Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1929, Page 56

THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C.. JUNE 30. 1929—PART 4. AVIATION BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. AN'S experience since the) dawn of history has led to | the location of all great cities on the water’s edge. | Seaports, those meeting places | between the land and ocean, have | been indispenable to the pros- perity of men and nations. | Today every city and town is a | port on greater seas than man| ever sailed in the past. The smallest community, by the con- structicn of an airport, may be- come a port of call on the ocean of the air. Eight centuries ago one of the powerful Doges of Venice, appre- ciating to the full that the proud city along the Grand Canal owed its glory to the sea, instituted the | picturesque ceremony of wedding the city to the Adriatic, a custom which survives today. With no pomp or ceremony hun- drews of American cities and| towns are being wedded to the sea of the air through the construc- tion of municipal airports. Whether on the seacoast, on in- land rivers or on the dry plains, | each one of these cities and towns has become a port on the greatest ocean man ever has sailed. | Fields Number 1,500. Today there are nearly 1,500 airplane landing fields in actual operation in the United States, with 1,000 more under construc- tion or proposed for construction | before the end of the year. By next Summer it is regarded as| certain that more than 2,000 air- ports will be in operation. ‘The most recent airport survey | comgleud by the airports section | of the Department of Commerce Bureau of Aeronautics shows that on May 1 there were in the United States 1,439 airports, operated by the Army, Navy, municipal gov- ernments, commercial organiza- tions, or the Department of Com- merce, which maintains interme- diate and marked auxiliary fields along the airways.- ‘There were on May 1,380 muni- | & cfianl airports, financed, construct- ed or maintained in whole or in art by American cities and| owns. ‘There were 387 com- mercial airports operated exclu- sively as commercial propositions. The Department of Commerce at that time had in operation 282 intermediate fields and 203 marked auxiliary fields along the | various national airways. The Army Air Corps has in operation in various parts of the country a total of 70 flying fields, several of them among the great- est in the country. ere are 15 Naval Air Stations, includin Marine Corps and Coast Guar stations. The Department of Agri- culture also has two flying fields, one for the Forestry Service in Idaho and one in Louisiana for crop dusting and other agricul- tural work, much of it of an ex- perimental nature. On May 1 work was in progress or about to be started on 1,002 additional airports, practically all af I%hem municipal or commercial elds. Airports Survey Begins. Classification of the airport facilities of the country under the new rating regulations of the De- ; partment of Commerce has been | started by the airports section of ihe aeronautics branch, under ol. Harry H. Blee. More than a ore of cities, proud of their air- port projects and eager to be placed on the official air map of the country, have applied for | ratings and have been given the | necessary application forms and instructions. Within a few days 1t is expected that field workers of | the airports section will be busy | in all parts of the country inspect- i ing the various airport projects. .. An “AlA” rating will be the | highest given by the Department of Commerce and preliminary in- spection has indicated that few airports in the United States will | merit such a rating. The ratings will be made strictly upon the basis of findings by the inspectors | . and airports mast meet exactly the regulations laid down by the | department before they can merit the prize rating. In cases where cities have ap- ; plied for A1A ratings for their air- snons and inspection reveals a | ailure to comply with the re- quirements, a lower rating will be granted, if desired, until such time as the higher rating is justified. Many of the larger airport proj- ects in the country, which eventually will rate the AlA| :rlmrk'hg, still are under construc- ' tion. i Field facilities, landing area| and night lighting equipment wili | govern the rating of airports. The | first letter of the rating will desig- | ‘ nate the type of general equip- ment. This will be followed by a numeral indicating the size of | the field. The final letter indi- cates the kind of lighting equip- ment. Rating Requirements. To obtain an A rating on gen- eral equipment the airport must have at least one 80-by-100-foot hangar with provisions for protec- tion against cold; wind-direction | indicators, obstruction marker repair equipment sufficient to per- mit changing of engines and land- | ing gear and equipment for major i engine and plane repairs; weather | observation and reporting facili- | ties; radio receiving equipment for receiving Department of Com- merce alrways reports; snow-re- moval equipment in climates where needed; first-aid equip- ment, including an ambulance and necessary kits; adequate fire- fighting apparatus; sufficient per- | sonnel in attendance to properly | operate all departments of the Al rt; sleeping quarters, waiting | and rest rooms and restaurant | facilities. ! 'To obtain a “1” rating the air- port must have at least 2,500 feet of effective landing area in all directions, with clear approach ., and must either have paved lan | ing strips or be in good condition for landing at all times. There distance of at least seven times its height. equlfmem. requires that the field shall have an airport beacon com- plying with certain rigid stand- ards; an illuminated wind-direc- tion indicator, boundary lights, obstruction lights, hangar flood lights and roof marker, a ceiling projector for determining the heights of clouds, a landing area floodlight system, all-night oper- ation of lighting equipment and sufficient night personnel to op- erate the lighting equipment, minor repairs and weather serv- ice, and to operate fire-fighting equipment. Must Be Near Cities. In addition to all these require- conditions which must be satisfied regarding its location and acces- sibility. It must be within the city it serves and must have ade- quate transportation facilities to carry passengers to and from the field quickly and comfortably. Lack of sufficient landing fields is held to be one of the two out- standing factors holding back safe and universal flying today. The other factor, according to the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, is the technical problem of loss of con- at low speed. The Guggenheim Fund advo- | cates the location of airports or | emergency landing fields at inter- vals of a minimum of 10 miles in each direction, so that an airplane gliding distance of a safe landing area. The land' necessary for such landing flelds every 10 miles throughout the country, the Gug- genheims estimate, would be but 3 per cent of the total land area devoted to railroads and high- right of way in use and by sta- tion property is 21,550 square miles. The total area occupied by the Nation‘s roads and highways, according to the latest mileage figures, is 28,500 square miles. The total area for both is a little more than 50,000 square miles. Airports and Safety. Landing fields of normal inter- mediate size, with runways 1,200 feet long, as used by the air mail, placed 10 miles apart all over the country would require only 1544 square miles, according to the Guggenheim report. The location of a class A airport, with 2,500- foot runways in all directions, at intervals of 10 miles all over the United States would require an area of only 6,720 square miles de- voted to air transport, it is esti- mated. Such an arrangement would section of the country, it is point- ed out, and would permit safe fly- ing in any direction. gWith air- ports at the corners of 10-mile squares it would be impossible for an airplane to get more than 7.1 miles from a prepared landing field, even when at the intersec- tion of the diagonals of the square. Similarly, no part of the country would be more than this distance away from a flying field An airplane flying at an alti- tude of 5,000 feet would always have one or more landing fields within gliding range in case of motor trouble. The flyer over- taken by bad weather could get down at any time on five minutes’ notice. This arrangement landing fields, it is believed by advocates of the plan, would re- sult in safe flying on a scale so universal as to dwarf the dgeams of the most enthusiastic follewer of aviation. TERMINAL NEARLY READY. Line Will Open Air-Rail Service on July 8. ‘The Port of Columbus, the Trans- continental Air Transport, Inc., train- plane terminal at Columbus, Ohio, has been made ready for the opening of the company’s rail-air service July Hard surfaced runways, a hangar and train sheds have been completed and the administration building and waiting station is nearing completion. ‘The Department of Commerce has been asked to advise pilots, however, that provision for accommodating transients cannot be made before August. Planes to Transport Mushrooms. Mushrooms are to be sent by air from the Kennett Square section of Pennsylvania and Delaware, famous for its crops of the plant, directly to hotels, restaurants and retailers in New York We take this means of models available at reasonal There are many of them o For immediate delivery 106-H. P. Chris-Crait seda hour and seating eleven pas buy for $3,500.00. Come down to the foot and inspect our wonderful An “A” rating on night-lighting service visiting aircraft, including | ments for the field itself there are | shortest possible distance of the | trol due to operation of airplanes | flying at an altitude of 4,000 to | 5,000 feet never would be out of | ays. It is estimated that the total | land area occupied by railway |oru: Bt Gt I enarge | mail pilot; E. Hamilton Lee, senior pilo: bring air transportation to every | of | ANEN T0 SPEAK N RADIO SERES |First Talks Will Be Given Tuesday Night in Air Edu- cation Program. The first of a series of aeronautical | | radio talks which will bring to the | microphone famous flyers, Government aviation officials and recognized leaders of the aircraft industry will be opened at 7 o'clock Tuesday evening by Secre- tary of Commerce Robert P. Lamoni over the National Broadcasting Co. hook-up. Secretary Lamont. as President Hoov- | er's successor at the head of the De- | partment of Commerce, is in charge of | the Government's program to aid civil | aviation. Tuesday's radio address wiil be his first since he was called into the Hoover cabinet, Known as “Roads of the Sky.” It is expected that Mr. Lamont will outline plans for stimulaiing_ air com- | merce in the United States. He will be | introduced by Frederick B. Rentschler, president of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce and one of the outstand- ing figures in the aircraft industry. The radio series is to be known as “Roads of the Sky.” During this se- ries, which will be broadcast over the National Broadcasting System on suc- cessive Tuesday evenings at 7 o'clock, it |15 planned, the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce has announced, “to take | millions of radio ~listeners, most of whom have not yet flown, on air jour- | neys over the transcontinental air mail | route to the scenic wonderlands of America; through storm and fog by the aid of aviation radio; around the world to view new aeronautical developments; over the pan-American trail which Lindbergh blazed, and into the upper atmospheres explored by but few fiyers.” | The programs are planned to give the American public a comprehensive pic- | |ture of American aviation in its pres- ent stage of development, a picture that has been changing so rapidly that only an_expert would be qualified to keep abreast of the latest news. Hawks Will Be Speaker. Among the speakers of national prominence who will be brought to the microphone during the “Roads of the Sky” series are Capt. Frank Hawks, hoider of the non-stop transcontinental air record; Herbert Hoover, jr., son of the President, who is-an aviation radio expert; W. Irving Glover, Second As- sistant Postmaster General, in charge | of the transcontinental air mail: Lieut. | Apollo Soucek, holder of the world alti- tude record for seaplanes: Erik Nelson, famous round-the-world fiyer; F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War for Aeronautics: Willlam P. MacCracken, jr.. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, and David S. Ingalls, As- sistant Secretary of the Navy for Aero- LIGHT SPORT PLANES ARE IMPORTED HERE Fifty. Ships, Worth $2,521 Each, Sent to United States This Year. By the Associated Press. The increasing popularity of {light low-priced sportpvllneyln Am';‘;t lé.'lm\.l reflected in the Department of ‘ommerce report of airplane imports ;:.:r exports for the first quarter o?’}'m Fifty planes, averaging $2,521 each in value, were purchased abroad during the first three months of the year, the value indicating that the greater per- centage were of the light sport type. A decrease in importation of these low-priced foreign products is seen by the Department of Commerce, how- ever, as most of the light planes her tofore purchased abroad now are being manufactured in the Unitéd States un- der license. The importation figures contrast greatly with those for export of Ameri- can planes. The 69 American-built planes sent abroad during the were of the heavier commercial type, averaging $15,993 each in value. The value of airplane exports for the first three months of the year was $1,103,520, more than double the value of planes sent abroad in the corre- sponding period of last year. Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Japan were the leading purchasers. ‘Eighteen’ Signifies Pilot Feeling Fine In ‘Schneider’ Test “How's your Schneider?” ‘This greeting has replaced the familiar, “How’s your health?” among pilots of the Boeing Bys- tem, operators of Pacific Coast and half of the transcontinental airmail, express and passenger lines. ‘The “Schneider” refers to vari- ous monthly tests of pulse, blood pressure, eyes, teeth, ears. equi- librium and so forth. When » pilot, asked about his Schneider, replies “Eighteen” it means he is feeling mighty fine and is fit to fly and fly and fly. But if he responds, unhappily, “Just eight,” it means he will be founded temporarily as unfit for ying, as the Boeing System re- quires & minimum rating of 10 in the Schneider test for flying pllots. NOTICE MR. MOTOR BOAT PROSPECT notifying the public that we have been appointed exclusive agents for the Elco boats and cruisers in this vicinity. We have on hand at present the Elco 26 at $2,975, or the Elco 38 at $10,750 for immediate delivery. Other ble prices. The Elco boats need no introduction in this section. n the river giving wonderful service. The Ilco factory is the largest and most up-to- date factory of its kind in the world. we have on hand a 24-foot boat capable of 32 miles an sengers. This is a wonderful of 9th and Water Sts. S\W. line of boats and our service WAR-TIME ARMY FLYER JOINS STAFF OF WASHINGTON AIRPO l Lieut. William J. McKiernan, Jr., to Pilot Plane on New York Line. Has Been Instructor in Air Corps Tactical School at Langley. ! | | After 11 years in the Army, Lieut. | William J. McKiernan, jr., instructor in | the Air Corps Tactical School at Lang- ley Field, Hampton, Va., has joined the | aff of Washington Airport and the | Washington-New York Alr Line as a pilot. Lieut. McKiernan formerly was a resident of this city and was a mem- ber of the District National Guard, prior to the World War. He was a war-time Army pilot and has been flying ever since the close of the war. He is the | second Army pilot to join the Wash- | ington Airport staff, the others having come from the Marine Corps and Navy. Lieut. McKiernan was born in New | York, April 25, 1895, coming to this | city as a boy. He served as private, | corporal and sergeant in the Machine | Gun Company and Company K of the 3d Infantry, District National Guard, FOUR FLYING BROTHERS ARE “SMALL TOWN” BOYS YING \ i 1 SPARTA, Il (®).—The Hunter | brothers are small town boys who wanted to see the world, so they be- came airplane pilots. | John Hunter got the urge first. It | was In 1923 and he bought a ticket to | St. Louls, where Mal. W. B. Robert- son “gave him the works.” { John was adept and with his lessons | learned, he came back Yo Sparta and | called for his brother’s money. All of | it was just enough for a plane and in | that plane John taught the other three to fly. Now John and Walter fiy the mail | and Kenneth and Albert handle a local | commercial service. None of the four has had a serious crack-up in the last five years. i IT COSTS e e LIEUT. W. J. McKIERN. from June 20, 1916, to March 3, 1917. Enlisting in the Signal Corps of the Army at the outbreak of the World War, Lieut. McKiernan went to ground | school and the advanced flying school and was commissioned a second lieuten- ant in the air service October 2, 1918, He was commissioned a first lieuten- nt m the Regular Army July 1, 1920. KANSAS CITY TO BUILD $500,000 AIR TERMINAL | KANSAS CITY (P).—An air term- inal three times larger than Kansas City's Republican convention hall of 1928 is to be erected at the municipal airport. ) “he $500,000 structure, to be operated like a railway terminal, will have an area of 160,000 square feet on its ground floor. Inside the terminal itself will be an inner office building 100 feet in diameter, entirely closed off from the hangar. A canopy 60 feet deep and 450 feet in diameter will form a hangar for planes that may taxi into it from any direction. An air passenger station near the terminal is to be used as a waiting room and baggage quarters. NO RE FLYI CLOUDS THE TREW MOTOR CO. JOSEPH B. TREW, President Sales Department { Britain Aiso Foresees 40- ARTAKS INVEW ATSHLLINGAMLE Passenger Planes for Long- | Distance Travel. | LONDON ) —Shilling-a-mile at| ;mxu for hopping around England and | | 40-passenger biplanes for traveling to| | India and South Africa are among the | | new transport facilities promised Eng- | | lishmen by next Spring. | The taxis—small, fast planes equip- | ped to carry one passenger with bag- | | gage—will be operated out of Hanworth | | airdrome, northwest of the city, at rates | lower than the average American land- | going cab. | " A traveler who misses his boat or | train, for instance, will be able to hop |an air taxi and catch the ship at| | Southampton, 75 miles from here, for | | $18. The company inaugurating the | service plans to start with s fleet of 16 | cloud-going cabs and increa# the num- | ber as business warrants. The 40-seat planes are being built | | for the newly established England-to- | | India mail line, which began carrying | | mafl and passengers from Croydon to | | Karachi late in March, but some may | see service on the proposed South Africa | line. These huge all-metal liners, each | powered with four 500-horsepower en- | gines, will have cabins described as | roomier than Pullman cars. “Each will have two lavatories, a bar | and several private compartments. Un- | | like most passenger-carrying biplanes, | the new 40-seat ship will have both | | wings and all its engines above the passenger cabin. Two_engines will be mounted just | beneath the upper wing, and two just | | above the lower wing, with the fuseiage | | hung under all. Passengers thus will have an unobstructed view and, since | none of the propellers will be on a | direct line with the cabin seats, oc- cupants can be more completely shut off from the noise of the engines. fireproof smoking room will provide the last word in comfort for the traveler who must have his smoke. Other structural detalls of the new liners are being withheld by the makers, but it is planned to put the cabin of fhe first ship on view here next July. By the time the ships are ready for flight, England’s great lighter-than-air liner, the R-100, likely will have carried its first Joad of passengers to New York. | | Fire Engine in Air Proves Its Utility On Brush Blaze ‘The aerial fire engine has made its appearance. An airplane equipped with tanks for a special extinguishing fluid recently démonstrated its utility by extinguishing a brush fire'on Long Island, N. Y., within a few minutes. The fluid was sprayed from the plane at a rate of one gallon per acre, the plane fying low over the fire and the liquid being spread by the propeller slip-stream. The fluld generates a gas Which smothers the flame. LAKE FOR NEW ‘AIRPORT. Amphibian Planes May Land at AR MAIL POUNDAGE - RAPIDLY GROWING iAmerican Corporation Esti- mates 8,500 Per Cent In- crease Since First Year. | By the Associated Press. The use of air mail has increased | 8.500 per cent since the first mail was carried by air between Washington and | New York 11 years ago. | Only 77,000 pounds of mail were | carried by air the first year, but this | vear, the American Air Transport As- Markham, Near Chicago. | sociation estimates, more than 7,000,000 pounds will be carried, and planes on CHICAGO (#).—The new airport of | ne existing 23 routes of the country the aviation corporation at Markham, | are expected to fly more than 13,000, 4 | 000 miles. A monthly average of 5 1L, & Chicago suburb, is to have & smail o Jake where. amphibians. may atight. | 000,ounds was carried the first Bait of this year. The airport, to be built on a tract| Half of the monthly mail plane fly- one mile square, will be 12 miles from |ing total of 1,000,000' miles is being the downtown section of Chicago. |done at night over lighted airways. Hangars, service stations and a radio |On the approximately 20,000 miles of station for directing planes from the |airways maintained and equipped by ground are to be built. There will be}me Department of Commerce there space for 100 shops and hangars. |are 282 lighted intermediate fields lo- Aviation corporation is made up of | cated between terminal points, with 24- the Universal, Interstate and Embry- hour service available should pilots Riddle companies. ! have to land. i | ANOTHER NATIONALLY ADVERTISED LINE IPERFECT CIRCLE PISTON RINGS No one factor is as important in a motor ovethaul as the kind of piston rings installed. # PERFZCT CIRCLES are specified by more than 807 of the car makers. The aeroplane Fort Worth, holder of all en- durance records, used Perfect Circle Piston Rings. Your local repairman promptly supplied by uthern Wholesalers, Inec. 1519.21 L Street, N. W. Phone Decatur 130 MORE TO OWN A REO THAN ANY GOOD $1000 CAR Maybe you've thought that a Reo Flying Cloud was beyond your means. But let’s consider! A hundred dollars, or so, more on the down - payment, possibly three additional payments, and you've cleared up the first cost difference —a difference which a Res Flying Cloud will ultimately save you in repairs alone. Reos are not built on the “one»yun.-—mo—yur-mde basis. They are built to give outstanding service for four, six, o even more, years—to be running well long after the ordinary car has outlived its usefulness. More than that: a Reo gives you a degree of road perform- ance and mechanical dependability that can fairly be compared only with that rendered by cars in the highest price-field. You will get a pleasure and continued satisfaction that you have never! to run a Reo O NG upuimcd...Andhvvillcofiywmnmllylwdmitwodd a $1000 car. Now you can have Flying Cloud at a lower price than ever before. . . . Reo Flying Clouds are priced at the factory as follows: 5 - Passenger Sedans $1395, Sport $1495; Master $1745, Sport $1870; Car of the Month $1970. 2.Passenger Coupe $1375, Sport $1475, 2-4.Passenger Coupe $1395, Sport $1495; Master $1625, Sport $1750. 5.-Passenger Brougham, Master $1595, Sport $1720. 4-Passenger Victoria, Master $1695, Sport $1820. Roadster, Master $1685, Sport $1810. REO MOTOR CAR CO. + LANSING, MICH, Maintcnance Department 1509-11 Fourteenth St. N.W. Salesroom Open Daily Until 9 P.M. GENERAL SUPPLY CO. A. A. AUSTIN WARRENTON HUDSON-ESSEX CO. Martinsburg, W. Va. Staunton, Va. Warrenton, Va. POMEROY MOTOR CO. PIEDMONN" MOTOR CO. FAWLEY'S GARAGE Ftedericksburg, Va. r, Va. Broadway, Va. Phones—Decatur 1910 to 1913 Sunday Until 5 P.M. ! must be no smokestacks, towers, high-tension power lines or simi- | lar menaces to aircraft in the ||| vicinity of the field, nor may there be any buildings or other ob- | stacles near the landing area over which a gliding le of 7 feet horhonulty to 1 foo! station. FEnjoy a demonstration and see what an enjoy- able sport motor boating really is. Washington Motor Boat Sales Agency 9th & Water Sts. S.W. Phone Mg 7435 1317-19 W Street N.W. - GEORGE WASHINGTON GARAGE ‘Winchester, Va. ROBERT V. NORRIS La Plats, Md. & vertically is In other wopsls, the LOUDQUN GARAGE Leesburg, Va.