Evening Star Newspaper, September 14, 1930, Page 67

AVIA THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHI TION BY -JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. ing of civic trumpets or the U the National Capital has found itself, much to its surprise, elevated during the past two months from a position of dim obscurity in the air transport world to a post of no little prom- | inence. Whether the National Capital will hold its new- found glory is a matter to be determined in the future, but, for the present at least, the Capital is the center of more aviation activity than it ever has known. ~ Today there are 30 scheduled air transport plane movements in and out of the airports of the Na- tional Capital in each 24 hours. There are 22 tri-motored pas- senger planes landing or taking off on regular schedule every day except Saturday, when there are 24 tri-motored ship movements. Often this number is increased by special trips. There are six air- mail plane arrivals and departures scheduled every day; this sched- ule is departed from almost daily by the addition of one extra plane and sometimes two extra planes are required to handle the busi- ness. This city now has direct air pas- | senger connection with New York, | Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pitts- | burgh, Cleveland, Atlantic City and Richmond, Va., and direct connections may be made with air passenger lines to every part of the United States. A year ago the Natlonal Capital did not have & single air passenger line; two months ago it had only one, to Pittsburgh and Cleveland. For several years residents of the National Capital who have taken an interest in the growth of aviagion have watched the wth of great air passenger es, especially on the West Coast and in the Middle West. They have envied the ability of resi- dents of other cities to travel by air when the state of personal finances warranted. (Air Service Unequaled. Now the tables have been re- wersed. The National Capital has an air passenger service which has no duplicate in the United States. It is connected by air with Philadelphia and New York on the most frequent schedule of flights | ever attempted. It is possible to catch a plane at either end of the line every hour on the hour from 8 o'clock in the morning to 5 o'clock in the evening. Four planes are in the air on the line constantly throughout. the day. It is an experiment in air trans- portation which is attracting the attention of the entire aviation world. o In addition to this service there s a new passenger line operating daily between New York and Richmond, Va., with a stop here. ‘This line eventually is to be ex- tended down the Atlantic Coast. ‘There is another line connecting the District of Columbia with At- | lantic City once a week, making | connection there with a line to New York. This line also is to be extended southward eventually and increased to a daily service, according to present tentative | ¥hnl. Still another line operates 'rom the National Capital to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, making close connections there with planes to Chicago and the West. First Airmail Here. The first scheduled airmail service in the world operated be- tween the National ‘Capital and New Yor. The service, inaugurated by the Army during the closing year of the war, may be regarded as the ancestor of every transport line in the country today. The success of the Army in maintain- ing this service in the face of the most discouraging hardships re- sulted in the establishment by the Post Office Department of regu- lar airmail service, which later was “farmed out” by the contract | system to private operators, re-| sulting in the sound establishment of the air transport industry in this country. . When the Post Office Depart- ment established its first trans- continental airmail service the New York-Washington line, pio- neer of them all, was abandoned. ‘There was no air transport serv- fce to the National Capital until May 1, 1928, when contract air- mail service was inaugurated be- tween New York and Atlanta. In the absence of a municipal airport or adequate commercial airport, the War Department de- | arted from its regular policy and Esued a temporary permit for the | airmail service to operate from Bolling Field. The airmail has been operating under this permit NHERALDED by the blow- | din of patriotic oratory, | There was no air passenger | service out of Washington for sev- eral months and then, on August 17, 1929, Clifford Ball of Pitts- burgh, extended his Cleveland- ‘Pittshurgh line across the Alle- | ghenies to the National Capital, | using Hoover Field as his local terminal. This line now has been operating daily for a year and forms the Capital's connecting, |link with the great air transport | systems of the Middle West. The | present operating company is | Pennsylvania Air Lines. | The Washington-Pittsburgh line {is not an easy gne to fly. Weather | |is a more disturbing factor over the Eastern mountains than in any other section of the country. { Despite the almost consistently bad weather, however, the line has | been operating between Washing- {ton and Pittsburgh with com- | mendable regularity and with | steadily increasing numbers of passengers. Passenger Planes Filled. During the past month or six weeks the seven-passenger planes used on the Washington-Pitts- burgh run have been filled on nearly every trip and often it is necessary to turn away passengers or postpone their trips until an- other day. A policy of making flag stops on call at Baltimore and cities near the route in Penn- sylvania was put into effect earlier in the Summer, but few flag stops have been made lately owing to the fact that the planes almbst always are filled with passengers going straight through from this city to Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The flight from Washington to Pittsburgh is one of the most at- tractive in the East from a scenic standpoint. From Hoover Field the route lies to the northwest out of the Potomac River valley. Great: Falls and the gorges of the Poto- mac below are seen to wonderful advantage before the plane heads away from the river. If weather conditions are favorable the plane will pass almost directly over the prominent head of Sugar Loaf Mountain, rising above the beau- tiful Monocacy River valley near Frederick, Md. Sugar Loaf was used as a signal station by both armies during the Civil War, as it commands a view of all the river fords between Harpers Ferry and Great Falls during clear weather. Several brisk skirmishes were fought for its possession. The plane flies almost over the Monoc- acy battlefield, where Gen. Lew Wallace and his hastily assembled army staved off the first rush of Gen. Jubal Early in his dash on the National Capital in 1864, hold- ing the Southern forces until troops from Grant’s army could arrive to save the Capital. From Frederick on west the course lies over range after range of the Blue Ridge and Appala- chian Mountains, each more rug- ged than the last until the east- ern divide is passed and the rivers begin to flow west into the Ohio and Mississippi system. Service to Pacific. Flying by way of Pittsburgh the air traveler may make direct con- nection with airliners to the west coast or down the Mississippi Val- ley to the South and Southwest. It is possible to leave Washington airport at noon any day in the week and to arrive in San Fran- cisco at 5 o'clock the following afternoon—lunch in Washington one day, early supper on the shores of the Pacific the next. New York Airways, said to be an operating subsidiary of the great Pan-American Airways system, established once-a-week service between this city and Atlantic City, N. J.,, during the Summer, apparently more for the purpose of establishing a service for fran- chise purposes than for the carry- ing of passengers. Passengers wishing the make the Atlantic City trip may board the plane at Washington Airport, local term- inal of the line. New York Air- ways operates daily between At- ‘lantic City and New York. After its exceedingly successful operation of the New York-Miami airmail line, Eastern Air Trans- port went into the air passenger business on August 18 last, when the first passenger. flight was made with a tri-motored Ford over the New York-Richmond sec- tion. Washington Airport also is the local stop for this line. There was no advance publicity or ad- vertising, though the service was the result of more, than two years of planning; the pilots merely got out and went to work. Neverthe- less, in the first five days of serv- ice 106 paying passengers were carried, among them Sir Hubert Wilkins, Arctic explorer, and Elmer A. Sperry, jr., of gyroscope for more than two years. | The original contract mail serv-| ice operated once a day in each direction except Sunday. Today ! ‘Eastern Air Transport, operating | the contract line, flies six planes a day between this city and New | York regularly and four planes | between this city and Miami, Fla. | So heavy has been the growth of | the mail business, however, that| almost every day a seventh plane must be pressed into service be- tween this city and New York and it is not unusual to find eight plane movements a day from the Capital to the North. There is no | airmail line in the world with such | frequent service as that found be- | tween Washington and New York | i today. Passenger Service Begun. In 1928 an airplane passenger‘; fame. The New York-Richmond pas- senger line, according to Eastern Air Transport officials, is merely the foundation upon which future expansions are to be made. The passenger line is tied in directly with the airmail line, using the same teletype communication system for weather and operations information and in most cities using the same field. “Nypwac” Pioneering. The latest and, in many re- spects, the most interesting of all the recent transport. lines estab- lished in the United States is that of the New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airway Corporation, better known as the “Nypwac” line, pronounced just about as you see fit to pronounce it. Nypwas is putting on 20 flights service was inaugurated between| a day between Washington and Washington and New York. This|New York, flying hourly in each US. AIRLINES COVER 10,725,335 MILES First Six Months’ Traffic This Year Included 133,000 Pas- sengers and Huge Mail. A distance equal to 430 times around the earth at the Equator was flown during the first six months of this year by 29 major American airlines, accord- ing to reports received by the Aero- nautical Chamber of Commerte. Planes of these lines carried more than 133.- 000 passengers and 3,000,000 pounds of mail during the six months. The total distance flown was 10,- 725,335 miles, and the reports show that there has been a steady increase in the number of miles flown each month, with the peak in June, when 2,230,763 miles were flown. Each month also showed an increase of several thousand in the number of passengers flown as compared with the preceding month. Expansion to Continue. ‘The reports indicate that the aver- age citizen is becoming more and more inclined to accept the airplane as an ordinary means of transportation and that there is no limit to this expansion now in sight. Not only is the air be- coming the accepted medium of travel by more and more people, but the rec- ord of performance by the air transport companies is improving. During April, May and June the 29 airlines showed a remarkable perform- ance record, 97.3 per cent of all the mileage scheduled being flown success- fully, an improvement over the record of 85 per cent completed during the | first quarter, when weather conditions were less favorable. Mail and express matter carried by air increased steadily during the six months. One of the significant facts revealed by the reports is the increased number of hours of flying time put in by the average air transport planes. The aver- age tri-motored plane was in the air 95.6 hours during June, as compared with 56.1 hours in February, and the increased hours of service were propor- tionately the same for other types of planes. This increased use of planes, with resulting operating economies, wi due, in part, to better *‘weather condi tions, but more to maintenance of reg- ular schedules with fewer planes ;,hrough careful planning and dispatch- ng. Vast Gasoline Consumption. ‘The Aeronautical Chamber of Com- merce report shows that the 315 planes reported in service by the 29 airline operators consumed 4,737,946 gallons of gasoline during the first six months, of which 2,788,236 gallons were used in the second quarter. These planes used 144,678 gallons of oil during the six months, of which 89.625 gallons were consumed in the second three months. Single-engined land planes still pre- dominate along the airlines, accounting lor 67.6 per cent of all the equipment on the transport lines. Tri-motored planes accounted for 22.2 per.cent, and the remaining 10.2 per cent was about evenly divided between seaplanes and amphibians. ‘Thirteen planes were retired from service during the six-month period and 27 new planes put into operation, the report says. The air-cooled engine still predominates. accounting for 96.15 per cent of the 675 engines in use or ready for use on the transport lines. o COMPUTATION IS MADE OF AIR WEATHER DATA Hampton Roads Aviation Btation Completes Report on Conditions for Past Five Years. The aerological officer at the Hamp- ton Roads, Va., Naval Air Station has completed a compilation of airshlp weather data for the Hampton Roads locality for the past five years, accord- ing to a report to the Navy Department. The work, which is regarded as highly important in conection with future lighter-than-air operations, involved the classification and summarizing of more than 44,000 hours of surface winds, ac- cording to velocities and directions, in- cluding detailed tabulation of such items as gustiness, strong winds, thun- derstorms and fogs. The report has been forwarded to the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, where it will be compared with similar records from Quantico, Va.; Anacostia Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, N. J. CAPT. HARDLB C. MAJOR ASSIGNED TO QUANTICO Completes Year in Air Corps School and Now Takes Charge of VO Squadron. Capt. Harold C. Major, U. 8. M. C,, who formerly was on duty in the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics as information officer, has completed a year as a stu- dent at the Army Air Corps Tactical School, Langley Field, Hampton, Va. and has taken command of VO Squad- ron 6M at Quantico, Va., the Navy De- partment has announced. Capt. Major succeeds Lieut, George R. Towner in command of the squadron, which is an observation squadron at- tached to the Marine Corps East Coast Expeditionary Force. Lieut. Towner has taken up duties in the Company Offi- cers’ School at Quantico, Air Mail 82 Per Cent on Time. A check made by a Chicago bank showed 82 per cent of all bank letters sent by alrmail daring July reached destination on time. Westward from Chicago there were only two days dur- ing the month when mail did . not reach San Francisco and Los Angeles for the clearing day intended, Boeing System representatives reported. least advantage over rail travel. It is one of the most severe tests yet given air transportation and its success will mean a great deal to the entire aviation industry. To meet with success on its pres- ent schedule the line must carry a minimum of between 100 and 120 passengers a day out of a maximum possible load of 200 pas- sengers. So far, according to of-} ficials of the line, the planes have averaged far above the minimum load. 4 The development of air trans- portation in the National Capital has been accomplished despite the failure of Congress to act on local airport legislation. The amazing D. C., SEPTEMBER 14, 1930—PART FOUR. FIRE SPRINKLERS SAFE FOR HANGAR Commiflee Announces Con- clusions Following Tests at Standards Bureau. Properly installed and maintained automatic water sprinkler systems can control most of the fires likely to occur in airplane hangars, it is stated by a special fact-finding committee in an- ) nounecing its conclusions as a result of | the exhaustive fire tests conducted sev- eral months ago in an airplane hangar built for the purpose in the Bureau of Standards grounds. During these tests, which were con- ducted under conditions resembling as closely as posstble those which would be found in actual practice, a number of obsolete Army and Navy airplanes were burned in the hangar to test the effect of sprinkling from four types of automatic sprinklers installed in ceil- ing and floor of the building. Serious Thought Urged. The comtittee voiced the opinion that, as a result of these tests, serious thought should be given to the installa- tion of automatic sprinkler systems in hangars wherever commercial air trans- port or other aerial activities are car- ried on, It reported that the automatic ap- plication of water by sprinklers may be depended upon generally to give good Maj. George E. A. Reinburg, Army Air Corps, a native of the District of Columbia and now assistant air attache for the United States at Berlin, repre- protection to hangars and their con- tents, except to. the airplane in which the fire actually starts, which may burn so rapidly as to be badly damaged be- fore the sprinklers come into action. Spread of fire to other airplanes or to the hangar usually will be prevented, however, it was stated. Guide to Underwriters. sented the United States at the International Aviation Congress, just concluded at The Hague, Holland. Maj. Reinburg is known at every airport in Germany and most of Europe. He is attached in an advisory capacity to the legations in service was flown from Washing- ton Airport by the Washington-| New York Airline and Ryan cabin monoplanes were used. The serv- ice was continued, with a layoff during the Winter months, until made with a line to Atlantic City. early in 1929, when finally it was discontinued entirely. Washing- ton Airport then was taken over by the Federal Aviation Corpora- tion and the field now is operated by this corporation through a subsidiary company. There were several attempts later to establish airline service between Washing- ton and New York and one through this city from New York to Florida, but they failed larfely thrangh lack of proper organiza- Son. | direction. A flying schedule of 1 hour and 45 minutes is being | maintained between the term- inals, including a stop in Phila- delphia, where connection is | Washington Airport is the local Municipal delphia field. Inauguration of this line rep- resents a bold piece of aviation It depends for suc- cess on mass transportation of passengers, in direct competition with excellent rail transportation ce flown place on the aeronautical map of pioneering. over two roads. The dis is a relatively short h¥ul, where alr transportation possesses its terminal, the other being Newark Airport and Central Airport, Camden, N. J., the Phila- development of the past two months has followed the develop- ment, by private capital, of Wash- ington Airport as a model air transport terminal field. The field now is regarded as one of the best of its size in the United States. During the past week it has-been lighted for night opera- tions and the final southkound plane on the Nypwac line lands there each evening after dark. Other night operations may be expected soon. Through the developments which have taken place this Sum- mer Washington has assumed a . the couniry more nearly befitiing its place as the National Capital. Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Amh, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. .The pho- tograph shows Maj. Reinburg, with A. C about to take off from Berlin for The Hague . Douglas Cook, United States trade commissioner at Berlin. The plane is & Heinkel H. D. 22 with Junkers L5 engine, rated at 300 horsepower. RIGID RADIO CODE TO MAKE AIR TRANSPORTATION SAFER Craft Must Carry Af)paratus of Approved Type to Assure Constant Touch With Land and Machines in Air. In furtherance of its campaign for safety in air transport operations the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce has issued a rigid code of radio requirements for transport planes, It is proposed to make this code effective December 31, Aircraft not only will be required to carry radio in transport operations, but it is required that radio and auxiliary radio equipment carried in any licensed | aircraft shall be of a type and design approved by the Department of Com- merce, “In order to be assured of constant communication between ground stations and planes in flight,” the aeronautics branch stated in announcing the regu- lations, “radio equipment carried on aircraft must meet unusually severe requirements. Reliability, simplicity of operation and freedom from fire hazard are essential.” Vibrations and Shocks. ‘The equipment must be constructed to withstand continued vibration and landing shocks, it was pointed out, without breakage or change in perform- ance. Though space and weight must be kept to a minimum in the designing of aircraft radio sets, the department admitted, reductions in weight and space must not be obtained at‘the ex- pense of accessibility for inspection and maintenance. “Cbviously,” it was stated, “the re- quirements imposed can be met only by highly specialized designs, both electri- cal and mechanical.” Under the proposed regulations manu- facturers of radio equipment and auxiliary equipment may make applica- tion to the Secretary of Commerce for an approved type certificate for such equipment, An approved type certifi- cate may be issued following the finding by the department that the equipment meets the minimum requirements set up under the code. ‘The installation of approved type radio and auxiliary equipment also must pass the inspection of the de- partment and no licensed aircraft may be flown with radio equipment until the installation has been inspected and approved by a Department of Commerce inspector. The regulations cover such points as minimum requirements for radio trans- mitting sets, including frequency range, antenna power requirements, electrical and mechanical design, power supply and operational requirements, radio receiving sets, including the same points as for transmitting sets; minimum re- quirements for aicraft engine ignition shielding equipment, including over- all shielding assembly, magnetos, igni- tion distributing harness, spark plugs, low-tension shielding, shielding of aux- iliary electrical apparatus and opera- tional requirements. Engine Shielding Tests, Regulations are prescribed for the testing of. engine’ shielding, insulation Tesistance and for providing safeguards against wear which might disturb the functioning of the system. A table of minimum requirements for radio installation on aircraft is con- tained in the code and covers such points as installation wiring, the trans- mitting and receiving antenna systems, including fixed, trailing wire, vertical mast and other t ; transmitting and receiving power equipment. Specifications for the bonding of metal parts of the aircraft are con- tained in the code as well as regulations covering tests of the efficiency of such bonding. As a safeguard, it is provided in the code that the Secre'.lrypo( Commerce, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics or the director of air regulation may waive any of the regu- lations when particular facts Justity such a waiver in an individual case. D. C. AIRPORT STUDY GROUP APPOINTED Nation-Wide Landing Field Survey | Forwarded by Engineering Body. As a step in a Nation-wide study of airport problems, the American En- | gineering Council has announced the | appointment of a District of Columbia | Alrport Committee which will co-operate | with the council and more than 100 | similar committ- ‘us parts of | the country. The Il)cl)l committee will be assigned to make a thorough study of airport conditions and practices in this viciny*~ | and to submit to the council & repc based on this study. C. S. Kimball, Portland C . :nt Assoclation, is chairman of the District of Columbia Committee. Other r - bers are F. W. Mills, highway eng -er, Bureau of Public Roads: A. N. Johnson, | dean of engineering, Maryland State College; S. S. Steinberg, professor of civil engineering, Maryland State Col- lege; A. H. Horton, chier, power re-| sources division, United States Geo- logical Survey, and R. D. Marsden, senjfor drainage engineer, Bureau of Public Roads. F. A. Hunnewell, presi- dent of the Washington Society of En- gineers, selected the committee. AR R TWO AND A HALF HOURS NOW FOR 14-DAY TRIP Government of Peru ZEstablishes Air Line From Head of Amazon Valley to Pacific Coast. Fourteen days of hard travel on the | round have been reduced to two hours and thirty minutes by airplane through | the establishment by the Peruvian gov- ernment of an air line from the head | of the Amazon Valley to the Pacific | Coast, according to a repcrt received here by the Department of Commerce. The line crosses the Andes at one of the lowest points in the range, at altitude of 11,000 feet and stops a made at Cajamarca, Clendin, Chacha- poyas and Moyobamba. Single-engined, United States-built biplanes, carrying pilot, four passengers and 500 pounds of mall each, are used. The following sawings of time are ef- fected, according to the reports received here by the Department of Commerce: Pacasmayo-Cajamarca, by train and motor, 9 hours; by plane, 20 minuts Cajamarca-Celendin, by mule and auto, 12" hours; by plane, 20 minutes. Celendin~Chachapoyas, by automob! and mule, 5 days; by plane, 50 minutes Chachapoyas-Moy&bamba. by mule and D. C. AIR LEGION TO PURCHASE PLANE Small Cabin Craft Will Be Used by Flying Club to Train Students, Purchase of one of the smaller types of cabin planes for the training of students of the District of Columbia Alr Legion, local private flying club, was decided upon at a meeting of the legion during the past week. .T. J. Waggy, manager of the legion, was directed to arrange for demon- strations of various types of suitable cabin planes. The new ship is expect- ed to make possible more flying during the Winter months than would be pos- sible with only an open plane. It also is felt that members of the legion should have experience in closed planes as a part of their training. ‘The legion, since Lieut. W. C. Buell took over its instruction 11 months ago, has soloed 28 members, to set what is believed to be a record for the East. These 28 students were soloed without the breaking of so much as a strut on the first solos. Each member has made an almost perfect landing on the first solo, and in many cases good three-point landings have resulted from the first attempts. Among those who have soloed during the 11 months are four girl members of the legion, Miss Frances Jackson, Miss Mary M. Craig, Miss Harriett E. Sackett and Miss Marie Buch. U. s Oblerver_lt Budapest. John J. Ide, European technical as- sistant to the National Advisory Com- mittee for Aeronautics, who is stationed in Paris, has been designated by the State Department as unofficial Amer- ican observer at the ninth Internation- al Congress of the Comite-Juridiaue Internationale de L’Aviation at Buda- pest from September 29 to Octobcr 3, afoot, 8 days; by plane, 50 minutes, The tests were conducted largely for the guidance of the National Board of Fire Underwriters in promulgating a code for the construction and protec- tion of airports upon which fire insur- ance protection was desired. The committee in charge of the tests | was composed of Harry H. Blee, direc-} tor of aeronautic development, Depart- ment of Commerce, chairman, and rep- resentatives of the Army and Navy fly- ing services, the fire insurance under- writers’ laboratories, the National Au- tomatic Sprinkler Association, the Na- tional Board of Fire Underwriters, the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, the Bureau of Standards and the Na- tional Advisory Commitee for Aero- nautics. AIR FIELD BOUNDARIES MARKED OUT BY RADIO Tests to Lessen Danger of Pilots Landing in Fogs Prove Successful. Clear reception of radio boundary marker signals used for marking out landing field limits for pilots flying in fog or darkness has been obtained with an outfic weighing only a few ounces in experiments conducted at Fairfield Air Depot, Dayton, Ohio, the Army Air Corps has announced. ‘The tests were made to determine the value of an ultra short-wave pro- jector for boundary marking. Using a doublet antenna 2 meters long and & super-regenerative detector, followed by two stages of audio amplification, the signals were received strongly at an altitude of 7,000 feet with the beam projected straight up. With the beam projected out from the field at an angle of 45 degrees the signals were received 10 miles away at an altitude of 8,000 feet. At low altitudes very sharp visual in- dications of the boundary of the field were obtained when the receiver was replaced by a crystal rectifier and a microammeter. The work is regarded as very important in connection with the problem of overcoming fog danger in landing. SINGLE-SEATER PLANES BID TO PREDOMINATE Superior Performance Indicated by Order for 177 of Fast Combat Type. Boeing single-seater combat rl:nes will become predominant types in the Navy fighter squadrons and the Army pursuit squadrons as a result of or- ders for 177 of the fast little ships placed by the two services. These planes are said to out-perform pursuit planes of any other natjon. Equipped with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, the Boeing fighters and pursuit planes have a total weight of approximately 2,700 pounds with full military load. They have a wing span of only 30 feet to maintain this load. The new planes are expected to de- velop speeds in excess of the Boeing P-12, now standard Army pursuit plane, which is credited with having attained a top speed of 184 miles per hour. -Planes of this type are used by the Army for regular pursuit operations at altitudes of more than 5 miles, PERILS OF SUN-TAN Bronzed U. S. Flyer Is Taken for a| Mexican. When California_sunshine causes a patriotic United States Army combat | pilot to be taken for a Mexican by United States customs officials it's time something was done about the sun- shine, aceording to a plaintive com- munication - to the War Department from March Pleld, Riverside, Calif. According to_the report, the climate in Southern California this Summer has been unusually sunny, but relatively cool, as a resuit of which several officers deferred taking their leaves. The sun- shine, however, put a wonderful coat of bronze on all of them, So pro- nounced was the effect that one of them was stopped for identification when he tried to cross back into the United States from Agua Caliente. He had difficulty convincing the customs men of his nationality. ki MAPS 110-MILE AIRWAY A strip of airway 110 miles long and 14 miles wide was mapped in 47 min- utes by a Wright Field pilot who recently made a photographic flight from Richmond, Ind., to Columbus, | Ohio, for the purpose, the War Depart- | ment has announced. “ie mapping was done from an alti- tude «* 22,000 feet with one of the latest type Army cameras. Pictures were taken vith an overlap of 20 per cent. The pirotegraphs will be used for | correction of air i2vigation maps. It is intenged to fly & continuous strip to | Unicntown, Pa., at the same altitude. SANDY POINT PILOT AID An aviation radio beacon station has been established at the Sandy Foint Light Station, Sandy Point, Md., to aid pilots fiying in the Chesapeake Boy BY GEORGE Model Xircratt W. WATERS. TINY kid, airminded but with a peculiar sensation in his stomach, ‘“zoomed” down out of the heavens in a D. C. Air Legion plane the other night during the stygian darkness while heavy headwinds played havoc with the plane in which he was riding. There he is in the picture in this column, with an aviator's ‘helmet on his head that he regards next to a halo about the head of “The God.of the Air.” dricks, W. Va. First Legion Member. When the D. C. Air Legion’s Junior Unit was organized several months ago and announcement was made in this column that boys and girls of Wash- ington were to be offered an oppor- tunity to learn the elements of aviation without cost the first member to be enrolled was Gordon. During the past week the junior unit of the legion held its first business meeting for the purpose of making plans for the coming school year. It was desired to have a full membership present, so T. J. Waggy, manager of the D. C. Alr Legion, gassed up the legion’s Bird biplane and took off for Hendricks, W. Va, to get the first member. He returned at about 7:45 that evening with Gordon in the front cock-pit after his first trip outside of the State of West Virginia. On the way to Washington the Bird ran into head winds avhich delayed it s0 much that it was dark when Waggy arrived over Washington Airport. So Gordon has the added thrill of & night landing to tell the boys about when he gets back home. Boy Boosts Aviation, Gordon stated that he feels that| ‘Washington boys and girls should take advantage of the offer of the D. C.| Alr Legion to learn something about aviation and expressed the hope that | Hendricks would :oon start an air | legion, | The Committee on the National Miniature_Aircraft Tournament, Orville | Wright, chairman; Col. Lindbergh, as- | soclate chairman, has notified the Dis- | trict of Columbia Model Aircraft League | that the following boys are eligible to compete in the national contest at At~ lantic City, October 10 and 11, George Shipley, ace, senlor, 55 M street, holder of District record for in- door hand-launched, 6 minutes 143 seconds, winner'of class A in the Dis- trict tournament. Frank Salisbury, 1024 Vermont ave- nue, silver ace, junior, District of Co- lumbia champion for 1930, holder of District records for flying true scale, 1 minute 292 seconds; indoor helicopter, 1 minute 295 seconds; outdoor dy- namic, 15 seconds. Stllivan is Champ. John Sullivan, 1412 Twenty-ninth street, silver ace, junior, runner-up for And his name is Gordon Baker of Hen- GORDON BAKER. District of Columbia champion for 1930, holder of District records for outdoor hand-launched, 18, minutes 40 seconds; outdoor baby ROG, 2 minutes 503 seconds. Harry McGinniss, 202 Connecticut avenue, Kensington, Md., ace, junior, best junior indoor hand-launched rec= ord, 6 minutes 5 seconds. Everett Meeks, 2608 Myrtle avenue northeast, silver ace, senior, holder of District records for outdoor ROG fusel- age, 8 minutes 20 seconds; outdoor helicopter, 1 minute 4325 seconds; out« door ROG scientific, 5 minutes 17% seconds; indoor glider for distance, 40 feet 6 inches. Champs Get Together. Meeks and Sullivan competed with honors at the national tournament at Louisville in 1929, Sullivan placing sec~ ond there in junior championship of the United States. ‘Thirty-nine boys from 16 cities and one girl, Betty Hind of San Francisco, qualified for finals. San Francisco qualified eight, Providence and Washe ington five each. % AVIATION' SCHOOL CHANGES PLANNED Conference to Be Held Here This Month on Amend- ing Regulations. —y— Important amendments to the regu- lations governing aviation ground and flying schools are to be considered at a conference of the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, with repre- sentatives of the aeronautic industry in the National Capital the last week in September. The proposed amendments have been drawn up by the Aeronautics Branch and cover changes in the required equipment of ground and flying schools, the rating of flying instructors, monthly reports, dual instruction, shop practice and other points. For Flight Instruction. 1t is proposed that ground schools not providing flight instruction shall be required to afliate or make arrange- ents with an approved flying school to provide necessary flight instruction be- fore such ground schools shall be eligi- ble for approval. Another amendment provides that each school ‘approved for ground in- struction shall be equipped with one class room for each 100 students en- rolled, capable of seating in comfort at least 20 students, and that the ground school, in_ addition to flying equipment, shall have the following demonstration equipment for ground school instruction: A For transport and limited commer- cial courses: One modern type airplane complete except for the engine, two additional types of wings or wing sec- tions, three aviation engines in cur- rent use, representing the air and ‘water cooled types. For private courses: One modern type airplane, complete with engine. Rating of Instructor. 1t is proposed to amend the regula- tions to provide that a flying instruc- | tor's rating shall run concurrently with | his transport pilot's license and may be renewed semi-annually upon satis- factory evidence that he has actuaily served as an instructor in an approved school for not less than 50 hours of | dual instruction during the preceding | six months. Another amendment requires the submission of complete outlines of flying and ground courses and class schedules. A monthly roster and report will he required under another suggested amendment. Other amendments are of relatively minor importance, except that it is stipulated that the courses given in aerial navigation shall include a course of at least 15 hours in radio and its use, and the aircraft instru-| ments course shall include three hours of instruction in parachutes, their care and use. B RSP NEW AIRWAY BEACON | ‘The Airways Divisioh, Department of | Commerce, has established a new re- volving beacon on the New York-At- lanta Airway, passing through the Na- tional Capital, to mark the new Char- lotte, N. C., detour. The beacon is a standard 24-inch type of 2,000,000 candlepower, and is located about 2% miles south of Hunt- ersville, N, C.,, on what is known as Site No. 2. NINETYFO0T FOG - PIERCED INLANDING Blind Radio Control Experi- ments by Famous British Pilot Success. Successful landings through 90 feet of dense fog have been made in England by a pilot of the British Royal Air Force, according to a report received here by the Department of Commerce from H. C. Schuette, assistant trade commissioner at Paris. The landings are said to be the first made anywhere in the world since the _radio-controlled blind landings made by Lieut. James H. Doolittle, former crack Army Air Corps pilot, then flying for the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Pro- ~motion of Aeronautics. The British experiments, made at Farnesborough, resulted in five success= ful landings, according to the rej No radio was used in any of the ate tempts and a passenger was carried on each flight, ‘The equipment used consisted of & small anchored sighting balloon on & 400-foot cable at a distance of a half mile from the airport; a pitch and yaw indicator on the plane’s instrument board and a weight suspended from & wire a few feet below the landing wheels. After getting above the fog the pilot made use of the known height and posi- tion of the balloon for locating the aire port. He glided past the balloon at an angle indicated by his instruments. ‘When the trailing weight touched the ground a small red lamp on.the instru- ment board was lighted as a signal to level off the plane for its landing. The five landings made by this sys tem were considered “highly satisface tory,” Mr. Scheutte reported. REPORT CAPACITY LOADS “Border-to-Border” Airways Sue- cessful on Pacific Coast. Dinner in Seattle, midnight lunch in San Francisco and breakfast in San Diego, Calif,, is the rule on the new overnight “border-to-border” air pase senger line operated by the Boeing sys- tem. The line is the longest lighted airway in the country over which pas- sengers are flown, The planes make the round trip of 2,400 miles between San Diego and Seattle in 34 hours, including an 8- hour layover in Seattle. Capacity pas- senger loads have been the rule since service was inagurated, according co re- ports recelved here. Tail Wind Adds to Flyer's Aided by a strong tail wind which he picked up at an altitude of 9.000 feet, Lieut. M. R. Greer, Naval Reserve Avia- tion Base, Squantum, Mass., recently flew from Buffalo, N. Y., to Boston in 2 hours and 40 minutes, for what is thought to be a record for this diste tance. The distance from Albany, N. Y, to Boston was flown in one hour. ‘The plane was a Navy Vought Corsair observation plane. [ERES Ry A Bombing Forest Fires Planned. ‘The .se of bombs containing a fire extinguishing liquid in combating for- Speed. A similar beacon has been established at Site No. 1 on the same airway about 1 mile northwest of Belmont, N. C. est fires in their early stages is being considered. The bombs would be dropped from patrol planes. AIR PHOTO SECTION TO RECORD BOMBING FEATS AT SAN DIEGO The highly interesting and important | ments of the 11th Bombardment and training maneuvers of the 7th Bom- | 95th_Pursuit Squadron, which compose bardment Group at Rockwell Field, San ' the 7th Bombardment Group. A non- Diego, Calif., are to be perpetuated by | commissioned, officer and two privates, photography. The group has been car- | trained in ground and aerial pho- rying on a g!lt d of high altitude | tograp] have been ordered to duty day and night bombardment, including | at Rockwell, a number of really spectacular flights, “Ground and aerial photographs alike but there have been few pictorial rec- p]:zll in the tactical training of the Army flyers,” the War r~~ds made of these events, according to statement. * Department stated, “one instance be- & War Department nf The lack of photographic equipment Tegion. The beacon transmits on a frequency of 305 kilocycles every 180 seconds, operat or 60 seconds and then remaining silent for three minutes. beacon is operated continuol during thick or foggy weather, dally in clear weather from 1:30 to 3 am, 7:30 to 8 am, 1:30 to 2 pm. at the fleld not only has prevented a record of the flights but tually }x‘:“ group pointed out. ‘To meet the need for pho c records the War Department es- tablish an Air Corps Photo Section at Roskwsll Fleld to aid the field pereon- 1 accomplish- to determine weakness in the euvers and of his Aaemnied