdalen Islands formerly | tly ove s 1d involve the | munication with the now have daily service. The same | situation once prevailed in Seven Islands and Anticosti. Now a regular service conveys 1,500 pounds a month. es regular services, special trips | have been made to the coast of James | Bay and into the rich mining areas in | Northern Alberta and British Columbia. | Development of mining districts in the subarctiv has been in no small degree | mainland. They | S| J. Mullins, Woodward Phelps, William H. Shahan and Ensigns Etheridge Grant, Calvin E. Wakeman and Hunter | Wood, jr. AIRPORT READY FOR USE. The De Kalb, TIL, county airport at Waterman, Ill, now is -available for The newly completed airport is to be know Site 38 on the Omaha- Chicago airway and will take the place of the Department of Commerce inter- mediate landing fleld at McGirr, IIL, which has been abandoned. The Department of Commerce has provided a beacon for the Waterman Report of Commerce Department| e e tacular fields solid | BirPort and the county installed the 3 | remainder of the lighting equipment. Albany carried 30,660 pounds of mail: | be stationed at the new airport 24 hours between Montreal and Toronto, 17.348 e pounds. _ On the Winnipeg-Regina- Calgary-Edmonton route 4,832 pounds were carried. The latter was a tempo- rary and experimental service looking toward a complete trans-Canada route. WILL DEVELOP AIRPORT. The Interstate Air Lines, operators | of the mail airway between Chicago | and Atlanta, have secured 200 acres of land at Murphreesboro, Tenn., for an airport development. Construction is scheduled to start at once, with com- pletion planned for July 1. ‘The $120,000 bond issue, recently ap- proved by voters of Medford, Oreg., is be used for improving the present air- port and erecting buildings and other | facilities. Approximately $15,000 is to be spent on a two-story administration | building, the top floor of which will be | used for a weather station. Hangars, shops and lighting equipment also will | be provided. | of a county airport at the seat of Mar- ’ ion County, Ocala, Fla. A 180-acre tract has been obtained and plans call for the surfacing of the area and instal- | lation of operating facilities. 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