Evening Star Newspaper, December 7, 1930, Page 87

Speed With Safety Five Hundred miles an hour in small flying craft will be common- place within the next ten years, according to Capt. Frank M. Hawks, who beat “Lindy’s” record for a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York. Large planes, carying passengers, express and mail, will average 250 miles an hour within the next dec- ade. Arctic flying holds greater possi- bilities than transoceanic air travel. Establishment of airports all over the United States is contributing greatly to the advance of aviation in America. At present cruising around at 200 miles an hour is an altogether mod- erate pace for air travel. It is an economical and sensible flying speed for present-day planes. Speed with safety is the prime objective of aviation promoters to- day. BY CAROL BIRD. PEED is the objective of Capt. Frank M. Hawks, famous transcontinental glider and speed pilot, who recently set a Los Angeles-New York record of 12 hours 25 minutes 3 seconds, who flew from Philadelphia to New York in 20 minutes and from Boston to New York in 53 minutes. This blond, blue-eyed, stockily-built young man, who has been setting records never before approached, has been crowding Lindbergh off the front pages by his recent speed feats. " This perennially smiling holder of both. the West-to-East and the East-to-West airplane speed ‘records wants to demonstrate the feas- ibility of speedy air travel and prove that it is safe, cheap and altogether desirable. “We will easily be traveling 500 miles an hour in small aircraft within the next 10 years,” he predicts, “and 250 miles an hour within the same period of time in large planes carrying a number of passengers for express and mail. “Right now I can demonstrate planes at a cruising speed of 200 miles an hour. That's really just normal travel and it does not in the least strain the airplane or motor.” His comments on the future of transoceanic travel prove that he hasn't any illusions about this phase of the flying game. “I do not predict that we will be crossing the ocean in airplanes in regular passenger service for a long time to come,” he said. “It just isn’t feasible, that’s all. There is always a certain factor to consider, and that is the one of landing. Flyers simply must have places w0 land, and it isn’t safe to do so in the middle of the ocean. “What is making the present flying increas- ingly safe in this country, for example, is the fact that so many airports are developing. You can fly in any direction around the United States and virtually in a radius of every 50 or 100 miles find a recognized airport for landing. “Arctic flying has greater possibilities than transoceanic service. As they begin opening up the Arctic territory airports can be established in what are now considered waste lands. But I do not see an immediate future for trans- Atlantic travel in regular airplanes—in flying boats, perhaps, but even this mode of travel is not particularly safe. “MY interest in the future of flying is based on greater speed, but high speed with safety. I would not favor nor predict the high speeds I do unless they could be accomplished with complete safety. Landing a flying boat safely on the high seas is questionable. We have enough serious steamship disasters now THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 7, 1930. © What Next, CaptainHawksP Umerica’s S peed Demon of the Air Hopes Soon to Span the Continent From New York to California in Ten Hours. Capt. Frank M. Hawks. without being too hopeful about airplane oceante travel. e “I do not in 'arly way wish to belittle by what I have said the achievements of those able flyers who have made successful trans-Atlantic flights. I admire them for it. Their work has given impetus to aviation and they have per- sonally distinguished themselves by their notable work in this resbect. What I wish to convey is that it will take a long, long time before a regular service can be established for passenger travel across the ocean that will include all the elements of safety.” Capt. Hawks has been called the “playboy” of the air. But any one who knows him and talks to him will understand that daredeviltry is not a part of his make-up. The man who is putting the phrase “speed-mindedness” into the lexicon of American speech is practical, level-headed, businesslike. Perhaps it is his boyish smile, his perpetual seeming light-heartedness, his buoy- ancy of spirit, coupled with the fact that he is daily clocking off speed records that cause some people to visualize him as simply a young ad- venturer of the skies. He is that and more. He adventures for reasons that are linked with the certain future of aviation. “Hawks is always smiling,” you will hear every one who has met him say. But his smiles are not those of an air “cut-up.” They are the outward signs of an equable temperament, good nature, a gracious attitude toward others. Capt. Hawks is about 33 years of age, married, a blond, well set-up, attractive man. When interviewed he was seated behind a big mahogany desk of the Texas Co., of which he is aviation superintendent. He wore a light gray suit and a light blue tie, and the colors accentuated his fair hair, his clear skin and. deepened the color of his eyes. He looked a bit incongruous seated behind the massive desk, a little restive, as though he would rather take to his wings and be off and away from the solid furniture of a great business corporation, even though its office happens to be high up in one of New York’s tallest skyscrapers. This young speed pilot reflects the airplane technician when he talks flying. He speaks in technical terms, and unless one is familiar with mechanics he is rather difficult to follow through the mazes of “in-line” and radical motors, “streamlining” and other fiying-ship terms. 6‘I THINK that in the future we are going to see more development in the in-line motor,” he begins. the present type of motor except its frontal area-—the resistance that it offers. In order to get greater speed we must resort to either the in-line type of motor or the device of hiding - the present-type radial motor somewhere in the airplane in order to do away with its resistance. “There is nothing against- “All aircraft should be ‘cleaned up,” in other words, aircraft can all be improved upon with regards {o ihe streamlining. “As for flying at high speesd, this has many advantages for the future develop- ment of flying, for the greater the speed the greater will be the safety of air travel When we increase our specd sufficiently, a night and a day going from coast to coast at the present rate can be accomplished entirely by daylight. “There is a great safety factor in flying dur- ing the day. Besides the fast airplane can circle storm areas so much more rapidly than the other kind, get away from them entirely or go through them. This eliminates many hazards. “Then there is the matter of economy to be considered in connection with speed. The greater the speed the more the saving of money, because with a given revolution per minute the high-speed airplane will cover greater mileage. “At present I find cruising around at 200 miles an hour an altogether moderate way of air travel. It is an economical and sensible method of flying. Any faster mode today with our present type of motor would shorten the life of a plane. “When you asked me about the future of trans-Atlantic flying and I said I could not see an immediate future for a regular service of this kind 1 did not mean to give the impression that I was entirely hopeless about it. I simply mean that it is going to take a long time to develop such a mode of travel so as to insure perfect safety. When it does go into effect it will probably take the form at first of some special service and. not a regularly scheduled non-stop flight service. “Such a service would be used primarily by those who found it imperative to get to the other side in quick time and who had plenty of money to pay for such transportation. “No, I cannot foresee regular airplane oceanic travel for the immediate future, “Primarily I am interested in speed, and I am convinced that high-speed aircraft is coming into being and use much faster than we realize, and that it will prove altogether workable from every angle, including safety and economical fiying.” PEOPLE are conjecturing about this blond, first - transcontinental - glider pilot, several times holder of cross-country air-speed records, the young man who almost daily breaks speed and distance records. ‘Who is he? From where does he hail? What is the flying background of this new shining meteor of aviation—this holder of every trans- continental record possible to make with an airplane? Well, then, to begin with: The glamorous but hard-headed flyer who possesses so much common sense and technical flying knowledge and combines a passion for speed with a thorough, all-around knowledge of the hazards involved was born in Marshalltown, Towa., 33 years ago. He lived for a while in Minneapolis and then moved with his parents to Berkeley, Calif. He attended the University of California and was a quarterback on both the freshman and varsity teams. When war was declared he ap- peared on a flying field in Dallas, Tex., Love Field, as a student of aerial science. He learned his aerial gunnery at Taliaferro Field, Fort Worth, and received advanced schooling at Brooks Field, San Antonio. After his training he was retained as an instructor and also served as a flight adjutant and assistant officer in charge of flying. He came out of the Army with the rank of captain. From 1919 to 1921 he barnstormed through the United States and finally went to Mexico on a contract with the Mexican government for an aerial circus during the Centennial Exposition in Mexico City. He barnstormed in Mexico and then followed sev- eral years of flying pay rolls through the oil fields of Mexico. He returned to the United States in 1926, where he continued pay roll-flying. A year later in the sister ship to Col. Charles A Lind- bergh’s Spirit of St. Louis he was among the prize winners in the Ford reliability tour, and Hawks, now in his thirteenth year of flying cruises in a plane,-Ne. 13, which carries the United States Department of Commerce license NR1313. “What a hand—four of a kind!” says the smiling time-annihilating aviator. later won a newspaper prize in the air trans- portation race for efficiency and speed at the National Air Races in Spokane. He joined the Texas Co. as superintendent of its aviation division in December of 1927 and was one of the prize winners in the 1928 Ford reliability tour. A year later he and Oscar Krubb, a mechanic, established their transcontinental record, 18 hours 21 minutes 55 seconds, and less than five months after that Hawks alone crossed the country and back in 36 hours 48 minutes. He flew from New York to Los Angeles in 19 hours 10 minutes, and returned in 17 hours 38 min- utes. Last April he was towed in a glider from Los Angeles to New York. Then undaunted by the fact that the Lind- berghs bettered his transcontinental mark by several hours, he recently took his new Travelair mystery plane and smashed all existing records in both directions, reeling off the 2,500 air miles from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours 25 minutes 3 seconds. E is now in his thirteenth year of flying and flies a plane numbered 13, which car- ries the Department of Commerce license NR- 1313, but Hawks, commenting on the unlucky number, says: “What a hand—four of a kind!” Capt. Hawks has flown more than 10,000 hours, and although he has had many thrilling experiences has never used his parachute. In Mexico in 1922 the elevator wires of his plane were broken and the ship fell 300 feet and was wrecked, but Hawks was unscratched. Recently it has been almost a daily matter of clocking off records, hopping off to establish new times for flight between his take-off and landing points. Y On the first day of October the speed fiyer tore through 640 miles between Detroit and New York in 2 hours 41 minutes, traveling at an average of approximately 225 miles an hour, or nearly four miles a minute, to establish a world’s record for time and distance. Last month Capt. Hawks established a new record from New York City to Havana, Cuba, making the trip in 9 hours 21 minutes. On his return he bettered this mark, covering the 1,600 miles in 8 hours 42 minutes. When the speed pilot last reeled off the 2,500 air miles separating Los Angeles from New York he predicted that later he could probably do it in 10 hours. That coast-to-coast flight required 151 fewer days than 20 years ago, and the pilot who reduced it says the limit for the route hag not yet been reached and foresees the possi- bility of doing it in 10 hours. * “On the next try I expect to make real fast time,” says Capt. Hawks, thinking, perhaps, in terms of 10 hours. “With better winds and clearer atmospheric conditions I think the record can be reduced.” It is rumored that this outstanding speed pilot of the day is considering a new adventure—a mystery flight for another speed record.