Evening Star Newspaper, June 22, 1930, Page 54

s AVIATION BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. this country begins to show planes has been here for demon- signs of settling down. The stration to Army, Navy and De- infant industry has been partment of Commerce officials overfed. It has then gone to the during the past week. other extreme and been underfed., Locally, the air transport sit- It has grown fat and then lean.| uation seems more favorable than It has had colic, cramps and|in the past. Pennsylvania Air spells of yelling in the long hours Lines, formerly the Clifford Ball of the night. Now it is begiping Line, operating between the Na- to think about hardening its tional Capital and Pittsburgh, is muscles and looking for things to|doing the best business since its do and places to go. | establishment last year. Last Passenger rates on the coun-|Sunday it became necessary to try’s air transport lines for a time | operate a “double header” between were so high that few could afford | this city and Pittsburgh to handle to fly. Then the rates were cut|the service. Full planes are com- so low that the air lines could af- ' mon and on several days passen- ford to fly passengers no better | gers have been turned away for than a pauper can afford a steam | lack of space. The line operates yacht. | from Hoover Field, the westbound During the past week, however, | plane departing daily at noon. THE air transport industry in passenger cabin. One of these on the heels of an announcement by Transcontinental Air Trans- port-Maddux Air Lines that fares| on their foutes would be raised to | 7 cents per mile, came an an- nouncement by F. G. Coburn, president of American Airways, Direct air passenger service be- | tween the National Capital and the Pacific Coast in 27 hours or less now is available. An inter- | changeable schedule has been es- tablished, which makes it possible © poration, that fares of that pow-| minute © erful system on July 1 would be |this city at noon today, the trav- ¢ senger systems setting the fare|Angeles at 5 p.m. i rate at 7 cents a mile, there seems | to have luncheon in Washington i to be more prospect for sound de- : velopment than ever before, espe- | cially if the Watres airmail law | for the passenger to go through |from this city to San Francisco| with no delay of more than 40| minutes at any point. Leaving operating company for the wide- spread lines of the Aviation Cor- adjusted to the same basis. reler is landed in San Francisco With two of the largest air pas-|at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow or in Los It is possible ! Monday; supper in San Francisco ‘Tuesday. Two New Local Lines. During the past week Eastern Air Express began the operation of one plane a day in each direc- tion between Hoover Field and New York. A 20-place Sikorsky - works out as well as its advocates | have hoped it will. | Passenger Business Grows. | Last January passenger {arcs: ¢ on the country’s air lines were re- duced from a general level of 10 - and 11 cents per mile for the . larger companies to approximate- ly 5% cents per mile. The result ‘was an immediate increase in pas- = senger business in all parts of the t country, the increase running up = to 300 per cent on several lines. It became necessary to turn passen- gers away simply because there . were not enough planes to carry them. Passengers were forced to “ book their trips a week or 10 days in advance to obtain accommoda- < tions on the busier lines. The increase of the fare rate from 51, to 7 cents per mile is not the result of lack of patronage. The lower rate was not sufficient to cover the operating cost of the big modern transport planes even when full loads were carried. The new 7-cent basis, Mr. Co- burn believes, will permit the op- erators to “‘come nearer breaking even.” The operators do not fear any material falling off in the number of passengers carried be- cause of the increase. On the other hand, they believe it pos- sible, with the better flying con- ditions which hold good through- out the country in Summer, the large amount of vacation travel and the increased familiarity with air travel brought about by what is termed the “low fare experi- ment,” that the er . busi- ness will continue to increase, even during the period imme- diately following the inauguration of the increased rates. Experience Bears Out Claim. “This is borne out,” Mr. Coburn | said, “by experience on two of our lines. Colonial . division’s New York-Boston route has been do- ing a fine business on a fare of 8! cents per mile, and when | Embry-Riddle, operating between Chicago, Indianapolis and Cin- cinnati, slightly increased its fares on May 10, the business still continued its steady growth. “While the increase is not sub- stantial to the individual traveler, the amount in the aggregate will be material as far as our income from passenger. operations is concerned. Taken in conjunction with probable benefits that all airmail operators should - receive through passage of the McNary- Watres bill, which changes meth- ods of compensating transport companies for the carriage of mail, it should materially improve our ability to maintain, and, per- haps, expand, our service to the public.” The Watres bill is expected to have a pronounced influence on the type of plane flown on the country’s airmail network. The bill fixes the pay of airmail contrac- tors on a space instead of a poundage basis and allows a bonus for planes equipped with radio which carry passengers as well as mail. Passage of the measure has re- sulted in the construction for im- mediate use of 20 of the Boeing “40” mail planes, which are de- signed to meet the need of con- tractors for cargo space and pas- senger seats, together with econ- omy of operation and good speed. ‘The company also has developed to meet the demands of operators under the conditions imposed by the ‘bill a low-wing, all-metal, single-engined monoplane, cap- able of carrying six passengers and 800 pounds of mail, or 2,000 pounds of mail. It has retract- able landing gear, special engine cowling and other improvements designed to increase speed. It is equipped for two-way radio-phone communication. New Fokker Plane. | landplane, powered with two Hor- nets, was used on the first run; Ford tri-motors on subsequent runs during the week. One of the most interesting re- cent developments in air trans- port is to be the inauguration | this Summer of hourly air service in both directions between Wash- ington Airport and New York, with a stop at Philadelphia. It will be the first direct challenge to estab- lished railway transportation by | the aviation industry. The opera- tions organization is one of the most promising assembled for an air transport enterprise on the | East Coast, being composed largely of veterans of the Trans- continental Air Transport organi- zation. Service is to begin August | 5. Air transportation in the United States in many respects has passed that in Europe, according to re- ports received here by the De- partment of Commerce from its commercial attaches abroad. A complete report on British prac- tices, received from Trade Com- missioner H. A. Burch at London, shows that American air trans- portation as a rule is much faster than that on the British lines and that the planes are more com- fortable .and. more completely | equipped. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, AGROBATIC PLANE TRIO FORMED HERE IThree Ships Equipped to Fly Upside Down to Be Used by New Navy Stunt Group. A three-plane Navy acrobatic airplane section which promises to develop into one of the greatest acrobatic teams American aviation ever has seen is be- ing organized at the Anacostia Naval Air Station. The section will specialize in inverted formation flying, duplicating with three planes flying of the type made famous by Lieut. Alford J. Wil- liams, jr., but which never has been seen before except as solo flying. The section is being organized and will be led by a native Washingtonian, Lieut. Matthias B. Gardner, operations officer at the Anacostia Naval Air Sta- tion. His flying companions will be Lieut. Aaron P. Storrs, 3d., and Lieut. Frederick M. Trapnell of the flight test section, Anacostia. Has Special Equipment. Lieut. Gardner came into the lime- light as the Navy’s foremost acrobatic fiyer during the Curtiss Marine Trophy race last month when he performed acrobatics from the inverted position which never had been performed by any other pilot, except Lieut. Williams and which never before had been seen in public Gardner has mastered the principles of inverted flying in the Navy single- seater fighter which was developed for this purpose by Lieut. Williams before his resignation from the Navy last Spring to continue racing plane devel- opment as a private citizen, The plane is equipped with special fuel and oil feed systems which permit flying up- side-down as readily as in the normal position. Two other planes of the same type are being equipped with the special fuel and oil systems and the three crack Navy pilots will begin formation prac- tice in the inverted position as soon as the work is completed. The first of the two new planes is almost ready for use and the second will be ready within a week or 10 days. It is possible that the first public ap- pearance of the new three-plane section may be made at the National Air Races in Chicago next August. The races are the greatest aviation classic in the United States and it is regarded as the fitting place for such a section to make its_public debut. The section promises to eclipse the only other similar formation groups the country has had—the Army Air Corps’ “Three Musketeers” and the Navy's “Three Seahawks.” Both these formations were created for the Na- tional Air Races of 1927 at Los Angeles. Col. Charles A. Lindbergh led the Musketeers during the closing days of the races and Lieut. Storrs, who will be a member of Lieut. Gardner’s new sec- tion, was a member of the Seahawks. ‘With these three planes any of the maneuvers possible with the present- day airplanes may be executed, includ- ing the inverted or outside “falling leaf,” which has been performed by only two pilots in the world—Lieuts. Williams and Gardner, Gardner and Trapnell formerly were squadron mates in the famous Navy “Red Ripper” squadron of the U. 8. 8. Lexington. These two pilots and Lieut. Btorrs, who was second-place winner in the Curtiss races, rank as the three outstanding naval acrobatic pilots, ‘Was Born Here. Lieut. Gardner was born in the Na- tional Capital November 28, 1897, and entered the Navy from Pennsylvania July 6, 1915. He is one of the few men As in this country, air-cooled | engines, and, as a rule, multi-mo- | tored aircraft, are employed in | civil aviation in the United King- | dom, Mr. Burch reported. There is a distinct tendency toward the use of monoplanes, he said. Muf- | flers and insulators are used to cut down engine noise in the cabins. In this respect the British appar- ently are ahead of this country, where noise reduction still is in | the laboratory stage. Hand Cranking Prevails. | Inertia starters are practically | unknown, however, and the mot- | ors usually are started by hand. In this country inertia starters, | actuated either by hand or elec- tric motors, are almost universally {used. British planes have tail | skids, but not wheel brakes, though | Mr. Burch reports a tendency to | turn to the American practice in this respect. The average speed of planes in the services in the | United Kingdom is reported as 185.9 miles per hour. The major- | ity of American passenger trans- | port planes cruise at from 100 to | 110 miles per hour and operators now are seeking planes which will operate on a cruising basis of 150 | miles per hour. Airmail speeds of 130 miles per hour are common. | There is no combined air-rail service in the United Kingdom, but this system now is being de- veloped, the report continued. | Air-rail combinations are Nation- wide in extent here and the com- | bination tickets are sold at all | main railroad ticket offices. All airports in the United King- dom are governmentally con- trolled, Mr. Burch reported, though some of them are owned by mu- nicipal governments. Many of them are lighted for night flying, ithough night operations have not | been developed as they have in | this country, where a large bulk of the commercial operations go on during the night hours, espe- cially in the airmail service. The British government main- tains an hourly weather report- ing service and, as is the case in this country, weather information is transmitted by radio to planes in flight over the airways. Ulti- | mate decision as to what consti- | tutes sufficient bad weather to jus- tify the cancellation of a flight rests with the pilot, Mr. Burch re- ported. There is a growing tend- ency in this country to shift this The Fokker airplane line has|responsibility to an operations or been augmented by a new mail- | dispatching official of the air line. passenger plane, similar in capac- | This official is a veteran pilot and ity to the Boeing “40.” It is a high wing monoplane, powered | with a Hornet engine. Passen- gers are carried in a cabin under the wing, the pilot riding in an open cockpit above and behind the his judgment is made upon the basis of the most complete weath- er information it is possible to obtain, radio and teletype being employed for the speedy collec- tion of weather information. INDIAN WINS SOLO PRIZE Made First Flight to England of His Nationality. The Aga Khan prize for the first solo flight between England and India by an | East Indian pilot has been awarded to | Aspy Engineer, and immediately upon it ' being awarded the Indian potentate of- fered another prize of $2,500 for the 13t native of India who makes a solo fight from India to Capetown in four | weeks. There was some indecision as to whether the prize should be awarded to Mr. Engineer or to Man Mohan h, since the latter arrived first, but took th= long>st time, but since both arrived LIGHTS AID CONTROL Boeing Pilot Holds Plane on Course Against Cross-Winds. ‘The increased drag caused by land- ing lights protruding from an airplane wing has been utilized by Pilot John Murray, on the Boeing transcontinental airmail line between Chicago and Omaha, to hold the &llne on its course against light cross winds. Murray reports that he was able to keep the plane on course merely by ad- justing one or other of the lights, which mi be protruded from the wing by a cockpit-control system. Once on its fine of travel the plane held the course 50 well that variations to the right or left could be corrected winding in i~ same day it was decided to make J 2 avard to Engineer. by the proper landing light without us the rudder pedals. - who have graduated from both the Army and Navy advanced flying schools. Because of his long sea duty he has not had an opportunity to appear much in the public eye, though he long has been regarded as one of the Navy's finest pilots. He has served a total of seven and one-half years at sea and was cperations officer of VF-5B fighter squadron aboard the U. S. S. Lexing- ton when that squadron won the “gun- nery money” in 1928. He has been at Anacostia as operations officer since last Summer. . Storrs and Trapnell also have seen much sea duty. Storrs was born at Oswego, N. Y., December 3, 1901, and was appointed to the Naval Academy from New York in 1919. He served at sea until selected for aviation training at Pensacola and then went back to sea as a pilot in the aircraft squadrons of the Battle and Scouting Fleets. He was aide and flag lieutenant on the staff of the commander of the aircraft squadrons, Battle Fleet, when he was transferred to the local station, Trapnell was born in New Jersey July 9, 1902, and entered the Naval Academy in June, 1919, from West Vir- ginia. Though he has been out of the Naval Academy only seven years, in- cluding the time he spent in aviation training, he has had four and a half years at sea with the combat squadrons. MRS. AL WILLIAMS IS LEARNING TO FLY Lessons Are Given Wife of Former Racing and Acrobatic Pilot of Navy. Lieut. Alford J. Williams, jr., who was the Navy's crack racing plane and acro- batic pilot before resigning early in.the Spring to continue speed plane devel- opment as a civilian, is spending vacation at Garden City, Long Island, teaching his wife to fiy. Mrs. Willlams already has had 10 lessons at Roosevelt Field in her hus- band’s Fleet biplane. She hopes to re- ceive her pilot's license before their Summer vacation ends, according to word received_here. Lieut. and Mrs. Williams are at the field every day the weather permits fiying for instruction purposes. Mrs Williams is the daughter of Thomas Samuel Hawes of Bainbridge, Ga., for- mer general counsel to one of the large Southern railroads. While in New York, it is understood, Lieut. Willlams is making arrangements for a racing plane to be entered in the first . international race for the new Thompson Trophy, to be flown on La- bor day at Chicago in connection with the National Air Races. Service Station “Blues” A soothing melody to you—but not half as sooth- ing as our expert service is to your car. Gas, Oil, Crankcase Service, Gr g, Etc. Firestone Tires and Accessories One Square South of Penna. Ave. STAR SERVICE' STATION 12th and Sts. N.W. A Block Below ¥ the Raleigh JUNE 22, NAVY ACROBATIC SECTION Three Navy single-seater fighters, equipped for inverted flying, 1930—PART FOUR. FORMED are being prepared at the Anacostia Naval Air Sta- | include_Capt. William 8. Graveley of, Kelly Field. Tex. Lieut. Geo: . Goddard, Chanute Field, Rantoul, Ill.; I Lieut. Levi L. Beery, Wright Field, Day- ton, Ohio; Maj. Malcolm Elliott, Corps of Engineers, president of the Alaskan Road Commission, and two Air Corps | enlisted mechanic: The trip from the National Capital to Pairbanks will involve approximately 4,300 miles of flying and will require approximately 11 days. The route will | include Dayton, Chicago, Minnea) ;:{l'o N. Dak.; Miles City and s, Mont.; ‘Wash.; Bellingham, Wash.; Prince George and Hazelton, British Columbia; Telegraph Creek, Atlin, White Horse and Dawson, Yukon Territory, and Tanana Crossing and Fairbanks, Alaska. ‘The return trip, by a different route, will cover 3,847 miles. The same route | will be covered on the way back to | Prince George, British Columbia. Fromy | that point the course will be laid by | way of Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatoon |and _Regina, Saskatchewan; Pargo, N. Dak; Minneapolis, Chicago and Dayton. TWOARMY PLANES 10 GO O ALASKA Landing Fields to Be Located on Proposed Yukon- Pacific Highway. lis, Two Army phot hic planes are to take off from Boll Field this week for Pairbanks, Alaska, on an expedi- {tlon which promises to be of the most | vital importance to the territory’s plans for development of aviation facilities. More than 8,000 miles of cross-coun- try flying lie before the officers of the expedition in addition to the great amount of flying which will be required of them after their arrival in Alaska. ‘Tremendous mountain ranges, vast prairies and miles of wilderness must be crossed before the mission is accom- plished. ‘The planes, which are two of the Vacation Air Line to Open. CHICAGO (#)—Alrplane service be= tween Minneapolis, Detroit and Chi- cago and vacation Minnesota and Ca tion for a mew acrobatic section to replace the famous “Sea hawks” shown above. They are, left to right, Lieut. Frederick M. Trapnell, Lieut. M. P. Storrs, 3d. of 1927. The planes will be flown by the three pilots B. Gardner, section leader, and Lieut. Aaron —U. S. Navy Photos. SPECIAL RATES SPUR FLYING f PLANS MORE AIRLINES | eight new Fairchild single-engined cabin monoplanes purchased by the Air Corps | for photographic work, will carry three Air Corps pilots, a member of the Alas- kan Road Commission and two enlisted men, Landing Fields Sought | July 1 by the Izaal OVER CITY ON WASHINGTON DAY | What is believed to be the largest engined cabin planes. The fleld's re- number of residents of the National serveyléuzl b A :{»ecilsl flr!‘m to| Capital ever to fly here on & single day [31¢", 1Tk and Tom Potis. fourth regu- took advantage of the first “Washington | 1o Narch; & s o0, & MappIng expedition day” at Washington Alrport last Wed- | Special rates were offered for pas- nesday to make sightseeing flights over \ senger rides when two tickets were pur- | the city. | chased at the same time. Plans are be- During the day 360 passengers were |ing made for a second Washington day flown. Ordflgmly 75 pfl;hcen;‘ t:{ '"1 on Wednesday of this week. Reduced passengers lown over e ational V] v | Capital from Hoover Fleld and Wash- | "*te® 88ain will prevail. | ington Alrport, it is estimated. are out- | of-town residents who make the flights 25_part of a slghiseeing b, ! FLYER TEACHES FATHER | ‘The Washingto.: day proportion, how- S ever, was reversed and nearly 75 per) EL PASO, Tex. (#).—In the matter cent of the passengers flown during the | of fiying, an El Paso father has been day were residents of this city, accord- | taught a few things by his son. ing to officials of the fleld. The crowd | Not until he had made his first solo | began arriving at 9 o'clock in the morn- | flight did Lawrence T. Robey, El Paso ing, and from that time on business | chief of police, allow it to be known resembled that on Easter Sunday. that he was learning to fly under the Three pilots handled the crowds. | instruction of his son Clarence. Floyd Cox flew the Universal Flyers' | Now Robey is preparing for a license tri-motored Ford with Willlam DeWald | examination, and El Paso is claiming and S. D. Eurich at the controls of the | the first fiying chief of police in the open cockpit standard and the single- | Southwest. SSEX SIX SUPER France to Extend Service to Na- tion’s Colonial Possessions. Extension of French air services to the French colonial possessions and the development of air travel within the colonies is planned by the French min- istry of air, the Department of Com- merce has been informed. Plans include servicz to the French North African colonies, West Africa and Equatorial Africa with eventual | continuation io Madagascar. Branch lines will connect the colonies. Estab- lishment of a service to French Indo- China by way of Bagdad und by way of Rangoon, Saigon and Hanoi is plan- | ned. Experimental flights with a view | to connecting the French West Indies with French Guiana are planned for this year. Latin American Airmail Record. Regular air services are maintained over routes totaling 42,811 miles in Latin America, according to the De- partment of Commerce. There are 22 operating companies, several of which are closely affiliated. . The expedition has a manifold mis- | sion. It will be required to make a | photographic reconnaissance of the | proposed Yukon-Pacific Highway, with a view to the determination of the most | advantageous locations for airplane | landing fields along the route of the highway. | The second phase of its work will be | the technical inspection and photo- graphing of existing aviation flelds in Alaska, many of which have been cleared during the past year by the Alaskan Road Commission. Follow- ing this survey, the officers of the ex- pedition will be in a position to give | technical advice to the commission on | the selection and preparation of an | organized and comprehensive chain of | landing fields in the territory. For the benefit of the War Depart- ment the officers of the expedition will make a study of conditions having bearing on the establishment of a Alr Corps unit at the Alaskan Agricul- tural College and School of Mines, at Fairbanks. They also will report on the advantages and disadvantages of stationing a regular Air Corps unit in Alaska should this be considered neces- sary in the future. ‘The personnel of the expedition will | ALLENGER coSsSls you no more —then why buy a lesser car? Do you realize that the brilliant Essex Challenger actually costs little more than cars which are known chiefly for low price? Just forget “list prices” facts. Get the actual costs—trade- in, financing and extras consid- ered. You will be astonished at how little, if anything, more it costs for the outstanding advantages of the Essex Challenger. It is a car you will be own. You will be proud pearance and luxury and you will and get proofs of performance. 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