The sun., 1919-07-03
HEROIC AIR GUESTS
CHEERED AT DINNER
Read Meets Welcome by. Prais-
ing Man Who Gave Hand
to Help Flight.
AERIAL FUTURE Barred
Giant Planes May Carry
Families Across Sea In
Two Years.

The men who biased the trail through
the air across the Atlantic. Lieutenant
d. Commander Albert C. Read and the
failed honorably while trying their ut
most, Commander John II. Towers and
Lieutenant Commander p. N. L. Bellinger
and their crews. were cheered last night
by a notable gathering OF army and
navy officers and men prominent In the
world of aviation ut a dinner given by
the American Flying Club at the Com
modore Hotel.
But although the dinner was In honor
of these trail breakers. the loudest and
most hearty cheers were for n man, not
an officer who did not even start on
the expedition, but who was nevertheless
specially singled out for commentator
by Commander Towers. the commander
of the daring expedition
"Since our return to this country
have heard people exclaim, I would
give an arm to have gone on the flight"
Commander Towers said. Tonight
wish particularly to commend one who
gave an arm for the success Of the
expedition. but who did not go. I speak
OF Chief Special Mechanic Z. H. How
ard"
The 500 diners. most Of whom knew
the story OF Mechanic Howard. whose
left hand was cut of in the whrr OF
one Of the Nets propellers on the
night before the start. jumped to their
feet and cheered. and kept on cheering
until finally a shamefaced young man
sitting at a table below the raised dais
Of the speakers table stumbled to his
feet for moment and then ducked
rapidly back under cover.
The men who had followed the long
cruise OF the NC boat, knew that Com
msnder Towers mentioned young How
ard not from sympathy but from real
admiration. One hour after the accident
which had robbed him OF his arm Chief
Special Mechanic Howard. with the
stump of his arm in a sling and his
smiling face as pale as the sands of
Rockaway, reported back to duty, and
would have tinkered with his beloved
Liberty engines one handed except that
the cheering gobs of Rockaway put him
gently yet by force. into an ambulance
and sent him to the Brooklyn naval
hospital. II was not until next morning,
when he learned that the NC-4 had left
without him. that Howard lost his cheer
fitness for little while, but he was on
deck to welcome his more fortunate
shipmates when they came sailing back
In triumph last week
Giant seaplanes. dwarfng the NC type
with it's l26 foot wing spread. as the NC
planes dwarfed the first seaplanes built,
wore predicted by Commander Read.
Machines of Future.
some Of the chief results gathered re-
gerding the structure of the seaplane
was the fact that the future machines
built for long distance flying should be
much larger" he said. perhaps one
OF the most important steps in the i'm
provement of the motors Is the develop
ment OF suitable gearing. The gearing
down OF propellers is perhaps one Of the
easiest methods, theoretically, of OBJ
tanning greater efficiency"
Great things were predicted by the
transatlantic flyer for the development
OF radio apparatus on planes.
"Regarc!ng the radio. the results OBJ
tained by the radio officer on the NC-4
undoubtedly broke many previous rec
ords. He sent messages over 700 miles.
He heard Boston talking over 1000 nau-
teal miles He copied a long message
sent from the George Washington when
approaching Brest. France, from 1.175
miles away He heard stations calling
other stations l 900 miles away. When
you consider the requirements Of a radio
installation on our comparatively small
seaplane It is really a marvellous per-
formance. The radio compass also
proved itself of the greatest value. Be-
fore starting on the flight preliminary
experiments At Rockaway apparently in
dicated that not much dependency could
be placed on the radio compass. In fact
! placed no dependency on the installa-
ton when starting on the trip. Owing tc
this fact l almost forgot that We had
such an instrument aboard and did not
really try to use It until after leaving
Ponta Delgada. On that trip. owing tc
an error in the compass. the NC-4 wan
dered considerably of the course.
ut was the radio compass thai
brought us back again to our line of de.
strcyers. / look to the radio compass
IT. the future for the solution of the
navigation problem OF transatlantic
fiying.
His principal impression OF the At
lantic fight, Commander Read said
was that the Atlantic Ocean had 6hrunk
Great things within a few years will
occur Commander Read predicted. H,
urged the possibilities OF aviation b,
brought home to the people In general by
q campaign of education concerning
the advantages of aerial navigation.
''If we could have the hearty CO
operation and interest in aviation tina
we had during the war" he said, 90
believe that within three years we
WOulu Do snlpplnB our thfnllleb DHck ant
forth across the Atlantic by air. Their,
10 an enormous field of development
stiil open.
'I am a great believer In gettini
behind civilian aviation projects. Al
the arguments for a merchant marin,
hold in the case Of merchant air force
There is a much greater reason for tn,
announcement OF the merchant all
force than there is in the merchan
marine"
Although Senator New emphasized
the commercial future OF aviation a
the dinner he did not neglect the mill
tary. He pointed out that aircraft anC
chemical warfare will be the decisiv,
elements of future war IF there shall
be another war and our Wanted Leagu