Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-31
Travellers Of the Air
Get Welcome Everywhere
By Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, D. G.. Dec 3l.-The
government ayIators vho are making
cross country flights from The various
flying schools in all parts 0t the country
get an enthusiastic welcome wherever
they land, according TO unofficial reports
reaching Washington. Especially N me
small towns of the Vest and South, me
landing Of An alrpiane IS an event oi the
rrst magnitude.
The aviator usually aas -one choice
as 10 v mere he shall lano, ana ~ result
Of tins the hIers are constantly receiving
letters and cards from Chambers of
Commerce ana other clvIc anu commercial
organ nILat ions advertising nc advantages
oi TINS ana that town a. (. one-nignt stop.
The young aviator learns that i ne MAKES
BingYilie, the Blngvllle tonsoral parlors
Vlll give hIm Z tree haircut and
shave, but on the other haGd i he chooses
Podunk, the Podunk pharmacy NIIi
allow him unlimited soft drinhs without
charge. Often, foo, the leading local
hotel offers 10 make hlm is guest with
out cost to himself. and In the h0spitaols
South Be frequently has invitations 10
several private residences. IL. i always
q prominent figure in local society during
bis stay, and tie object of much feminine
interest.
NEED MORE LANDING FIELDS.
In the Southwest. where . GOOD many
flights arc being made !uSt now, there Is
little difficulty about landing fields, the
whole country IS one immense landing
field In III other parts of the countr,
however lust the opposite IS true Every
flight emphasizes the need for an eN-
tensive system Of isndlng hcldS. Vel3-
drained, pollced and equipped slth
hangers ANY open stretch Cf GraunG
does rot necessarily constitute good
landing field. In the Middle West.
especially, an avlator landing in an open
Geld often sinks the wheels oi bis plane
up to the hubs in mud. and tn;s s some
times the cause Of serious accidents,
and often makes Ii impossible y take
of again
Also, 1t i 5 impossible q stake machine
down safely in this scft ground Recently
three machines made lsndlng near
Fort Wayne. and the attatorS, after
pegging the machines down as we'll -
thev could went Off to town. While
they were gore the wind suddenly rose
IRON a velocity ol ten miles an hour TO
one OF sixty, and the three machines We're
rolled into a pile of Wreckage
Next to landing fields, the most pressing
need revealed by these pioneering cross
country flights is for adequate sviation
maps One fiIer in his report saws hat he
carried ordinary commercial maps Of the
country made Dy a weli-known firm, but
that they were Of practically no use to
hlm The only things shown plainly
were the towns and one town looks very
much like another 10 an aviator Furth her.
more the maps of different States and
counties were drawn different scales,
which rendered them misleading.
NEED LANDMARKS NAP.
What is needed Is a map d the Whole
country drawn to lhe same scale and
showing the landmarks which an aviator
can see. He cannot tell one town from
another but . lake or pond, Il large white
building q spIre or steeplc or any other
conspicuous landmark is Of great and 10
him 1t present the aviators find their
way across country chiefly by following
rivers and railroads, and when they have
to leave these they frequently get lost
The scientific way Of navigating the
air is by compass, Just is the sea is navi-
gated But without some kind of 4 map
~ chart, it takes rarely skillf,d nAn
to make successful flight IN this way
Such flight was recently made from
Buffalo to New York III a little over two
hours The ayiators rose Il an elevation
of eight thousand feet, laid their course
by compass. calculated their own speed
and the speed of the wind and proceeded
"a fly the distance between the two points
NhhoUgh clouds prevented them from
seeing the ground except Ia occasional