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OPPORTUNITIES INAVIATION


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OPPORTUNITY BOOKSOPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION

Br LIEUT. GORDON LAMONTCAPTAIN ARTHUK SWEETSER

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESSBr JAMES MELVIN LEE

OPPORTUNITIES IN CHEMISTRYBY ELLWOOD HENDRICKOPPORTUNITIES IN FARMING

BY EDWARD OWEN DEANOPPORTUNITIES IN MERCHANT SHIPS

BY NELSON COLLINS

HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORKESTABLISHED 1817


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OPPORTUNITIESIN AVIATIONBy Captain ARTHUR SWEETSERU. S. Air Service "8? "Author of "The American Air Service" andGORDON LAMONT, Late Lieutenantin the Royal Air Force, Canada

Frontispiece

HARPER & BROTHERSPublishers New York and London


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Acknowledgement is made to the New YorkEvening Post for some of the material

which first appeared in its columns.

OPPORTUNITIES m AVIATIONCopyright, igao, by Harper & BrothersPrinted in the United States of America

Published, January, 1920


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To that great new gift which is so soonto come to us, this little book is en*thusiastically dedicated by the authors.

435.175


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CONTENTS

ADDENDUM 107


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INTRODUCTIONANY ordinary, active man, provided he

has reasonably good eyesight and nerve,can fly, and fly well. If he has nerve enoughto drive an automobile through the streetsof a large city, and perhaps argue with apoliceman on the question of speed limits,he can take himself off the ground in anairplane, and also land a thing vastly moredifficult and dangerous. We hear a greatdeal about special tests for the flier vacuum-chambers, spinning-chairs, co-ordination tests

there need be none of these. The averageman in the street, the clerk, the la.borer, themechanic, the salesman, with proper train-ing and interest can be made good, if nothighly proficient pilots. If there may beone deduction drawn from the experience ofinstructors in the Royal Air Force, it is thatit is the training, not the individual, thatmakes the pilot.Education is not the prune requisite.Good common sense and judgment are muchmore valuable. Above all, a sense of touch,


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INTRODUCTIONsuch as a man can acquire playing the piano,swinging a pick, riding a bicycle, driving anautomobile, or playing tennis, is important.A man should not be too sensitive to loss ofbalance, nor should he be lacking in a senseof balance. There are people who cannotsail a sail-boat or ride a bicycle these peo-ple have no place in the air. But ninety-nine out of one hundred men, the ordinarynormal men, can learn to fly. This has beenthe experience of the Royal Air Force inCanada.There will be as much difference between

the civilian pilot, the man who owns an air-plane of the future and drives it himself,and the army flier, as there is now betweenthe man who drives his car on Sunday after-noons over country roads and the racing driverwho is striving for new records on speciallybuilt tracks. If aeronautics is to be madepopular, every one must be able to take partin it. It must cease to be a highly special-ized business. It must be put on a basiswhere the ordinary person can snap the flyingwires of a machine, listen to their twang, andknow them to be true, just as any one nowthumps his rear tire to see whether it is prop-erly inflated.The book, in a large sense a labor of love,


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INTRODUCTIONis the collaboration of an American officerof the United States Air Service and anotherAmerican, a flying-officer in the Royal AirForce. If the Royal Air Force way of doingthings seems to crowd itself to the fore inthe discussion of the training of pilots, theauthors crave indulgence.

In a subject which lends itself dangerouslyto imagination, the authors have endeavoredto base what they have written, not onprophecy, but on actual accomplishments todate. The latter are indeed so solid thatthere is no necessity for guesswork. Avia-tion has proved itself beyond peradventureto those who have followed it, but up to thepresent the general public has not sufficientlyanalyzed its demonstrated possibilities.The era of the air is undoubtedly at hand;it now remains to take the steps necessaryto reap full advantages from it.ARTHUR SWEETSER,GORDON LAMONT.


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i

WAR'S CONQUEST OF THE AIR

THEWORLD WAR opened to man the

freedom of the skies. Amid all itsanguish and suffering has come forth theconquest of the air. Scientists, manufact-urers, dreamers, and the most hard-headedof men have united under the goad of itsnecessity to sweep away in a series of supremeefforts all the fears and doubts which hadchained men to earth.

True, years before, in fact, nearly a decadebefore, the Wright brothers had risen fromthe ground and flown about through the airin a machine which defied conventional rulesand beliefs. The world had looked on inwonder, and then dropped back into anapathetic acceptance of the fact. Despite

1


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONthe actual demonstration and the field ofimagination which was opened up, theseearly flights proved to be a world's wonderonly for a moment.For years aviation dragged on. Dare-devils and adventurers took it up to makemoney by hair-raising exploits at variousmeets and exhibits. Many died, and thegeneral public, after satiating its lust for thesensational, turned its thought elsewhere.Flight was regarded as somewhat the play-thing of those who cared not for life, and asa result the serious, sober thought of thecommunity did not enter into its solution.

Business men held aloof. Apart from cir-cus performances there seemed no money tobe made in aviation and consequently prac-tically none was invested in it. What littlemanufacturing was done was by zealots andinventors. Workmanship was entirely byhand, slow, amateurish, and unreliable.Strangely enough, scientists were equallyapathetic. It might have been expectedthat their imaginations would be fired by theunexplored realms of the air and by the in-comparably new field of experiment openedto them; but they were not. The greatquestion, that of flight itself, had beenanswered, and but few were interested in2


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WAR'S CONQUEST OF THE AIRworking out the less spectacular applicationsof its principles. Aviation remained verymuch of a poor sister in the scientific world,held back by all the discredit attaching to theearly stunt-flying and by failure to breakthrough the ancient belief in its impractica-bility for any purposes other than thesensational.So the science limped along, unsupportedby either public interest or capital. Nowand again some startling feat attracted theworld's attention, as when the English Chan-nel was first crossed by air and England wasmade to realize that her insularity was gone.For a moment this feat held public interest,but again without a true realization of itssignificance. There seemed nothing whichwould drive man to develop the gift whichhad been put within his reach.Up to that fatal moment in August, 1914,when the World War broke out, aviation hadmade but little progress. All nations hadwhat passed as air services, but they were

very small and ill-equipped and were re-garded with doubt and suspicion by themilitary leaders of the various countries.Compared with what has since taken place,the experiments previous to the war wereonly the most rudimentary beginnings.2 3


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONThen came the war. Man's imaginationwas aroused to a feverish desire for the de-

velopment of any device for causing destruc-tion. Conventions, usages, and prejudiceswere laid aside and every possibility of in-flicting damage on the enemy was examinedon its merits. Sentiment or any regard forpersonal danger involved was thrown to thewinds. Science was mobilized in all linesin the struggle to keep one step ahead of theenemy.Almost immediately aviation challengedthe attention of the responsible leaders. Thehandful of French planes which in those earlyfateful days of August penetrated up intoBelgium brought back the information of theGerman mobilization there, and this led tothe rearrangement of French forces in prep-aration for the battle of the Marne. As aresult aviation at once leaped into high reputefor scouting purposes and the foundationswere laid for its great development.But as aviation had proved itself in thewarfare of movement leading down to theMarne and sweeping back later to the Aisne,so it proved itself in the French warfarewhich was so unexpectedly to follow. Whenthe two opposing lines were so close togetherthat they locked almost in a death grip, each4


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WAR'S CONQUEST OF THE AIRside kept such strict watch that groundobservation was greatly hampered. Appar-ently there was only one way to find outwhat was going on behind the enemy's lines.That was by looking from above. The firstaviator, therefore, who sailed into the airand spied the enemy introduced one of themost important developments in the strategyof modern warfare.Thereupon began one of those silent battles

of the rear, of which we see and hear so little,but which indeed decides sometimes farin advance of the actual test of battle justwhich side is going to win. Scientists, in-ventors, manufacturers, and practical fliersbegan coming together in increasing numbersto exact from this latest method of warfareits last degree of usefulness. In the studiesand factories on both sides of the lines mendedicated themselves to the solution of theproblem of flight.

Stage by stage the difficulties were over-come. First it was the Germans who withtheir terrible Fokker planes harnessed themachine-gun to the airplane and made of it aweapon of offense. Then it was the Allieswho added the radio and made of it an effi-cient method of observation and spotting ofartillery fire. Increased engine-power began5


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONto be developed, and bombs were carried inever-increasing numbers and size.The moment an enemy plane fell on eitherside of the line the victors gathered abouttheir prey with a keenness which could comeonly of the hope that they might find in itsome suggestion that would make their ownflying more efficient. Each learned from theother, so that the different schools on eitherside of the line had all the advantage ofwatching the development of their rivals.Very shortly after an improvement appearedon one side it reappeared in the planes ofthe other side.

It is doubtful if ever a more desperatescientific battle was fought than that whichfeatured the development of the air servicesof the various belligerents during the war.Control of the air was so vital that neithercould afford to overlook any possibility; and,as a result, the scientific evolution wastruly astounding. No man was reserved onthis subject of airplane improvement. Allcontributed their best skill and ability to thecommon reservoir of knowledge.Very soon man's conquest of the air be-came so complete that different types of

planes were developed for different kinds ofwork. The plane of the early days which6


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WAR'S CONQUEST OF THE AIRwandered off by itself wherever it saw fit,gathered what information it could, andreturned to drop a note to the commanderbelow, developed into a highly efficient two-seated plane equipped with machine-gunsfor protection against attack, wireless forsending back messages, and cameras forphotographing the enemy's positions below.The plane which had earlier dropped anoccasional bomb in a hit-or-miss fashionover the side now developed either into apowerful two-seater with a great weight-carrying capacity and a continually moreefficient scientific method of aiming its mis-siles or into a huge machine for long-distancenight-bombing work capable of carryingfrom two to a dozen men and from two tofour tons of bombs. During this time thestrictly fighting plane, usually a single-seater, increased in speed,

"ceiling," andagility till it could dart, twist, and dive about,

three to five miles above the trenches, pro-tecting friendly bombing and observationplanes below from enemy attack or swoopingdown to send enemy planes in flames to theground.

Vital though all this work was for the war,it had an incomparably greater value for theperpetual struggle which all mankind is7


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONwaging against nature. While the variousnations were seeking to destroy one anotherthrough the air, they were in reality destroy-ing the chains which bound them to theground and winning their freedom in a newelement. The advance which the Allies orthe Germans made over each other in scien-tific aerial development was a joint advanceover the restrictions of gravitation.

This, indeed, apart from the spread ofdemocracy and internationalism, may wellstand out in history as the war's richestheritage. Problems which had been con-sidered insoluble were solved. The castingaside of all conventions, all restrictive habitsof thought, all selfishnesses, and the focusingof the highest scientific ability in a strugglewhich might mean the life or death of thenation, had brought as a by-product adevelopment beyond our wildest fancies.

Aerial operations in any future war, how-ever, will have at once a problem which hasonly recently and in very much smallerdegree confronted the navy, namely, theassurance of attack not only on the front,in the rear, and on both flanks, but fromabove and below as well. Recently the navyhas had to face that problem submarinesoperating below and airplanes above; but8


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WAR'S CONQUEST OF THE AIRthe problem of attack upon a ship is not soserious as upon an airplane.Already, in order to meet this danger ofattack from every possible direction, a mostcomplete strategy and system of formationshave been worked out. In this way thevarious types of planes operate in differentair strata according to their missions, theupper planes echelon somewhat behindthose below on the order of a flight of stepsfacing the enemy. This system provides aquick method of reception of an attack andthe assurance of quick support, no matterwhere the attack may come. Obviouslythere would be nothing in all of warfare oneither land or sea comparable to a collisionbetween two such aerial fleets. The speedof the lighter planes, quick, life-taking duelsin several different strata at once, would pro-vide a clash of action, speed, and skill farmore beautiful and yet in many ways farmore terrible than anything ever recordedin the history of war.

Fleets of the skies who shall attempt atthis day of the infancy of the science to limittheir scope? Aerial battle-planes of colossalsize and power are as certain to come intime, and in not a very long time, as thedreadnought of to-day was certain to follow9


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATONthe first armored ship of only a half-centuryago. Never yet has man opened up a newavenue of war that he has not pursued itrelentlessly .to its final conclusion. It iscertain that he will not fail to push aerialdevelopment with all the energy with whichhe has devoted himself to the science ofdestruction.The avenue of the seas has been up to nowthe world's greatest civilizer. Very shortly,without doubt, it will be replaced by theavenue of the skies. If we are to strive for

freedom of the seas, what shall we say aboutfreedom of this new element? The laws ofaerial travel and aerial warfare open anunlimited field of speculation.


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IITHE TRANSITION TO PEACE

P\EVELOPMENTS during the war, de-*--' spite their startling sensational char-acter, had, however, been so overshadowedby human suffering and desperation that butfew minds were awake to the changes thatwere to influence man's future. Amid thedisasters, battles, and unprecedented move-ments in the politics of nations, the achieve-ments of flight could command but a passingnotice. People looked and wondered, butwere distracted from following their thoughtsthrough to the logical conclusion by theroar of a seventy-mile gun, the collapse of anation, or the shock of battle on a one-hun-dred-mile front.

Let us, however, weave together a fewthings that were done in those days of sensa-tion, which may have a particular effect onthe future of the science. Most conspicuous,perhaps, was the obliteration of distance andof all the customary limitations of travel,ll


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONGerman airplanes in squadrons penetratedinto snug little England when the Germanfleet stood locked in its harbor. The Italianpoet D'Annunzio dropped leaflets over Viennawhen his armies were held at bay at theAlps. French, British, and finally Americanplanes brought the war home to cities of theRhine which never even saw the Alliedtroops till Germany had surrendered.None of the conventional barriers stood inthe way of these long trips. A new route oftravel had been opened up along which menflew at will. The boundary-lines of statesbelow, which look so formidable on the map,were passed over with the greatest ease, aswell as such natural obstacles as the Alpsand the English Channel.Tremendous saving in time was constantlybeing effected. Men were able to dart backand forth from the front to the rear and fromEngland to France with a speed neverdreamed of by other means of travel. Tobe sure, the front-line demands for planeswere too severe to allow a very wide use inthis way, but nevertheless the possibilitieswere there and were constantly availed of. 1

Indeed, the British early established a1 Some of the British statesmen flew to and from the

Peace Conference in Paris.12


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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEcommunication squadron for this specificpurpose. In the last three months of thewar 279 cross-country passenger flights weremade to such places as Paris, Nancy, Dun-kirk, and Manchester, all of them without asingle accident! Moreover, a Channel ferryservice was created which in seventy-onedays of flying weather made 227 crossings,covered over 8,000 miles, and carried 1,843passengers.With trains seldom going above 60 milesan hour, the slowest airplane went 80 andthe average daylight plane on the frontprobably equaled 110. The fast fighterswent up to 120, 130, and even 140 miles anhour, over twice as fast as any method oftravel previously known. Just as the cur-tain closed on the war, there had been de-veloped in the United States a plane creditedwith 162% miles an hour, and no one for amoment believed that the limit had beenreached.

Altitude likewise had been obliterated.The customary height for two-seated ob-servation and bombing planes was betweenone and two miles, and of single-seated scoutsbetween two and four miles. These altitudeswere not the freakish heights occasionallyobtained by adventurous fliers; on the con-13


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONtrary they were the customary levels atwhich the different kinds of duties werecarried out. Many men, of course, wentfar higher. Since then an American, RolandRohlfs, flying a Curtiss "Wasp" set the un-official altitude record at 34,610 feet higherthan the world's highest mountain.

Life at these altitudes was not possible, ofcourse, under ordinary conditions. The tem-perature fell far below zero and the air be-came so thin that neither man nor enginecould function unaided. As a result thefliers were kept from freezing by electricallyheated clothing and from unconsciousnessfrom lack of air by artificially supplied oxy-gen. Similarly the oil, water, and gasoleneof the engine were kept working by specialmethods.The armistice threw the different nations

into a dilemma as to their aviation plans.Obviously the huge war planes which werestill in the building in all the belligerent coun-tries were no longer necessary. Almost im-mediately, therefore, the placing of new con-tracts was halted by the various governments,enlistments stopped, and plans set in motionfor the new requirements.Within a very short time the United Statescanceled several hundred million dollars'

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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEworth of contracts on which little actualexpenditure had been made by the manu-facturers. Shipments of men and planesoverseas were of course brought to an endand at the same time arrangements weremade for bringing back from France the greataerial equipment mobilized there. Indeed,the air service units were among the firstto be returned, especially the labor andconstruction troops in England.

Nevertheless,military aviation of the futurewas definitely safeguarded. A bill was pre-sented to Congress for an aerial force of4,000 officers and 22,000 men, a fitting con-trast to the force of 65 officers and 1,120 menwith which the country had entered the war.Certain flying fields and schools which hadshown the greatest value in the past andpromised most for the future were definitelydesignated for permanent use, and especialeffort was made to keep in the service thebest of the technical experts and designerswho had helped to solve America's problemsof the air.Abroad demobilization was less rapid,

as it was in all other lines. The British,who had given particular thought to after-war aviation, immediately turned to con-verting all their valuable war material and

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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONexperience into a national force which shouldassure England of the supremacy of the airas well as strength in her supremacy of theseas. France, the custodian of Germany'sgreat aerial force, found more than enoughwork for all her men in taking care of thehundreds of surrendered machines. Bothnations at the same time took long stepstoward building up the civil machinerynecessary for private, non-military flying.For several months, of course, there was ahiatus. Thought had been so concentratedon military aviation that the conversion topeace work proved slow. Only the mostgeneral plans had been made in any of thecountries, and those by ardent supporters ofaviation, who were forced to make the mostearnest efforts to obtain consideration of thesubject in the midst of all the vital problemsof peace and reconstruction. Greatest ofall the difficulties was that, as private flyinghad been prohibited during the war, therewere, with the coming of peace, no rulesand regulations ready for it. Also manygreat projects for international flights hadto be postponed because of complete lack ofinternational rules in this respect.

Nevertheless, most spectacular and con-vincing flights followed one another in rapid16


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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEsuccession. The most outstanding of theseflights was, of course, the first crossing of theAtlantic by seaplane a triumph of organizedeffort by the navy. At the same time allover the world flights took place withastounding frequency which illustrated, aslittle else could, the certain future of aviation.Seas, mountains, deserts, places otherwisealmost impassable were traversed with easeand speed.Army fliers flew from the Atlantic to thePacific within a few months of the signing ofthe armistice. It required but fifty hoursof flying-time, just a fraction over two days.At that time no attempt was made to obtainspeed, as the purpose of the trip had beento locate landing-fields and make aerial mapsfor future transcontinental flights.The four pJanes that made this trip mightbe considered as the pioneers of vast flocksof airplanes which within a short time will bewinging their way from coast to coast. If,with machines built specifically for war pur-poses and with no special landing-fields orroutes laid out, aviators could successfullytravel from one coast to the other in fiftyhours of flying-time, how much more rapidlywill future trips be made when special tour-ing-planes have been developed, routes and17


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONlanding-fields are laid out, repair-shops arebuilt, and the trip becomes a matter of rou-tine rather than aerial experiments.The effect that this new method of travelwill have on American life and developmentis staggering to the imagination. San Fran-cisco and New York will be almost neighbors,while Chicago and New Orleans will be buta pleasant day's trip apart. The businessman, the statesman, and even the couriercan be transported from one end of thecountry to the other, independent of steelrails and other devices, in record time.Such experiments have already provedsuccessful in Europe. The British Foreign

Office in London, anxious to keep in closetouch with the Peace Conference at Paris,turned to the airplane to assure quicktransportation of men and documents. Theslow train trip with the irksome transferto and from the Channel steamer and themore irksome voyage across the Channelitself, were avoided by a special servicethrough the air. Thus two great capitalswere brought within a few hours' tune ofeach other, which greatly facilitated thevital negotiations under way.

Civilians were finally granted the right tomake the trip under military supervision.18


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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEFourteen passengers were transported fromParis to London in two hours and fortyminutes as against six hours and fortyminutes, the fastest time ever made by anyother means of travel. Each of them hadtwenty pounds of luggage, and luncheonof cold ham and champagne was served onboard over the Channel, followed by a gameof cards. It was easily demonstrate bythe return trip that men could leave eithercapital after breakfast, have several hoursin the other, and return home for dinner.Then a French flier with six passengersmade the flight from Paris to Brussels. Thetime consumed between the two capitalswas but two hours as against over five bythe ordinary train travel. As an instanceof some of the problems which this particularflight brought about, it was observed that aBelgian policeman approached the plane asit was about to leave and inquired for pass-ports and papers. Everybody made excusesfor not having them. The policeman refusedto allow the airplane to leave. Finally thepilot, losing his patience and temper, startedthe motor and flew off before the angeredofficial knew what had happened.Two other French aviators about the sametime crossed the Mediterranean from France3 19


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONto Algiers and back in the same day. Thoughunequipped with seaplane devices, theystarted out with full confidence that theirmotors would carry them over the water.With only their navigating instruments andan occasional vessel to guide them, theyreached their destination after a perfect tripand created a great sensation among thenatives who came down to see the airplanesalight.Far more spectacular, however, was theflight made from London to Delhi. AHandley-Page machine, which had flownfrom London to Cairo during the war andtaken part in the final military opera-tions against the Turks, left Cairo, onNovember 30th, shortly after the armistice.Five and three-quarter hours later the air-plane with five passengers reached Damascus,a trip practically impossible except throughthe air because of the ravages of the war.At 7.40 the next morning they set out again,flew northeast along the Jebel esh ShekhRange to Palmyra, then east to the Eu-phrates, down that river to Ramadi, andthence across to Bagdad, a flight of 510miles made in six hours and fifty minuteswithout a single stop, part of it overcountry untrod even by the most primi-20


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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEtive travelers. Thence they went on viaBushire, Bander Abbas, Tcharbar, and Ka-rachi to Delhi, where they received a tre-mendous ovation as the first fliers to arrivefrom the home country. From Delhi theycontinued on without mishap to Calcutta.This distance from Cairo to Karachi, 2,548miles, was made in thirty-six hours' flying-time; from Karachi to Delhi the distance is704 miles, and from Delhi to Calcutta 300,a total of 4,052 miles from the main city ofEgypt to the greatest commercial port ofIndia. No route had been surveyed, nolanding-places obtained, no facilities pro-vided. Territory inaccessible to ordinarytravel, land where the white man is almosta stranger, was crossed. Yet it was all doneas part of the day's work, in no sense as arecord-breaking or spectacular trip.The certainty of flight from London to In-dia was demonstrated. A bi-weekly servicefor both passengers and mails was at onceplanned. Almost immediately preparationsfor the route were worked out, twenty-fiveairdromes and landing-fields were desig-nated, of which the main ones would be atCairo and Basra on the Tigris, with sub-sidiary fields at Marseilles, Pisa, or Rome,Taranto, Sollum, Bushire, Damascus, Bag-21


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONdad, Bander Abbas, Karachi, Hyderabad,and Jodhpur. It is estimated that the flightof 6,000 miles, at stages of about 350 each,would take seven or eight days as againstthe present train and steamer time of five orsix weeks. At the same time another routefar shorter than that which would be neces-sary by following the sea route lies over Ger-many, Russia, and the ideal flying-land alongthe Caspian Sea, Krasnovodsk, Askabad,Herat, Kandahar, and Multan.As with Asia Minor and Asia so withAfrica, the British at once made plans foraerial routes. Only a few weeks after thearmistice announcement was made of plansfor an " All Red Air Route" from Cairo acrossthe desert and the jungle to the Cape. Thiscould all be done over British territory, withthe part over Lakes Victoria Nyanza andTanganyika covered by hydroplanes. Themoment men were released from the war,surveying of this route was begun and tenta-tive plans made for landing-fields every 200miles over the 5,700-mile trip.The air is ours to do whatever we can withit. There must be developed a large interestin this country in the business of flying.We must make the air our third, fastest, andmost reliable means of communication be-

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THE TRANSITION TO PEACEtween points in a way to compete withtransportation on land and sea. The air-plane, instead of being the unusual thing,must become a customary sight over ourcities and villages. The first step hi thedevelopment is the training of airplane pilotsand mechanics.


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Ill

TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTANY ordinary, active man can fly. Thatis to say, any man With nerve enough totake a cold bath or drive an automobile downFifth Avenue can maintain himself in the airwith an airplane, and turn into a good pilotwith practice. In other words, the regularman who rides in the Subway, who puts ona straw hat on May 15th or 20th, as the casemay be, has not only the right to be in theair, but owes it to himself to learn to fly.Any one with a reasonable amount ofintelligence can be made a good pilot. Heneed not hold a college degree, or even ahigh-school diploma, tucked away in someforgotten place. If he has the sense of touchof the normal man, the sense of balance of anormal man, can skate, or ride a bicycle,he should be in the air, flying. There is adifference between the war or army pilotand the peace-time flier yet to be developed.24


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTWar flying calls for highly trained men,

a man who has proved himself fit for combatunder all conditions, a man who can shootstraight, think quickly, and turn immediately.He must possess a little more than theaverage nerve, perhaps, or he must be trainedto the point where shooting and maneuveringare the natural reactions to certain cir-cumstances. He must be able to standaltitudes of 20,000 feet; he must be quickwith his machine-gun, have a knowledge ofartillery, and know, in fact, a little abouteverything on the front he is trying to cover.This requires training and aptitude.The day is coming for the man who wantsto make a short pleasure flight, or go fromtown to town, touring by air. He needknow nothing of machine-guns or warfare.He may never want to do anything morehazardous in the way of maneuver than agentle turn. His maximum altitude wouldbe perhaps 8,000 feet. He would in allprobability be flying a machine whose " ceil-ing" was 10,000 feet, and he might nevercare to tour at a height higher than 2,000 feet.There is no reason why he should go, high.One can have all the thrills in the world at2,000 feet, follow the ground more easily,without wasting time or gasolene in attempts25


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONto fly high enough so that the earth lookslike another planet below.

Let us illustrate a bit from the Royal AirForce of Canada, which is as good as anyother example. The experience of the flyingservice of one country has been essentiallythat of another country, and we Americansmay yet learn of the air from the English.In England the air is just another medium oftravel, as much a medium as the ground andwater but that is, of course, another story.In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps, later in-corporated into the Royal Air Force, cameto Canada to take up the instruction ofCanadian boys for flying in France. Ameri-cans enlisted with the pick of the Canadianyouth, and droves were sent overseas. Verysoon the cream had been skimmed off andthere came a time when material was scarce.Meanwhile the war raged, and there was nooption but to take drafted men from allsections, Montreal in particular. Manycould not speak intelligible English, and fewhad enjoyed any educational advantages.The men who came as cadets to be trained aspilots in 1918 graded much lower in personaland physical qualifications than the type ofthe previous year. And yet these samedrafted men, who had withstood for three and26


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTa half years the call of their country, hadmore control over their machines at the endof their course than the men of the yearbefore.At the end of four, five, or six hours' solo

these men could do all the high maneuvers,commonly thought dangerous, such as thebarrel roll, the loop, the stall turn, the Im-melmann turn. An astounding showing com-pared to the boys of 1917, who were forbiddento stunt and who rarely disobeyed the orders.In our American service we had speciallyselected men. They were college men, tested,qualified, and picked. But our men andit's no reflection on them seldom did theirhigher maneuvers with less than fifty hoursof solo flying.There is just one answer it is a matterentirely of training.

It might be said that the Canadian casual-ties on the Texas flying-fields near FortWorth during the winter of 1917-18, whenthe Royal Air Force occupied two airdromes,were the cause of comment all over thecountry. There were fifty fatalities in twentyweeks of flying, and machine after machinecame down in a fatal spinning-nose dive,or tail spin, as the Americans speak of thespin. 27


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONShortly after the Royal Air Force returned

to its airdromes in Canada in the middle ofApril the Gosport system of flying training,which had been used successfully in England,was begun on the Curtiss J. N. 4B-typetraining-plane. The result was an immedi-ate and material decrease in fatal accidents.In July, 1918, there was one fatality forevery 1,760 hours of flying, and by Octoberfatalities had been reduced to one in every5,300 hours of flying. That is a remarkableachievement, as official data from othercenters of training show one death in a flyingaccident for every 1,170 hours.

Briefly, the Gosport system is a graduatedmethod of flying instruction. The cadet isled by easy steps through the earlier partof the training, and only after he has passedaerial tests in the simpler methods of controlis he allowed to continue with the rest ofhis course and "go solo." The schemeprovides that before he goes solo he musthave spun, and shown that he can take hisinstructor out of a spin. Only then is heconsidered fit to go on his own." Dangerous " and "Safe" as terms todescribe flying technique gave way to wrongand right. There was built up under soundinstruction one of the best schools of flying28


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTin North America, the School of SpecialFlying, at Armour Heights, Ontario. Thereis no reason why there should not be estab-lished in this country a number of suchschools, under men who have had armyexperience, to train great numbers of civilianfliers within the next few years. There isgoing to be a strong demand for the bestflying instruction that can be given. Itshould be noted that only the most perfectsystem of flying instruction should be used,for the best is safest, and the safest, no matterhow expensive, is comparatively cheap.There is no reason why there should be anextended period of ground instruction forthe non-military pilot of the future. Heshould be taught the elementary principlesof the theory of flight, should know somethingabout the engine with which he is going tofly, and understand some things about therigging of his airplane. The details couldcome to him in constant association withthe airplane before, during, and after eachflight. No time need be spent on suchsubjects as artillery observation, machine-gunnery, wireless, bombing, photography,patrol work, and other subjects of a purelymilitary nature, on which so much stress hasbeen laid in training army pilots.29


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION"What is an airplane?" Before goingahead with the method of Gosport instruc-

tion every pupil is given a lecture on theground in which he is asked that question.One definition which was passed out to us inCanada was, "An airplane is a machine . . ."At this point the flight sergeant in chargeof rigging would look dreamily into the dis-tance. "An airplane is a machine . . ." hewould begin againwithan air of utter despond-ency. That was certainly no news to cadets.They had an idea that it might be a machine,and wanted to know more about it."An airplane is a machine with lift-generating surfaces attached to a framewhich carries an engine, fuel, aviator, anddevices by which he steers, balances, andcontrols his craft," the mournful flightsergeant was finally able to convincethem.

Lift-generating surfaces these are thebases of all flying. Every one knows, forinstance, that a paper dart, instead of fallingdirectly to the floor, sails in a gliding anglefor some distance before crashing. Lift isgenerated under those plane surfaces movingthrough the air and the lift keeps thatpaper dart gliding. Little eddies of air arecompressed under its tiny wings. Imagine30


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTan engine in the dart, propelling it at somespeed. Instead of having to nose down toget enough speed to generate lift under itswings, the dart would be able to fly on thelevel, or even climb a bit.

Just so with an airplane. A gliding air-plane about to land with power shut off isthat paper dart on a large scale. The air-plane flying is the dart with power. Tomake the airplane safe to fly, to give controlto the pilot so that he may steer it wherehe wants to, there is a rudder, moved by arudder-bar under the foot of the pilot. Itis impossible to turn a swiftly moving air-plane in the air by the rudder alone. Itmust be banked to prevent skidding, evenas a race-track is banked high on the turns.On its side an airplane will cushion its ownbank of proper degree by the use of ailerons.These ailerons are sections of the wing-tipswhich may be moved either up or down.They are counterbalanced so that movementof the left down gives you the right aileronup. With left aileron down, the lift of theleft wing is increased, and it tips up; at thesame time the lift of the right wing is de-creased, and it sags down. In that way theairplane is tipped up for a bank. Theseailerons, wing sections, really, are controlled31


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONby a device known as the joy-stick in thecockpit.We have seen how an airplane is madeto tip and turn. Before a machine is undercontrol we must be able to climb, or comedown to the ground for a landing. Verticalcontrol of an airplane is attained by theuse of elevators, flaps on the tail plane actingas horizontal rudders. A pull-back on thejoy-stick lifts the flaps, raises the nose of themachine, and causes it to gain height. Pushthe joy-stick forward, the elevators areturned down, and the machine goes into adive for the ground. In making manymaneuvers all three controls, rudder, ailerons,and elevators, are used at once and the pilotfeels his way with the machine, guiding itwith the stick and the rudder-bar.

After the explanation of the use of thesecontrols, and their demonstration on themachine as it awaits its turn in the air, thepupil is taken up for his first ride strictlya joy ride, and not always joyous for thosewho take every chance to be seasick. Afterhe has a glimpse of what the ground lookslike from the air, and has recovered from hisfh-st breathless sweep off the ground, thepupil is given a lesson in the demonstrationof controls. The instructor explains through32


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTa speaking-tube attached to his helmet thevery simple principles. Forward with thestick to nose down, back to lift it up, leftstick tilts the machine over on its left wing,and right stick banks it to the right. Rightstick and right rudder, in proper proportions,turn the machine to the right, left stick andleft rudder to take the machine out of theturn and fly it straight again.Then the wonderful moment when theinstructor calls through the tube, "All right,now you take the stick." You clutch it asthough it were the one straw in a greatocean. "Not so hard/' comes the voice."Now put your feet gently on the rudder-bar. Not so rough; easier, man, easieron that stick!" For a glorious momentshe is yours, you hold her nose up, and youare flying an airplane tearing over thecheckerboard country far below.Then, like the voice of doom: "Now, doa gentle turn to the left. Don't forget to

give her rudder and stick at the same time.That's right. Begin the motion with yourfeet and hands at the same time." TheWorld swings furiously, and down below thatleft wing-tip a little farm sways gently."Now you are in a gentle turn feel thatbreeze on your cheek? We are side-slipping;33


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONgive her a touch more of left rudder. Notso much. Now your nose is dropping; pullback on the stick. Back! Notforward! Back!Now your nose is too high; take us out, anddon't forget that opposite stick and rudder."Now fly straight for a few minutes.Your right wing is low bring it up. Yournose is too high. Now it is too low. Keepit so that the radiator cap is above thehorizon. That's right."So goes the business of instruction throughthe lessons on straight flying, gentle turns,misuse of controls, side-slipping, and ap-proach, take-off, and landing. The tripsshould average thirty-five or forty minutes,long enough to teach the lesson, but not longenough to weary the pupil. Here at take-offand landing the pupil finds himself up againstthe most difficult part of his training. Hehas the problem of stopping a large machineweighing a ton or more, traveling at a land-ing speed of forty to fifty miles an hour,with the center of gravity just balancedover the under-carriage. An error in judg-ment will pile the machine up on its nosewith a crashed propeller, and perhaps twobroken wings and damaged under-carriage.Not a dangerous accident for the pilot, butvery humiliating. 34


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTArmy practice has shown that a pupil

should have about sixty practice landingsdual, that is to say, coached and helped byhis instructor. By this time he has a totalflying time of six to twelve hours. At thispoint, before he goes solo, the Gosport systemprovides that he shall be taken to a reason-ably safe height for the practice of highmaneuvers. At a height of say two thousandfive hundred feet the instructor shows himhow a stalled machine falls into a spin. Thequestion of teaching higher maneuvers tocivilian pilots is open to argument.As soon as the instructor shuts off theengine the machine rapidly loses flying speed.It reaches a point where there is not enoughair passing over the wing surfaces to supportthe plane in the air. Her nose begins todrop, and he pulls the stick back. The stickis full back, she stalls, topples over on herside, and plunges nose first. The instructorkicks on full rudder, and the world whirlsbelow like a top, and the air whistles, swish,swish, swish, in the wires at every turn.Stick forward, opposite rudder, and shecomes out so fast that your head swims.That is the spin."Now you try it," says the instructor.For there is nothing to a spin unless a4 35


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONmachine does not come out of it a rarething if the plane is properly handled. Thepupil is now ready to go solo, and for thefirst couple of hours' solo flying he doesnothing but make circuits around the field,landing and taking off. Then his instructortakes him dual for forced-landing practice,business of getting down into a field withingliding range by gliding turns. Then thepupil tries it solo, throttling down for thepractice, a most valuable experience which in-creases the confidence of the pilot . He learns touse his own judgment and to gauge height andground distance as it appears from the air.

After three or four hours of solo time thepupil is scheduled for another demonstrationof higher maneuvers, spinning and the stallturn. For the stall turn the pilot noses themachine down to get an air speed of seventy-five miles an hour. A little bank, stick back,she rears into the air with her nose to thesky and propeller roaring. Full rudderand throttle off. In silence she drops overon her side into the empty air; blue sky andgreen fields flash by in a whirl. She hangson her back while the passengers strainagainst the safety belts, and then her noseplunges. The air shrieks in the wires as theground comes up at terrific speed.36


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TRAINING AN AIRPLANE PILOTIt is time for the pupil to go up for his

solo spin under the plan adopted for armypurposes. Up, up, up the pupil flies, threethousand feet, and the ground below lookssoft and green. Would it be soft to hit in aspin from that height? It would not. Havepeople ever spun that far? he wonders. Theyhave. Have machines ever failed to comeout of a spin and killed the pilot? Theanswer is too obvious. With faith in nothingin particular, and with his mind made upthat one can die but once in a spin, he stallsand spins her and comes out. He is sosurprised and exhilarated that he tries itagain before he loses his nerve. Yet again.The pupil is a pilot, the air has no terrors,and he has learned the oldest truth of flying,that there is nothing to a spin unless youdon't come out.The natural result of training a pupil

along those lines is that he graduates rapidlyinto a good stunting pilot. He realizes thathe cannot tempt the devil at three hundredfeet and hope to live, but he takes a goodaltitude, throws his machine upside down,and knows that, given enough air, he mustcome out. He does come out unless he losescomplete control of his mind and body.With fifteen hours of solo flying the pupil37


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONhas really become a pilot. He is beginningto show that he can control his machine.From then on it is a question of the polish-ing of the nice points, making his forcedlandings perfect, not side-slipping a footon his vertical banks, and coming out of spinso that he always faces the airdrome all ofwhich distinguish the good pilot from thepoor pilot.


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IVSAFETY IN FLYING

THE fatalities on the training-fields ofevery country during the period oftraining in war, and before and after the war,testify only too surely that flying cannotbe absolutely safe. It is no reflection on thefuture of flying to realize that it has not beensafe, and that it can never, perhaps, bemade fool-proof. One or two things mustbe remembered before we become despondentover the future safety of flying.When the United States entered the warthe entire personnel of the Signal Corpsnumbered one hundred and sixty officersand men. At the tune the armistice wassigned more than thirty thousand pilotshad been trained. They were trained ingreat numbers under high pressure. Wedid not have the machines to train them inor the instructors to fly with them. Wehad not the experience in wholesale trainingof flying-men, and yet we turned out vastnumbers. It was a question of getting the39


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONmen through their flying and getting themoverseas as quickly as possible. We had noadequate methods of inspection of machines,and no laid-out course in flying-training.We had to learn by our own experience, inspite of the fact that England at all timesgave unstinted aid.The wonder is really that we did not havemore flying accidents. There were few men

in the country who really understood whatconditions tended toward a flying accident.There were few who had ever gone into aspin and lived to tell about it. At that timea spinning-nose dive was a manifestation ofhard luck like a German shell. If youonce got into it, it was only the matter ofwaiting for the crash and hoping that thehospital might be able to pull you through.Toward the end, of course, this situationhad been largely overcome, the Gosportsystem of flying had been tried out, andthere was a vast increase in the knowledgeof flying among the instructors and pupils.The spin had been conquered, training wason a sound basis, and accidents were beingrapidly cut down.One of the most obvious ways to cut downcrashes was by making sure that the pilotwas in good condition physically. Flight40


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SAFETY IN FLYINGsurgeons assigned to every camp were de-tailed to make a study of the very delicaterelationship between a sick and stale pilotand the crash. It was discovered, for in-stance, that a man who went up not in thebest condition multiplied by many timesthe ordinary hazards in the air. It becamethe duty of these surgeons to conduct recrea-tion and exercises so that pilots would alwaysbe in good trim.

Flying for an early solo pupil is the greatestmental strain that a man can experience.Every moment the fact that he is up in theair, supported only by wood, wires, andfabric, may be on his mind. He is makingdesperate efforts to remember everythinghis instructor has told him since he startedhis dual. He tries to keep that nose on thehorizon, the wings balanced, and the machineflying true. He is in fear of stalling andconsequent loss of control. He goes into histurns, hardly knowing whether he is goingto come out of them, and noses down for alanding, mentally giving prayer, perhaps,that he will come out all right. He can'tpossibly remember everything he has beentold, but he tries to salvage as much knowl-edge as possible to make a decent landing.These experiences tend to bring about two41


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONconditions, aerophobia (fear of the air) andbrain fatigue, both resulting in completeloss of head on the part of the pilot andinability to react to impulses. Nothing ismore likely to produce immediate and fatalaerophobia than the sickening sight fromthe air of a crash, yellow wings flattened outagainst the green ground a thousand feetbelow. A comrade, a tentmate? The pupillooks at his machine, sees the wires throbbing,and watches with wonder the phenomenonof rushing through the air he may let hisimagination dwell too long.During his first hour's solo a swift stream

of hundreds of impulses is borne along thenerve centers to the brain of a pupil. It islike the pounding of heavy seas against alight sea-wall. His brain reels under therepeated shocks and the pupil falls into adetached stupor. He waits while his enginethrobs ahead, and lets the machine fly itself.He seems to take no active participationin the operation, and unless he recovers con-trol of his brain and his machine it is a crash.Physicians then have the problem of learningfrom a dazed and perhaps badly injuredman how it happened. He can recall noth-ing, and seldom knows when he lost control.These are the things that happened when42


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SAFETY IN FLYINGthis country was hastening fliers overseas.As a matter of national necessity it wasessential that as many men as possible beput through their dual and solo flying andsent across to the other side. It was betterfor the country at large to turn out fivehundred pilots a month, say, with 5 percent, of casualties, than one hundred amonth with one-half of 1 per cent, or less ofaccidents. These figures do not representthe actual conditions, but they picture theproblem.Now the civilian who would take up flyinghas just as much time as he wants to spendin learning to fly. He is paying for hisinstruction, and he should continue it forperhaps fifteen to twenty hours of dual in-struction. He should fly the machine withan instructor in it, and really get accustomedto the feel of the air. He should becomesensitive enough so that he can differentiatebetween the tight, firm touch to a machineflying under complete control and the slackmovement of stick and rudder of a planevery nearly out of control. He shouldrecognize these danger signs and know howto correct his flying position.Dual flying should be continued up to thepoint where the pupil flies without thinking,43


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONwhen it becomes the natural thing for himto use both stick and rudder to correct abump, and when he thinks no more of itthan riding over a rut in a road. He shouldbe able to tell by ear, when volplaning,whether or not he is maintaining sufficientspeed to hold it in the air. He should beacquainted with the principle of spinning,and should have had some experience intaking a machine out of a spin.The treacherous thing about a spinning-nose dive is that, to come out of it, a pilotmust put his stick forward, not hold it back,in spite of the fact that the machine is fallingnose first and spinning at the same time.A spin is possible only from a stall, and onlywhen the stick is back and rudder in eitherdirection is given. The position is an easyone to get into from a steep turn. Airresistance against a machine turning becomesgreater, it slows down the speed, decreasesthe lifting power of the planes. The resultis that the nose falls slightly. The pilotmoves the stick back to lift the nose, and indoing so pulls up his elevators, offering stillmore resistance to the air, and checking thespeed. The effect becomes cumulative; hetries to hold up his machine, and he hasstalled. In a last effort to check the spin44


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SAFETY IN FLYINGhe kicks on the rudder, and the thing isdone.The rudder and elevators have formed apocket in the tail plane, which is like thespoon on a trolling-hook. The pocket isoff-center and the air rushes into it as themachine topples over and plunges down.It imparts a twisting motion, which in aturn or two develops into a throbbing spin.Picture the pilot, trying to lift the nose ofhis machine by holding his stick well backand wondering why the nose does not comeup. The pathetic thing is that so manyhundred men have thought their salvationwas to hold the stick back.The only possible thing to do in this case

is to break the pocket. Put the stick for-ward to neutral, or even farther if need be,and opposite rudder. The machine will comeout in three-quarters of a turn with practice,into a straight-nose dive. Then ease thestick back, and this time the nose comes upand the machine flies on its course. In-structors who have taught their pupils thisbefore they let them go solo have saved many,many lives.It is reasonable to say that there are nofatal accidents except those from a spin,but, like all general statements, that is45


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONopen to contradiction. A nose-high side-slipmay be fatal, but generally the pilot pullshimself out of it. There may have beenmen killed in landing accidents, but oneseldom hears of them. Men have beenkilled trying to loop off the ground, andVernon Castle was killed doing an Immel-mann turn at fifty feet to avoid anothermachine. These are the exceptions. Thecommon or garden variety of accident isfrom a spin. The spin once conquered, theair is conquered.One hears about stunting, and the acci-dents which result from taking chances inthe air. There may be two opinions aboutwhether for the flying of the future it shouldbe necessary to loop, to roll, to half roll, andstall turn, or even to spin. As to loopingand rolling, the question of the type ofmachine to be flown will determine thatlargely. There are many machines whichcannot be looped. The large naval flying-boats, for instance, describe a circle two thou-sand feet in diameter for each turnoverit is almost obvious that not much stuntingis done on these boats. A small scout orsporting plane can loop and come out higherthan it went in.There is certain value in practising such46


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SAFETY IN FLYINGmaneuvers if the machine will permit it.In battle they are, of course, essential. Inpeace, however, they may be valuable forthe very fact that it accustoms a pilot tounexpected changes in the air. He getsused to the idea that he can pull himselfout of any position, given air enough, andhe will never be afraid. He becomes orient-ated on his back, does not lose his head, andsimply waits with confidence for his machineto come around. This means that if he issuddenly overturned by accident, or for aminute or two loses control, he knows thathis condition is temporary and that he mustsimply " carry on."Army pilots who have had a good coursein stunting would certainly recommend thesame for civilian pilots. That does not meanthat it would be necessary, or even advisable.There have been accidents due to stuntingby both inexperienced and experienced pilots.Generally it is a matter of altitude, for withsufficient height the greenest pilot can comeout of anything, if he does not lose his head.For the man who would be the pilot for alarge commercial plane, such as the GlennMartin bomber, the Super Handley-Page inEngland, or the Naval Curtiss flying-boats,no stunting is necessary. He may sit in47


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONthe cockpit of his machine, and ramble offmile after mile with little motion, and withas little effort as the driver of a railroadlocomotive. He has a large, steady machine,and there will be no obligation for him tospill his freight along the course by turningover in midair.Whatever opinions may be held regarding

the advisability of teaching stunting to acivilian pilot, there can be no question thata civilian pilot must have a long and thoroughcourse in the very gentle but essential artof making forced landings. The problem isthat of controlling a machine with its enginecut off, to have complete control of it withinthe radius of its gliding distance. Again, thedart gliding to its uncertain landing. In thehands of an unskilled pilot, an airplanegliding without power is a very dangerousthing. He may pile up the machine againstsome farm-house, fence, haymow, or clumpof woods, smashing it badly and injuringhimself. Or he may, through inexperience,lose flying speed in the course of his descentand topple over into a spin.Even the best pilot may make a mess ofhis machine if his engine goes "dud" over aforest, city, swamp, or other impossiblelanding-place. It is his business more or48


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SAFETY IN FLYINGless to keep clear of such tracts when flying.But one of the tests of a good pilot is whetheror not he can shut off his engine in the air,pick out his particular field below, takinginto account that he must land against thewind, then by a series of gliding turns findhimself just coming out of the last turn infront of the fence. He may make a gentlelittle "zoom" over the fence, using everylast bit of flying speed for the last kick, andsettle down gently on the other side. Onetest of instructors in Canada, before theywere allowed to take up pupils, was to makethree perfect forced landings in succession-one of them as the pilot came out of the spin.With his head still reeling he must pick outhis landing-place and make it.The difficulty is, of course, not to under-shoot, to fall short. It must be remem-bered that in case of actual engine failurethere is no motive power, and if a man cal-culates his distance too short, he has nothingleft but to make his landing where he may be.He has lost his height and his chance toreach other fields. He may find himselfrolling into the fence of the field he wastrying for.

Or, equally bad, he may overshoot. Thedistance was shorter than it looked, he has49


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONmore height to lose than he thought. Hecan gain nothing by sticking the nose down,because in his plunge he gains speed whichwill carry him too far on the ground. Hemay bowl over the fence, or, if there is a fieldbeyond, make the next field. More oftenhe finds himself in a patch of woods with abroken airplane.

It is possible that on a turn, a gliding turnwith the engine shut off, the pilot may losehis flying speed. Unless he is experienced,he does not realize that on a turn the machinepresents more surfaces to the air and greatlyincreases the air resistance. It is likely tostall unless a safe margin of speed is main-tained. The dangerous part of this is thatvery often the machine will lose its speedwhen only a hundred feet from the ground,approaching the field. There is no chanceto pull it out of a spin unless the pilot isalert and realizes that he has lost speed, andnoses down before he spins. Often he spins,and a fall with an airplane from a hundredfeet is just as nasty as it can be.For his own safety in the air the civilianwho is about to take up instruction in flyingshould insist at his flying-school that he betaught thoroughly, to his own satisfaction,the control of his machine with the engine50


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SAFETY IN FLYINGshut off for the moment. There is a certainfeel, a sing in the wires, he must know. Heshould continue at the work of forced land-ings, going on his solo flights to variousheights, pick out his field, shut off the motor,and get down into that field no other.He should keep it up until he can makenine out of every ten absolutely perfect,and the tenth one, though not perfect, stilla good landing.Then it may be said that a pilot is safe.When he knows in his own heart that nothingcan happen to him which will throw himoff his guard, or which will worry him, hecan take the air without fear.


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QUALIFICATIONS OF AN AIRPLANE MECHANIC

WHAT chance has a good automobileman who knows his engine thoroughlyto become an airplane mechanic? Therecan be only one answer to this question whichmen ask themselves daily there is everychance in the world. Commercial flying, inthe day when the air is to become a mediumof transportation, just as ground and waterare at present, must draw to itself hundredsof thousands of mechanics. The only thingto which the future of flying may be com-pared is the automobile industry at present.And the only place from which the mechanicsare to be recruited are from the men who areworking in garages putting automobiles inorder.An interesting comparison between thefuture for the automobile mechanic or air-plane mechanic compared with the futurefor the pilot is afforded in the figures of awell-known flying-officer of great vision.He expects that the skilled mechanic, the52


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AIRPLANE MECHANICman who has spent years at his trade, willcommand more for his services than a pilot.Any one can learn to fly an airplane in oneor two months of proper training. A me-chanic may work for years to learn hisprofession.

It was estimated that it took ten mechanicsof various kinds on the ground to keep oneairplane pilot flying in the air, and theexperience of the United States has shownthat there must be a large force of trainedmen to keep up flying. The present leadersof the automobile world and the aeronauticalworld are men who got their first interestin mechanics in some little shop. Glenn H.Curtiss and Harry G. Hawker, the Aus-tralian pilot, both owned little bicycle-repairshops before they saw their opportunity hiflying.Most essential of all, for the man whowould become an airplane mechanic, is athorough knowledge of gasolene-engines.This should include not only a knowledgeof such fundamentals as the theory of theinternal-combustion engine, carburetion,compression, ignition, and explosion, butalso a keen insight into the whims of thehuman, and terribly inhuman, thing thegasolene-motor. Nothing can be sweeter53


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONwhen it is sweet, and nothing more devilishwhen it is cranky, than an airplane engine.There are certain technical details whichdistinguish an airplane motor from an auto-mobile motor, but a man who knows auto-mobile engines can master the airplanemotor in short order. Generally speaking,the airplane motor differs from the auto-mobile motor in shape. The Liberty typeof engine is V-shaped, with both sets ofcylinders driving toward a common center,the crankshaft. Most airplane motors havespecial carbureters, and their oiling systemsare extremely finely adjusted to take upany friction at their high speed. They willbe found to be lighter in weight, with pis-tons, piston heads and other parts made ofaluminium. They are, as a rule, more care-fully made than most automobile motors,with especial attention to the fitting ofall working parts.One advantage which an airplane mechanichas is standardization, which has reached ahigh point with Liberty, Hispano-Suiza,and Curtiss engines. Once a mechanic haslearned his type he has learned practicallyevery engine of that type. For a long timeto come the 18,000 Liberty engines whichthis country had at the time the armistice54


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AIRPLANE MECHANICwas signed will be carrying commercial air-planes across broad stretches of the UnitedStates. If it had not been for the pressureof the war this engine might have beendeveloped slowly, as the automobile engineswere, with changes from year to year. TheLiberty engine has reached a high standardof efficiency, and is likely to be the standardairplane engine hi this country for severalyears to come. An airplane mechanic whoknows his Liberty engine will be able tolook after most of the airplanes with whichhe will come into contact.An engine which was not developed tothe same high point in this country as the

Liberty motor is the rotary engine, of whichthe Gnome Monosoupape or Clerget areperhaps the best-known types. These werefavorites with airmen flying fighting scout-planes. They weighed practically nothing,for an engine. A one-hundred-horse-powermotor weighed only two hundred and sixtypounds, and it was a splendid type for fastwork. Briefly, the power generated by theexplosions in the cylinders, operating againsttwo centers of pressure, gave a rotary motionto the cylinders and crankcase, revolvingaround a stationary, hollow crankshaft.Cylinders and crankcase were bolted to-55


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONgether, and the cylinders looked like theblades of an electric fan. There was alwaysan odd number of cylinders, so that therewould be no dead-centers, no point at whichtwo opposing strains would be balanced,causing the engine to stop. The propellerwas bolted on a nose cap which revolvedwith the engine. This type of engine is notlikely to be used to any extent for com-mercial flying, or even flying for sport. Itis expensive, very wasteful of gasolene andoil, and difficult to keep in repair.For men who may have had some experi-ence in the assembly of airplanes at fac-tories, or of rigging them at flying-fields,there is great opportunity. Expert riggerswho know their craft are few and hard toget. They are invaluable for maintaininga machine in flying condition. The useof airplanes in this country will require menfor rigging, for truing up the wires andstruts. Each airplane must be overhauledafter a few hours of flight to discover hiddenweaknesses and to tighten sagging wires.

Rigging an airplane has some resemblanceto rigging a ship for sailing. The firstrequisite is to see that the machine is prop-erly balanced in flying position. There isa number of minute measurements which

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AIRPLANE MECHANICcome with the blue-print of every machineand which must be followed out to the letterto get the most successful results. An 'im-portant detail is the pitch of the planes,or the angle of incidence, as it is called. Thisis the angle which a plane makes with theair in the direction of its motion. Too greata pitch will slow up the machine by offeringtoo great a resistance to the air; too smallan angle will not generate enough lift. Thetail plane must be attached with specialcare for its position. Its angle of incidencemust exactly balance the plane, and it mustbe bolted on so that there is no chance of itcracking off under strain.Radio operators will be in great demandfor flying. Brig.-Gen. A. C. Critchley,the youngest general officer in the Britishservice, who was a pilot in the Royal AirForce, said that the future development ofthe airplane must go hand in hand with thedevelopment of wireless communication. Headded that the most difficult thing aboutflying, especially ocean flying, was to keepthe course in heavy weather. There are nofactors which will help a man on "dead"reckoning; and a shift in wind, unknown tothe navigator of a plane, will carry himhundreds of miles from his objective. The57


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONwireless telephone was used to some extentduring the war for communication betweenthe ground and the air; it will be used to agreater extent in the next few years.Another development which is being usedby the navigators flying the Atlantic is theradio compass. This instrument may beturned toward a land or sea wireless station,of which the call is known, and it will registerthe bearing from the flying-boat to thisstation. It may be turned upon anotherstation, and this bearing also charted. Theintersection of these two wireless compassbearings gives the position of the ship atsea. The radio compass is dependable dayor night, and is said to be quite as reliableas a sextant or other navigating instruments.

Sailmakers to repair airplane fabrics, tosew new covers for planes these men mustfind an opportunity in flying. There areliterally thousands of wings, as yet unmade,which will carry the air traffic of the future.It matters not whether men or women takeup this branch of the work, it must be done,and done with a conscience. Like all otherbranches of the mechanical maintenance ofan airplane, careless work on the part of asailmaker may mean disaster for the pilot.One of the latest fatalities at a Long Island58


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AIRPLANE MECHANICflying-field was due to careless stitching, orweakness of fabric, which gave way undergreat pressure due to high speed. Thelinen cover of an upper plane ripped off at aheight of one hundred and fifty feet, and thepilot was killed in the fall of the machine.

Photographers may yet take the place ofsurveyors, or work hand in hand with themin the making of aerial maps of the country.The map of the future must be an aerialmap, a mosaic map such as was used by ourarmy headquarters. Nothing can exceedthe eye of the camera for accuracy. Camerasbolted to airplanes, such as were used byour army for reconnaissance, have alreadybeen used for mapping cities. The mappingof the entire country in such a manner isonly a matter of tune.One thing which an aviation mechanicof any sort must bear in mind is that hemust do his work with a conscience. True,he is handling mute metal engines, or dumbwires and struts but in his work he holdsthe life of the pilot in his hand. It is not toomuch to say that hundreds of pilots' liveshave been saved by the conscientious workof skilled mechanics who realized the dangerof the air.

I have seen mechanics rush from a hangar59


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONin a frenzy of excitement and agitation."That machine must not go up; it has beenrepaired, but not inspected!" They havedone their work with a will in the army;they have learned some of the dangers offlying and weak spots which must be watched.The civilian mechanic must be taught manythings.

First of all he must know the value ofinspection. Every machine which has gonethrough a workshop must be inspected andchecked over by a skilled mechanic beforea pilot is allowed to fly it. The ideal thingwould be to have legislation licensing theinspectors of aircraft and requiring thatrepairs on all machines be examined by alicensed inspector. The inspectors would beunder civil service and would be selected bycompetitive examination. It may soundfantastic, but such precautions are as neces-sary for the preservation of life as legislationon sanitary matters.In the second place, there should be timelimits placed by law covering the period ofusefulness of various parts of an airplane.After fifty hours of flying there should be aninspection of certain working parts of theengine, certain wires in the body which maybe strained by bad landings, and other wires60


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AIRPLANE MECHANICin the rigging strained by flying in badweather. New wires are always saggingand stretching a bit. Wings will "washout," lose their usefulness by excessiveflying, and must be replaced. There isa great volume of data on these matterswhich should be the basis for laws coveringmechanical inspection of airplanes, and withwhich the airplane mechanic must becomefamiliar.For the man who would like to work into

the piloting of aircraft there is a very goodopportunity by starting with the mechanicalside. Too many pilots know next to nothingabout the construction of their machines.When an engine goes bad they know thatit won't run that is all. The pilot who isa good mechanic is a gifted man in hisprofession.There are endless opportunities at flying-fields for mechanics who want to learn tofly. During the war it became customaryto take mechanics up for flying at least oncein two weeks on some fields. It gave themechanic an interest in his work and aninterest in the life of his pilot. Perhapsnothing stimulated accurate work by amechanic more than the knowledge that atany tune he might be called upon to ride61


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONin one of the planes he had helped makeor repair.Some were taught flying by their officers,and later qualified as pilots. Others wentthrough as cadets and became pilots afterthe regular course. The pilot of the futuremust learn the mechanical side, and themechanic should be a good pilot. The twomust go hand in hand to make flying asuccess.


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VITHE FIRST CROSSING OF THE ATLANTIC

HTHE story of the American triumph inA being the first to fly from the New Worldto the Old World is a story of careful, pains-taking, organized effort on the part of theAmerican navy. With the flight of Lieut.-Commander Albert C. Read from RockawayNaval Air Station to Plymouth, England,nearly four thousand five hundred land miles,the navy brought to fulfilment plans whichhad been maturing for two years. Since1917 there have been naval flying-officersanxious to cross the ocean by air, and theirplans have been cast and recast from timeto time. At first there were many reasonswhy it was impossible to attempt such athing while the United States was at war.Destroyers, busily hunting German sub-marines, could not be spared for a feat morespectacular than useful at the time. Pilotsand mechanics could not be spared from thebusiness at hand training hundreds of sea-plane pilots for service overseas.63


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONAmerican efforts to cross the Atlantic by

air date back to the spring of 1914 when theflying-boat America was built to the orderof Rodman Wanamaker. She was a largeseaplane, a new departure in her time, andrepresented the combined effort of a numberof the best seaplane designers in the world.Lieut. John C. Porte, of the Royal Navy,came over from England to be pilot of theboat, and after her tests hi August she wasto have made her flight. But Porte wasrecalled by his government at the outbreakof war and the project given up.In the latter half of 1918 the naval sea-plane NC-1 was delivered to the RockawayNaval Air Station the largest seaplane

ever built on this side of the water. She wasoriginally planned, with three sister ships, asan aerial submarine-chaser. One hundredand twenty-six feet from wing-tip to wing-tip, she was equipped with three big Libertymotors a monster seaplane, ideally suitedto the purpose for which she was designed.The signing of the armistice interferedwith her use as a submarine scout, and navalplans for crossing the ocean in the air werebrought from their pigeonholes. The NC-1and her sister ships under construction ap-peared to have been built for just such a64


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THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTflight. When the war ended, the navy as awhole, and the naval air service in particular,concentrated attention on the possibilities ofusing the NC planes for the flight. One ofthe first decisions made was to increase theengine power by adding a fourth engine,and to enlarge the gasolene-tanks for a longflight.

Early in March of this year it becameapparent that the spring or early summerwould see several attempts to cross the oceanby air. On March 19th it was reported fromEngland that the unfortunate Sopwith ma-chine with its lucky team of Harry G.Hawker and Lieut.-Commander MackenzieGrieve had started from England for New-foundland. At the same time announce-ment was made that naval officers had beenconferring over their Atlantic flight plans,and that a start would be attempted sometime in May.As a matter of fact, a great deal of workhad been done in secret by CommanderJohn H. Towers, Lieut.-Commander AlbertC. Read, and Lieut.-Commander PatrickN. L. Bellinger. As early as February 24tha conference was held in Washington and adate of May 15th or 16th for the flight fromNewfoundland was set. This date coin-

65


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONcided with a full moon over the NorthAtlantic, and the machines started May 16thfrom Trepassey.There were really only three routes opento pilots anxious to make the first crossingof the Atlantic. There was the flight straightfrom Newfoundland to Ireland, a matter ofabout one thousand nine hundred milesof straight flying, with the possibility offavoring winds. There was the Newfound-land-Azores route which the Americans took,and the route from Dakar, French Senegal,to Pernambuco, Brazil, which French fliersattempted. In addition there was the pos-sibility of flight from Ireland to Newfound-land, given up by Major Woods, pilot ofthe Short biplane, after his forced landingin the Irish Sea.The great question of a flight straightacross the Atlantic was that of fuel con-sumption. Could a machine be devisedwhich would carry enough fuel to fly acrossone thousand nine hundred miles of water?The Sopwith Aviation Company designedtheir machine for such a flight, but sent itout to Newfoundland to catch and take ad-vantage of the prevailing west winds acrossthe North Atlantic. The story of the sixweeks' wait for favorable weather, and the66


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THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTdesperate take-off to beat the Americanplane, the NC-4, at the Azores, make itappear doubtful whether such winds are tobe relied upon.The American planes took advantage ofthose winds in their flight to the Azores,that much is certain. But they were wellprotected with destroyers, were not pushingtheir planes to the limit, and did not dependupon favoring winds. That the NC-1 andthe NC-3 reached the Azores, but did notmake safe landings in the harbor after theirlong flight, is one of the fortunes of flyingwhich must not reflect upon the Americaneffort as a whole.The French route which Lieutenant Fon-tan, of the French army, tried twice, and onwhich he was twice forced to land because ofengine trouble, was laid to take advantage offavoring winds. Across the South Atlanticthe winds prevail in the spring of the yearfrom east to west, contrary to the winds onthe northern course. A twenty-mile windat the back of a flier jumping the one thou-sand eight hundred miles across this bit ofwater would add just twenty miles an hourto the ground speed of the machine.

Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. ArthurWhitten Brown startled the entire world6 67


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONon June 15, 1919, with the success of theirstraight flight from Newfoundland to Ire-land, covering 1,960 land miles in 16 hoursand 12 minutes, at an average speed of 120miles an hour. Not only was this thelongest non-stop flight over land or wateron record, but the greatest internationalsporting event. As such, though credit forthe first flight of the Atlantic belongs tothe American NC-4, it eclipses for daringthe flight of the American navy. TheVickers-Vimy plane left St. John's, New-foundland, on June 14th, at 4.29 P.M.,Greenwich mean time, and landed at Clifden,Ireland, on June 15th, at 8.40 A.M., Green-wich mean time. The machine was equippedwith two 375-horse-power Rolls-Royce Eagleengines, and had a wing span of 67 feet andmeasured 42 feet 8 inches over all.The start of the American fliers was madeafter a series of tests of the seaplanes which

covered a period of almost two months.At the outset it was decided to fly three outof the four NC planes, on the theory thatone of the machines would probably proveto be weaker or less easy to handle than theothers. The NC-2 proved to be the un-fortunate sister in this case, and because ofsome defects in the arrangement of her68


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THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTengine-bearing struts she was dismantledand left behind.With the decision to start three planessimultaneously, the navy made it clearthat, although it hoped all three seaplanesmight complete the trip, allowance was madefor one or two machines to give up the flightif they found themselves in trouble.The NC-1, and NC-3, and the NC-4 allproved to be up to expectations, and, withincreasedenginepower, showed thattheycouldtake-off the water with a load of twenty-eightthousand five hundred pounds. After thenecessary tests had been made on JamaicaBay, Commander Towers said on May 4ththat the start would be made a little afterdaybreak, May 6th. There remained onlythe task of filling their hulls with one thou-sand eight hundred gallons of gasolene.

Early in the morning of May 5th, whilemechanics were pumping gasolene into thetanks of the NC-1, a spark from an electricpump fell into a pool of gasolene and set fireto her whole right side. In a moment theheavily " doped" linen wings, with seasonedspruce spars, were a mass of hot flame. Thesailors at work on the machine, with com-plete disregard of their personal safety, ranfor fire-extinguishers, and with the fire burn-


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OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATIONing around the mouth of the open tanks,confined it to the right wings of the machineand to the elevators of the NC-4 standingclose by. No one believed that the NC-1could be made ready in time for the flighttwenty-four hours away.She was ready the next morning, withfresh wings from the discarded NC-2, butthe flight was postponed on account of aheavy northeast wind, reported all the wayto Halifax. The machines made their startfrom Rockaway on the morning of May 8th,at ten o'clock, and two of them, the NC-1,with Lieutenant-Commander Bellinger, andthe NC-3, with Commander Towers, arrivedat Halifax after nine hours' flying. TheNC-4 proved to be the "lame duck" on thefirst leg of the flight, and came down at seaa hundred miles off Chatham, because ofoverheated bearings. Some alarm was feltduring the night by the failure of destroyersto find her. She appeared the next morningoff the Chatham breakwater, "taxi-ing"under her own power.While her sister ships, the NC-1 and theNC-3, were flying to Trepassey the NC-4waited at Chatham. Even after the repairswere made, it seemed impossible for theNC-4 to catch up with the other two

1920 opportunitiesina00sweerich

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