Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 50

AVIA TION BY JOSEPH 8. EDGERTON. NE of the most fascinating ®ezw ds to fly from daylig! one of the Department of C O As sunset gives way to experiences the air passenger can ht into darkness, especially along 'ommerce lighted airways. twilight and twilight to full night, feature after feature of the ordinary world fades and is blotted out and there comes into existence a world of black pierced by the lights which mean guidance and safety to the night-flying pilot and his passengers. As a passenger aboard one of the tri-motored Stinsons of | Pennsylvania Alrlines, homeward bound from the National Air Races | at Cleveland, it was the privilege of the writer to experience this change over the heart of the Alleghenies, where the Government’s aids to aerial navigation mean more to the pilot than in the flatter and less dangerous flying country. Charles W. Carneal, veteran of the Allegheny crossing, was at the controls when the plane got off the great Cleve- Jand airport, scene of the races, on a beautiful late Summer afternoon. Miss Maude Talt was running the three-kilo- meter speed course in an effort to upset the women's speed record held by Ruth Nichols as the big tri-motor began to climb with its nose toward Akron. At Akron, a matter of some 23 min- utes of fiying into a quartering breeze, the mammoth Goodyear airship dock, in which the U. S. S. Akron is being com- pleted, stood out of the flat green field like an artificial version of Georgia's Stone Mountain. Some day a glider pilot is going to use the currents of air rising up over that great structure and ride around overhead for hours. It is Tu- mored a couple of the Navy pilots in training to fly planes from the Akron have plans for the stunt in mind and are only awaliing an opportunity to put them into practice. Light and Shadow. Teaving Akron in a mellow afternoon sunlight, Carneal headed crosswind to- ward Pittsburgh. The slanting rays of the late sun soon began to throw the steadily increasing irregularities of the country below into bolder and bolder relief, the valleys in deepening shadow. the hills in ever ruddier light. The landing on mountain-top Betts | Field, at Pittsburgh, was made in the last rays of the setting sun and 10 min- utes later the ship was off into the Alleghenies, with a red and orange sky graves with heroes of aviation. Though there were a goodly number of minor crack-ups and six crashes, or accidents, which resulted in complete wiping out of planes, no flyer was even seriously |injured “during the races—a welcome | contrast to the year before, when the | races were ariong the bloodiest in the | history of major aviation meets. | Two Marine Corps planes were chalked |up as total losses following an aerial | collision in which their pilots escaped by jumping. An Army pursuit plane {also was completely washed out in a | crash after the pilot leaped to safety. | Walter Hunter narrowly escaped de- struction when his plane caught fire, crashed and was completely demolished during a trial run for the Thompson | Trophy. An autogiro caught fire while | being taxied across the field and was reduced to a little churred heap of nothing much. The plane of Flight | Lieut. Richard L. R. Atcherly of Eng- land was washed out. The toll of | smashed wing tips and damaged land- |ing gear was interesting, but not es- pecially important, except to those who had to pay for the excitement The National Capital's only entry in the races—Capt. Ira'C. Eaker, Army | Air Corps, on duty at Bolling Pield— provided some excitement for the race | race, fans following the Thompson when he had to land without the use of his landing gear. Eaker was using a low-wing plane, with retractable land- ing gear, the wheels cranking up into |the wings to reduce drag resistance in flight. THE SUNDAY WASHINGTON, D. C. HE roads we travel and the friends we meet, how they; are prized as Time ticks off the measure of the passing years! Among friends, there was Lord Fairfax, Royalist to the end, watching with deep concern the tide of events, yet with' his high esteem for the youth he had counseled at Belvoir and; Greenway Court lessened not a whit. Sobering days were at} hand as faint sounds of confliét reached the sylvan shores of, the Potomac River. often, but she went about so emclenflyl capturing one after another of the| smaller prizes in pilots that she was able to go home with about $4,300 winnings to show for | the 10 days. | In the Transcontinental Derby, which | opered the big show, Mrs. Phoebe | Omlie won herself $3,000 in the wom- en’s division, $1.250 in other prize money and a glittering $2,500 automo- bile with a slightly banged-up fender, result of an airport skirmish. D. C. ‘Warren, who 'led the men’s division in the derby, took down $3,000. Others who did well by their purses as a result of flying abllity were Harold S. Johnson, transport pilot between this city and Chicago, who got $4,500 sec- ond place money in the Bendix race;| Beeler Blevins, $3.000 for third place in the same race; Martie Bowman, $1.- 200 in the transcontinental derby: | Gladys O'Donnell, $3.000 and two| trophies; Mr. and Mrs, Arthur J. Davis, $1,580; Ben O. Howard, $2400; | Dale “Red” Jackson, $3.000; W. J.| Weddell, $5850, and Ray More, $2,750. | Scares of other prizes were won, and all in all it was a pretty grand affair | for those flyers who had that little extra something it takes to win, Races Draw Crowds. Estimates place the total attendance at the National Air Races during the events for woman |sport a new and morc gaudy outfit whole skin. They enjoy the trick cos- tumes of some of the lady pilots, who MOTORISTS AROUSED OVER TAX DIVERSION Illegitimate Use of Funds From Sale of Gasoline Stirs AW A each day. Bui what the crowds like above ail else is a great. big military formation in a howling power dive, which makes 0 much noise the stands roar end tingle under foot and no man can talk to his neighbor. “We are a people who like to talk,” sald Senator Hiram Bingham, presi- dent of the National Aeronautic Asso- ciaticn, out of his famillarity with aviation crowds. If you take a look around the stands at a great aviation | meet ycu will realize the Senator is entirely right. The spectators, after paying good money to get into the stands, will chatter away on how mdny raisins and | how much sugar to use, the dress or | hat of the woman over there in the next box-—no, that one there, the third | from the end. They will chatter aw shrugging perhaps with a touch of impatience when @ Lowell Bayles inconsiderately interrupts the trend of | conversation with the roar of his mo- | tor as he sets a new speed record. But Efforts to divert the gasoline taxes and motor vehicle license fees from legitimate uses in the improvement of highways for the benefit of the motor | vehicle owners have aroused motorists to action according to Thomas J. Keefe, general manager of the Ameri- can Motorists Association. Attempts were made this year when 42 Legislatures were in session to divert | tax money, to illegitimate State uses. Happily, the public demand for road building to employ labor on the high- ways, together with the demands of | HERE were other folks moving about in their respective affairs as good neighbors do. In Alexandria there was Dr. Craik, to whom Fate had not yet imparted the faét that he had been drawn from Dumfries, Scotland, to become in time the Surgeon-General of the Continental forces in the American’ Revolution®under_his neighbor, George Washington., ally Correct Sketel y CALVIN FADER HE magterly sentences of the Virginia Bill of Rights were fashioned by another neigh- bor, George Mason. John Wythe, firét professor of law in America, applied his powers to the legal training of minds for the new citizenship; Hugh Mercer, druggist, was to become a great general,’and Fielding Lewis an ammunition maker," all close friends of Washington. vehicles traveling at high rates of ed, prevented any material diver- » A number of states have diverted the gasoline tax and the motor vehicle fees but the total is less than 3 per cent of the total amount collected, according to a recent survey of the American Road Builders’ Association. Money has been used for all kinds of things not related to roads. Kentucky i buying Mammoth Cave with gaso- line tax money. a conservation department busy with oyster propagation. Michigan thinks her conservation commission should be supported by motorists. Florida, Georgia and Texas diverted in 1930 a total of $13,404,200 to the support of schools—the largest single item of di- version—motorized education; Missis- sippi built a sea wall. New York City receives 5 per cent of the State gaco- line tax fund to replenish the general city fund of many uses. Idaho and Michigan build aviation flelds, but they collect taxes on gasoline used for avia traffic for more comfortable roads for | tion, which partly covers the diver- ' road buildin they are all attention when a great | smashing roar of a formatign dive | makes conversation utterly impossible and there is nothing to do but look Ken Maynard, movie cowpuncher, will get the crowd's attention when he waves his big white Stetson and emits Maryland supports | sion. Louisiana is building & city har- bor with $155,000 of the gasoline tax money in 1931, Besides these direct diversions from roads, other hidden diversions exist. | In many cases, the money returned to | counties by States from the gasoline | and motor venicle taxes goes into the | general fund and is used for the poor | farm and other purposes that doubt. |less are worthy but do mot make the | roads any better. “The principle of the gasoline tax (1s that of a special tax in lleu of toll | for the use of the highways. The rea- | son the tax has been so popular in the | past is that the money has been spent | for the benefit of those that pay the | tax.” continued Mr. Keefe. | “Motorists are interested in roads and some are already seeking to have the mctor vehicle taxes reduced, when the proceeds are not put back into the roads. There are 26,000,000 motor ve- | hicle owners. Some Legislatures are | *killing the goose that laid the golden egg’ that has done so much to stabilize he concluded. RADIO WRITERS FAST Staff of Eight Turns Out 15,000 ‘Words Daily. CHICAGO (#).—"The man behind the man before the microphone,” in the radio business, is the continuity writer. ‘The importance of this individual's work is shown in the fact that WGN, Chicago, regularly employs eight con- tinuity writers who turn out an average of 15,000 words a day. Complete dramatic works, comie strip dialogues, commercial and station an- nouncements, introductions and closings of programs, all arranged in proper | order to prevent a hitch, are all in a day's work for the continuity staff, comprised of four men and four women. Eats Betting Slips. NEWCASTLE, England—Miss Mary Conway, arrested for taking bets, es- caped by eating her betting slips. Lack | of evidence resulted in her dismissal. behind and thickening haze ahead. Down in the mountain valleys motarists | were burning their headlights, while on the hills the sunset glow still was bright. The forested slopes of Chestnut Ridge were purpling. with almost entire dark- ness in_the valley bottoms. Automobile headlights now could be seen for long ile he was 10 days of aviation's greatest show at | & cowboy whoop over the public ad- o!v{hhe Thsmp.s'ox:" ::c‘ggn:?eg::??gefig‘inpproxunakl.v 370,000, the final day's | dress system at the request of an an- mechanism let go, the wheels dropped | §athering totaling 75,000 within the | nouncer. Betty Lund, who flies power and the crank in the cockpit near Capt. |2'7port boundaries and an estimated | gliders with some skill. makes the Eaker’s knee began whirling madly, la- | 75.000 additional who paid no admission | heads turn when she walks by in | cerating his left thumb and tearing the | but strained their eyes to see the show | shrieking blue jodhpurs and buff jack- | clothes off his knee. For half a lap he | a5 best they might from the adjacent |et. with a helmet crammed on’ her | . | fiew the plane with his feet alone, using | dusty roads and flelds. vellow curls. Ruth Elder Camp, all | distances on the winding mountain | poth hands to get the landing gear up, | A 10-foot canvas wall, encirling the | brown and beautiful, is always good highways and the first aviation beacon | He did sueh a good job of pulling in | entire mile-square airport, shut off the | for a battery of stares. The parachute | began winking off to the left on the |nis wheels the second time that, when View of ground events to those outside | jumpers always go pretty well— very crest of a high wild mountain | the race was over and he came Around ss they resorted to climbing. This | there’s a chance they may land on top ridge did in_large numbers. Every A glance revealed the difficul-| to Jand, the wheels would not ceme out ties which must have been overcome again. _For one long, unhappy hour hauling_the construction material for | Cant Eaker bounced the plate around that light over miles of abrupt forested | mountain in which no roads or trails | were visible. The lights of scattered houses now began gleaming from down in the val- | Jey. Occasionally they were gathered into a little patch which marked a small town. The world below was becoming | vague and mysterious, a Tealm of in- | distinct patches zgainst velvet black- | in which the scattered pin- | of light glittered. Above, the Beacons Shine. Above all. on the mountaintops, were the friendly airways beacons, red lights flashing the code signal of the beacon station, course light showing the way to the next beacon and the great sweeping beam of the beacon itself cutting through the gathering darkness Two beacons farther on, some 30 miles over mountains and valleys, & green light blinked an unceasing code signal. It marked one of the most welcome sights a night pllot can see, ness, points wying to shake the stubborn wheels loose, but to no avail. Then, his fuel supply running low, he was forced to land on the belly of the plane. while sirens shrilled, ambulances and fire ap- paratus clanged and the crowd o-o-h-ed nd a-a-ah-ed. Eaker, however, got away with the landing quite nicely, the plane suffering little damage beyond a bent propeller. Pilots Reap Rewards. Jimmy Doolittle. who in the Army Air Corps Reserve goes officially as Maj. James H. Doolittle, was the heavy | money winner in the 1931 races. He | went ~home with ~$10.000 and the | Bendix trophy and, but for an over- heated motor in the Thompson race, undoubtedly would have added $4,500 more to his collection, as he .was | fiying an_easy second when forced | down on the seventh lap. | ~ Diminutive Mae Haizlip led the | women in reaping awards for her fly- | ing. She gathered in $7.750 prize money and her husband, Jimmy a lighted intermediate landing fleld. At first only the green blinker, high on a hilltop above the field, could be seen. Then there was an obstruction light, marking the top of a spur of the main ridge. Another red obstruc- | tion light and still another appeared, ' marking the crest of the spur as it dropped down to the left into the | valley. Soon red lights appeared on | the near side of the fleld, marking high spots on the west side of the valley. A moment later and the white bound- ary lights appeared, marking the out- line of the landing field, long and ir- | regular in shape. In the center of the narrow south end gleamed two green lights. dupli- | cated by two at the north end. They marked the path of the main runway. | So parrow was the valley no direct east and west runway could be obtained, but there was a diagonal landing strip marked by a green light in one sharp corner of the field and near the center of the far side. A Comforting Sight. It was a beautiful and comforting sight in the blackness of the rugged mountains. Though no trace of the earth could be seen except the uniform blackness, the lights told the pilot all he needed i0 know to get down in safety. An illuminated windsock gave him “his landing direction. The red lights marked out the points of danger he must avoid. The white lights showed him the size and shape of the landing i he green lights revealed the location of the best approaches | nd landing strips. Truly, a haven in| the wilderness, available’ in case of | mechanical trouble or sudden storm. Beyond, the solemn march of the Te- volving beacons resumed in 10-mile | strides. Rows of lights, occasionally | h’mkmq through tree leaves, showed where laboring automobiles were toil- | ing up a long mountain slope. The | scattered lights of the mountain homes coagulated into a mass which spelled “Hagerstown” on any map, and soon | afterward Frecerick, with its interme- diate field 3 miles off to the northwest, | appeared. The automobile lights on the high- way increased in number, and the towns were more frequent. A steady | and growing glow appeared on the horizon ahead, with two beacons shin- ing steadfastly above. It was Washing- ton, and for proof there soon stood re- vealed the Capitol dome and the| Washington Monument, bathed in | white light. 3 Carneal switched on>-his big wing landing light. and a bursting fan of light responded from the light-outlined stretch of Washington-Hoover Airport below. One smooth, gliding circle, and Carneal swept in for his landing. A most enjoyable and interesting trip was over, and a moment later Carneal slapped down the cover of his report book on the record of another day's work. The 1931 national air races filled no DOES YOUR CAR SHIMMY? YOUR SPRINGS NEED ATTENTION " We Can Make Thera . RIDE LIKE NEW " Springs Manufactured end ¢ Repaired % for All Makes of AUTOS, TRUCKS, BUSSES % Quick Service " For High-Class BRAKE LINING SEE US | WASHINGTON . SPRING WORKS 1410 Church St. N.W. DE. 0840 1% Between P and @ Bis. Haislip flew to victory to the tune of | some $1,860. | Johnny Livingstone of Aurora, Iil was the consistent winner in the races for smaller planes and went home with six trophies for his mantelpiece and $6,280 for his bank account. Lowell Bayles, the Springfield, Mass.. boy who sprang to fame by wWinning the Thompson race, took home $9.300 in cash, the beautiful gold, silver and bronze Thompson trophy, said to_be worth $10,000, and another trophy. His townswoman, Miss Maude Irving ‘Tait, won herself $4,250 in prize money and the Cleveland Pneumatic Aerial trophy. Robert Hall, also hailing from Springfield, Mass., garnered $3,150 and another handsome trophy. Dainty little Miss Florence Klingen- tree bore strange two-legged fruit, equipped with binoculars and | other aids to vision. Many of the trees were furnished with tree houses or makeshift seats, some padded and | cushioned for real comfart. The tops| of high signboards near the airport | formed grandstands for scores of boys | and men. who sat long and uneasily in Tows like blackbirds on a telephone line. Until the auditors get through scrambling yards and yards of figures it will be difficult to tell just how the races resulted financially, but it ap- pears that the directors of the Na- tional Air Races of Cleveland, Inc.. are going to take a financial beating which may run as high as $75,000, but which will be largely offset by the balance of $48.000 in the treasury when the races and the bad weather began The air-race organization already As posted $12500 with the National Acronautic Association, under whose auspices all aviation events must he run, to insure the holding of the 1932 races In Cleveland and is prepared to hand over another like amount when required. Plans alrcady are in progress for the bigger and better national air races of 1932. Crowds Seek Thrills. The psychology of the crowds at- tending the national air races formed as interesting a study for the fiying people who cn the great_annual show as the show formed for Old Man Public and his family. Despite the growing public interest | in aviation, it was apparent that many of the finer points of the competitions are lost on the crowds, and that what attracts the vast gatilerings of spec- ators is largely and lamentably the whoopee” part of the business. The crowds like good acrobatics, per- formed close enough to the ground so sizable smith, who flew down from Minneapo- | that there is a reasonable amount of lis, didn't get into the headlines very dITH the New Plymouth giving the smoothness of an Eight, who cares now about counting cylinders? Results count, Facts talk. A five- minute ride will tell you more than all the words in the world. Don’t buy any motor car until you drive the New Plymouth. SOED BY ALL DrSOTO, EHRYSLER, AND DODGE doubt about the pilot getting out witn a. AND UP, F. O. FLOATING FREE WHEELING HYDRAULIC BRAEKES SAFETY-STEEL DOUBLE-DROP EASY-SHIFT TRANSMISSION | of a flagpole or in a grandstand or | | 535 D:E AL some place The dead stick contests get more than a8 casual look—since one of the boys. coming in high, stalled and slipped into the ground trying to hit | the marker. | But when some of the pilots, really putting on an excellent flying exhibi- | tion, are trying to pile up points in | some contest. they are, unless they make a deal of fuss and bother lbout“ the business. merely an accompaniment to a great amount of chattering by the | cash customers. who, after ail, make the races passible | And as long as the paying public is satisfied and finds something about the | races it likes well enough to come out through the traffic jams long - miles | from town to see, even though that | something be merely conversation with attendant unusual circumstances, who is there to voice any objection? Cer- tainly not the pilots who are out there collecting prize money or consoling themselves with the thought that ma; be the next time they will, | WER TO YESTERDAY'S PUZZLE. DM MBS A<EIMS Y QM PavED Roate emaveL moros ®anmi moavs PLAIN NUMERALS INDICATE MILEACE BETWEN OUTLINED POBVTY [~ % @ MOMEALS IN et ‘smas o g s () CORRESPOND TO PEDBRAL MOLTS MABRRS, TR AT PR Five Oaks Lodge| land Tea House On Frederick Road 2 Miles East of Ellicott City A lovely, modern home, on | 8 beautiful es main lodge and and h are delightful tired townsfolk. Chapman Manor Blue R Summit, Pa. CHICKEN DINNERS WEEKLY AND WEEK END GUESTS B. FACTORY POWER GRAY'S HILL INN Overlooking the Potomac Formerly @ part of Mt. Vernon Luncheon Dinner | Richmond Rosd—1¢ Mi—Ph. Lorton &-F BODY FRAME Country Ham, Steak and Chicken Dinner: i Week Day Luncheons. i3c and $1.00 o~ ' Riverside Inn - Seneca, Md. Prettiest Si fluv. Cinaus fn Presh Vesetabies From Our Garden fi?'u"’."mwfi: TR one Gaithersburg, 3-F-13. 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