Evening Star Newspaper, June 9, 1929, Page 63

- WORK STARTS SOON ON SERVICE FIELD Will Be Devoted Solely to Training and Caring for Airplanes. The first aviation field in this part of the country to be devoted solely to the training of students and the serv- feing of the airplanes now is being pre- pared for operations beginning June 15 three miles south of Alexandria, Va The field, which will serve as the servicing and supply center for Wash- ington Airport and the Washington- New York Alr Line, will be the train- ing field for members of the Metropoli- tan Aero Club, now being organized here by student pilots under direction of Lieut. W. Burns Trundle, who will be manager of the field Plan Hangar 150x300 Feet. Construction material for a 300 by 150 foot hangar, which may be divided into two sections, has been ordered from Newark, N. J. and erection of the building will begin this month. Buildings already on the 1.000-acre site are being equipped as a ciubhouse and dormitories for the students, and lights and water are being installed. A svim- ming pool will be built during the Sum- mer, Lieut. Trundle said. The field is on the old George Mason estate, extending from the Washington- Richmond road west to Telegraph ad It has been partially developed by the Aerial League of America and Licut Trundie already has used the field for preliminary flying operations. Will Move Student Activities. All the work of overhauling. repair- Ing and servicing the planes used for passenger flights from Washington Air- port and on the Washington-New York line will be done at the new “Mile- Square” field and student training ac- | tivities also will be moved to the new location, leaving the local airport en- tirely free for passenger flights “Modern_aeronautical practice calls for complete separation of passenger fiving from student training and me- | chanical activities,” Lieut. Trundle ex- plained. “In the near future it will be no more possible to conduct an over- haul and repair plant on a passenger fiving field than it would be to operate a locomotive roundhouse and repair shop in a passenger terminal.” COAST-TO-COAST AIR SCHEDULE PLANNED Travel With Comfort Between | New York and San Francisco Promised Coming Summer. Const-to-cost air-rail travel on the Transcontinental Air Transport line between New York and San Francisco, which is to begin operations this Sum- mer on a 48-hour schedule, will cost the traveler between the two coastal cities $350, including transportation to and from airports, luncheon in the air and insurance policies covering each | passenger, it has been announced by C. M. Keys, president of the line. Service is to begin July 8, Mr. Keys announced, the transcontinental pas- senger traveling by rail over the Penn- sylvania raflroad from New York to | Columbus, Ohio: by air from Columbus | to Waynoka, Kans.; by train over the | Santa Fe from Waynoka to Clovis, N. M., and by air from Clovis to Los Ange- les, where the passenger will transfer | to_another plane for San Francisco. | The total cost, which will be approxi- mately double the regular railroad fare, will include two nights’ travel by rail and two days by air. The line will be formally inaugurated July 8 at Colum- bus and Los Angeles, passenger planes | leaving both point: | get away from this through the wire- bu | never will be more than 400 miles from ' AIRPLANE IS BUILT | and drew the plans. CANADIAN T0 TRY - TRANSOCEAN HOP Lieut. Bromley Will Brave Pacific on Tacoma-to- Tokio Flight. By the Associated Press. | LOS ANGELES. June 8.—A new | challenge to the sternest barrier M’ ! aviation—the ocean—will be cast this month over the broad Pacific by & | stocky Canadian. | Lieut. Harold Bromley is here com pleting plans for what he believes w be the “best prepared water hop” ever | recorded—a solo non-stop flight from Tacoma, Wash., to Tokio. Japan. | For more than a year Lieut. Bromlev, who learned the tricks of the stick” in the World War after months in a machine gun nest with only a sharpnel scratch for a physical reminder, has been nursing his dream of such an ocean hop. Disclaims Stunt Attempt. And like most experienced pilots. | Bromley is supremely confident but shy of conversation except when some one touches on the purpose for his long shot against disaster. “It's not a stunt,” he exclaims with a bit of perturbation. “I regard it as an effort to ploneer aviation in & particular field. “There's a great possibillty for air mail between America and Japan. It | takes two weeks to make it by steamer | from Tacoma to Tokio and T think who will fly the “Great Circle.” route up around the Aleutian | Tslands—the same toute followed by | the Army round-the-world fliers nine | years ago—will be attempting the first | non-stop flight between America and | Asia. He believes he can make it in| 33 to 35 hours with an air speed of 135 miles from a 330-horsepower Wright | motor with a top speed of 180 miles. | Supervises Building of Plane. | Here, at a plant where | famous airplanes have been built for record flights, Bromley is supervising the construction of a special Lockheed- Vega under-wing monoplane. With & gasoline supply of 800 gallons, it has a flight distance of 6,000 miles to pit against the 4.700 miles to Tokio For this “bsst prepared” hop Brom- ley is schooling himself in celestial navigation, carrying an immense gaso- line supply, and installing a wireless set The greatest danger. Bromley feels. will be fog off the Alaskan coast. “Tll less,” he believes. “Every hour I will etin my position and air speed. I any_station.” i The lieutenant, who_enlisted in_the Canadian army when he was 16, lives in Tacoma with his wife and five-year- old son. There, as head of com. mercial fiying school. he gained the financial backing of a group of Tacoma capitalists. BY FIVE BROTHERS Little Shop in East Boston Turns Out Two-Seater of Dual Control Which Flies. By the Associated Press. BOSTON, June Pive brothers have co-operated in building an air- plane. The young men, whose ages range from 17 to 28, are Zantford, Tomas. Robert, Mark and Edward Granville of Malden, Mass.. who grew up on a farm in Madison, N. H. All are mechanics. but Zantford is the only licensed pilot in the family. He has been flying four years. Zantford designed the sport biplane ‘Then the broth- ers set to work in a little shop in East | LAST NAVY A.VIATION ! CHARTS NEARLY READY Boston to Eastport, Me., and New York to Boston Sections Have Been Checked. The last two Navy aviation charts needed to complete the Atlantic Const program are nearly ready for printing and have been flight checked during the past two weeks. These sections are V-230, Boston to Eastport, Me., and | V-231, New York to Boston. The flight check work was done by Lieut. J. P. W. Vest, T. P. Lampe, hydrographic office chart engineer, and W. L. Richardson, chief Navy photog- rapher, in an OL-8 Navy plane. Five days were spent in covering the terri- tory and, in spite of unfavorable weather. photographic maps were made of the fields and cities along the entire route. So much information was obtained that publication of the charts was de- layed in order to incorporate correc- tions. They will be published prior to July 1, however, it is expected. | controls | low speed flying and s adjustable by Boston, ngt far from the Bcston Air- port. Sometimes they toiled into the smail hours of the morning. When it was completed everything with the ex- ception of the engin: and the taxi wheels had been built and assemoied by the five brothers. The plane is a two-seater with dual The top wing of the rhip is adjustable for either high speed or a control in the cockpit while in flight. All the brothers breathed a few sighs of satisfaction after Zantford took the plane, hopped off. circled over the a'r- port and then made a graceful landing. USE NEW TYPE HOOD. Navy pilots at the San Diego Naval Air Sfation will get their fill of “blind | flying” under a new type of hood de- signed for the front cockpit of open cockpit Navy planes. According to word received here, the cover is made of aluminum, extending far enough to the rear on the top and sides to prevent the pilot seeing the ground or horizon. A small emergency exit door is provided, while the small opening in the rear permits reading of the instruments. Lieut. Harold Bromley (inset) plans to fly the route shown in a transoceanic jump from Tacoma, Wash., to Tokio, Japan, this month. JOINT DRILLS ARE HELD. | |and received from six sources, repre- senting bombing and torpedo squadron leaders. The work of the Army ob- Army and Navy Work Together in |servers and Navy radio men, the Navy Green Panama Communications Tests. Joint tion drills have been held recently in the Panama Canal Zone with planes from France Field. working out of several important prob- | 1ems. The Navy ground station acted as many | “net_control.” ‘and messages were sent Army | Department has announced. “shows prospect. of smooth and reliable inter- | communication belween the two sery- | ices in the near future.” Nine of sixteen ensigns composing Class 28-1 at the Hampton Roads Naval Air Station have completed the course and Navy communica- | the resulting in_the | flights. | SEEK FLYING GUESTS. | Grounds for Planes to Land. | MANCHESTER, Vt. hotels are making themselv by air in this Green Mountain State. One hotel has equipped a flying fleld with a hangar for eight ships, and a standard wind gauge, successfully and made their first s0lo| nounced that its field is in good condi- tion for landing. * CREATLY REDUCED e | Plant for Producing New Type of Plane Motor Is Near- l ing Completion. | | DETROIT, June 8—A plant for the production of the Diesel type of air- plane motor perfected by Capt. L. M. | Woolson, aeronautical engineer of the Packard Motor Car Co.., 8 nearing com- | pletion here, Announced originally as a three-story | building, it has been decided to add an- other floor. The change in plans prob- | ably will delay initial deliveries of the new motor. ‘The plant will have a ca- pacity of 500 engines a month. _ One of the real handicaps in adapt- ing a Diesel-type motor to aviation had to be overcome by Capt. Woolson in per- | fecting the motor. This was to reduce | the weight of the engine. The great weight of the original Diesel motor con- fined its use almost entirely to marine | work or stationary plants. Capt. Wool- son is understood to have developed his type with a weight of about 2 pounds per_horsepower. Using what Capt. Woolson calls “fur- nace ofl” instead of gasoline, it is | claimed the Diesel-type motor can be | operated at from one-third to one-fifth | as much as a gasoline engine | | In a recent flight from Detroit to| Langley Field. Va. Capt. Woolson re- | ported the 700 miles covered in six nours and 50 minutes, and the consump- | tion of “$4.68 worth of furnace oil.” Reduction of the tremendous weight of the motor as brought out by Dr. Rudol{ Diesel, a German engineer, in 1897 has been made possible by the de- velopment_of an aluminum alloy that | Equip could withstand the great pressure brought against the cylinder walls, Mountain Hotels During the last month, the Stand- ard Oil Co. of Indiana has marked 133 of its stations in Midwestern States for | the guidance of aviators. More than | 1,800 towns in the United States have | been reported to the Department of | Commerce as adequately marked for | | alr travel. | (#) —Summer accessibie and has an- | big ships. GANADA REGARDED AS HELIUM SOURCE May Supply Gas for New Giant Dirigibles Being Built by Britain. Great Britain may call upon Canada to supply helium gas for the giant dirigibles R-100 and R-101 which now are nearing completion, according to information received by the Depart- ment, of Commerce, British _airship services from Eng- land to Canada, Australia and India are contemplated and for the sake of safety is is desired to use helium rather than hydrogen t~ inflate the Canada is the only country outside the United States from which helium may be obtained in workable amounts, it is stated in a bulletin is- sued by the department of colonization of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Investigation of the possibility of - | the exception of hydrogen. 17 | obtaining helium from Canadian natu- | ral gas were begun in 1916, it WAS an- nounced, showing that many in Ontario contain 0.3 per cent of helium and that those in Western Canada are richer, the greatest source of sup- ply being in the Bow Island district of Alberta, where it is estimated 12.- 000.000 cubic feet of helium are being lost_each vear. “In_addition to its bility,” the bulletin continues, “helium is extremely inactive. does not com- bine with any other element, and with < the light- st of all gases. Helium has 8 per cent less lifting power than hydrogen, but its safety compensates for this. “The United States extracted large quantities of helium from gas flelds during the war, and after the war pro- hibited all export. Helium was ‘de- creed ine only gas to be used in American dirigibles in 1922, following the series of dirigible disasters costing heavy loss of life which it was decided was due largely to the inflammability of the gas used.” non-combusti- Midland Airport Enlarged. ‘The Midland, Tex., Airport has been materially improved by the addition of several acres of land adjoining the air- port to the north. The fleld, which is a stopping place for many fiyers using the southern transcontinental route. now measures 4,500 by 3.200 feet with unusually clear approaches. ANOTHER NATIONALLY ADVERTISED LINE of Motor Reconditioning SIMPLEX Piston Rings Care the 3 Bad Habits oil pumping, compression loss, and piston slap, with- out expensive grinding, bor- ing or honing. RAY KEECH winner of the Indianapolis Memorial Day Sweepstakes used SIMPLEX PISTON RINGS. Your Local repairman promptly supplied by SOUTHERN WHOLESALERS, INC. 1519-21 L STREET N.W. Only VIKING offers the luxury of 90° V- Eight performance. i ..... at medium price PHONE DECATUR 130 € o. b. factory, Michigan. umpers Extra Consider the Delivered Price Ielivered prices include only _reasonable for delivery and financing. WILD TALES OF NARROW ESCAPES| BEGUILE AIR PILOTS' SPARE TIME| By the Associated Press. Itook up the son of the mayor of Clay There is one outstanding difference between the new mechanism is entirely new in design and is more ac- self-energizing type. And four Lovejoy hydraulic CLEVELAND.—Hair-raising storics of “closest shaves” in the air help to fill the gap for transport pilots es they wait for their cargoes. The end of the run on the air mail finds the relief pilots huddled around a stove in Winter or beneath a shade tree in Summer swapping yarns on their fiying experiences. There is no closed season, and the first fellow hasn't a chance. E. E. Underhill, National Air Trans- port pilot between Cleveland and Chi- cago, tells a clas one about being hired to drop a boug n a wireless station dedicated at Brunswick, N. J He started out in a dense fog gained loomed As he gas holde: mis-ed the Ra hug an he barely i ver to keep his bearing avoided hitting a steamer. Rising agair he flew so close to a sand aredging crane that & man working on it jumped off to escape being hit Finally Underhill spotted a field and | headed for it. Two buildings swept out of the fog toward him. He edged be- | tween them and snapped a clothesline. | A woman, hanging up her washing fainted. Pulliug back on the stick, he roared upward to be greeted by two smokestacks. He tried to slip between them, but one ripped off a wing. The | plane crashed. but Underhill received only minor injuries. Twenty feet from the wreckage a TNT arsenal Now let Joseph Doerflinger, Universal Air Lines pilot, tell one. Fifty miles out from Alicante, Spain, over the Medi- terranean, the plane in which he was carrying four passengers was forced down by storm The float was w flinger and his wings. ‘They finally got out an emer- gency boat and put to sea in it. The boat leaked. Pigeons were released, but the storm forced them back. Late at night Tockets attracted a steamer .and the sirplane party was picked up. J. V. McClaffiin, Continental Air Lines pilot, recalls the day he proudly City, Ind,, to distribute handbills over | the city. The magneto burned out| when the plane was only 100 feet above the street and the engine stopped. He tried to glide, but the field was not | close enough, so_the plane perched on a fence. Mr. Clafin and the youth scrambled out, only slightly scratched. E. Dryer, chief pilot of the Stewart | Aircraft Corporation, tells of the time he bet $500 that he could break a wing | off his biplane, and won the money. To do it he went up 3.000 feet, looped the loop eight times. nosed downward At speed for 500 fect, then suddenly | The wing snapped and | er diopped to the field in a para- ite to claim his bet F. Collins, Cleveland-to-New T, once tested a 500,000-candle- power magnesium flare for night flying. nded him and he went two miles | le_to sce a_thing Important Message You Should Know Concerning Your Car. The lubricant in the transmission and rear axles should be kept up to the proper level. This insures easy gear shifting and prevents wear to parts. All Ebonite Dealers drain out the | old lubricant and make no charge | “or this service. Then refill with fresh EBONITE (Combination of Pure Oil) 20 Cents a Shot At Filling Stations and Garages. BAYERSON OIL WORKS ] Columbia 5228 Viking and all other automobiles. The Viking is the only medium-priced car on the market today that provides the definite superiorities of ninety-degree, V-type, eight-cylinder perrormance. The difference is instantly discernible when you drive thecar. The very feel of its power—its smooth, quiet flow —suggests the remarkable performance abilities of its 81-horscpower, V-eight engine. These abilities become increasingly evident with every performance test. There is indescribable smoothness. Acceleration is exceptionally swift and sure, both in getaway from a standing start and in pick-up at the higher speeds. Speed is easy and effortless, practically limited by the driver's desire. Few motorists drive as fast as this new Viking will travel. Among the outstanding advantages of the new Viking engine are its simplicity, rigidity, accessibility,and compactness. The valve Wisconsin Motor Co. 726 17th Street N.W. Telephone Franklin 1695 Mt. Pleasant Motor Co. 2424 18th Street N.W. Telephone Columbia 3633 Murphy Motor Co. 266 Carroll St., Takoma Park, D. C. s Bplephane. Grargin 3352 cessible than in the conventional automobile engine. The valves are set horizontally and are unusually simple, quiet, and rigid. Fuel distribution is based on the down-draft principle of manifolding—providing each cylinder with a fuel mixture of uniform qual- ity. The four-wheel brakes are of the new two-shoe. proportioned. shock absorbers assure restful riding ease. Viking bodies are smartly tailored and beautifully Inside and out, they pay tribute to the designing genius of Fisher artist-engineers. The luxurious interiors are richly upholstered and tastefully appointed. Seats are wide, deep-cushioned, and form-fitting. And the front seat is instantly adjustable to suit the driver's individual preference. OLDSMOBILE SIX —the Fine Car of Low Price—continucs to win ever greater success throughout the nation. Companion car to the new Viking Eight, and equally outstanding in engineering and value at its price, it offers a wide choice of body style and equipment combination rang- ing from $873 up, f. 0. b. factory, Lansing, Michigan. Oldsmobile-Washington Co. 1515 14th Street N.W. Telephone Decatur 5516 N a s “ o v oo In every way, the introduction of the Viking is a significant event in automotive history. It createsa new standard of value—for the Viking brings to its field characteristics of appearance, performance, and comfort which havedistinguished carsof higher price. If you have not already inspected the Viking, come in and do so today. Get behind the wheel and drive it. Then, and only then, can you fully appreciate the luxury of ninety-degree, V-type, eight-cylinder performance that the . Viking brings to the medium-price field. Pohanka Service 1126 20th Street N.W. Telephone Decatur 206 Northeast Oldsmobile Sales & Service 64 H Street N.E. Telephone National 2335 Olds Motor Works, Factory Wholesale Branch, 1515 14th St. N.W. I . Chevy Chase Motors 6701 Wis. Ave., Chevy Chase, Md. Felashene Wisconsin 2070