The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-05-01
PERSONALLY | shall
deVoteal mu strength
10 development of
the winged giant.
BY LLOYD ALLEN,
Special Staff Correspondent
Copyright. 1919. b, Western newspaper un.o

6y LLOYD ALLEN,
Special STAR Correspondent
Copyright 1912 New spaper union.)
URN, Italy.-Here In Turin which
- was headquarters for the American
- air service In Italy during the war.
J: p
- n there are many American aviation
19w officers who believe the Caproni air.
IA NJ plane is the highest type of giant
M0Ny aircraft developed during the great
Gcnni Caproni, the Italian engin-
vino is the genius responsible
for the Caproni plane, has hesitancy In giving
the Wright brothers and Doctor Langley Of Amer
lea the fullest credit for making and developing
the first practical arplanes and states frankly that
he was akind of pupil of the great Americans.
Here is what Caproni has developed from the
American planes invented by Langley and the
Wrights. according to American officers in Turin
who are working with Caproni planes: Caproni
has perfected a machine that will carry something
like 5000 pounds of weight. five hours fuel supply
and with Liberty motors American made, climb
5000 feet in six minutes. With giant machine
like this Italian aviators making plans to fly
across the Atlantic during the present year.
They may cross from Africn to Brazil or may
attempt the North Atlantic flight They realize In
Italy. as well us in France and England and Amer.
icn. that the first machine to accomplish the At
lnntic flight will win laures eternal, and you can
tnke it for granted that the Italians fully apprecI
nte the value of the advertising they will get II
they cross the Atlantic first. And they have also
n very high appreciation of the glory they will
achieve. because, like Americans, they a people
that love to accomplish the seemingly impossible
for the sheer joy OF doing 1t.
While big Caproni planes being tested out
In the north OF Italy In the attempt to find ma.
chine sound and perfect for the gruelling test II
will get flying overseas the CapronI plant at Milan
immense institution. is finishing Its first com.
mercial nirplanes which have comfortable cabins
for the passengers. The interior of an air-cabin
completed in the Caproni works. looks very
much like the inside of finely finished street car
ev IN ie avho nj mr. de1
II you had visited Milan during the winter you
probably would have seen the first Caproni pas
senger plane, GOO-horsepOwer affair capable of
carrying ~ persons. making its trial flights over
town. The Cnpron works are in the outskirts of
Milnn-nnd the Mnnese justly proud of the
accomplishments of Ganni Caproni.
l talked with Americans who have been taken
up in the Caproni planes. They declared the big
machines start on slowly without nerve-racking
Jars and after running few score yards take the
air in a stable fashion that goes long way toward
rcassuring the amateur making his first flight
Worldwide Traffic Predicted
Passenger and freight-carrying CaprOnis are be-
ing built in three sizes. The first type which is
the that has been flown repeatedly Milan.
IS the smallest of the three. In the shops the fin
fishing touches are being put on machine that
will carry % passengers. This is the middlesiZed
plane The large machne-the type that will at
tempt the Atlantic flights monster. 1t is 6pa
bic of carrying 100 persons and Its passenger cabin
is being made comfortable as Pullman car,
with padded chairs and handsome veneer tinishings
for the walls.
The largest planes are fast. They can make 100
miles hour when going mt top speed And 1t Is
expected that on long-distance flights they will
make the fastest railroad trains u slow means
OF travel
Caproni believes that within very few years
the world will be covered with air lines through
which passenger planes will fly and which
squndrons of high-clnss freightcarryng machines
will transport mail and certain kinds of freight. at
rates that compare favorably with the charges
made by the railroad companies for performing the
same service.
world will be easily and regularly reached when
the regime of air traffic gets under way, CapronI
declares.
While the peace conference in Paris creates a
league of nations handle matters of information
al interest such freedom of the seas and free
dom of the air, the manufacturers of airpanes will
have the chance get ready for international fly
ing.
Caproni like Handley-Page in London and like
the French and American leaders in the aircraft
business, feels that predictions about the fu-
ture of aviation more less modest when you
stop compare the promises of the aircraft manu.
facturers with their actual accomplishments during
the
When the war started long-distance flights were
virtually unknown. Just us soon as the value of
aircraft was realized. every warning nation got
busy building machines and previous records werc
smashed almost daily. During the aircraft ac.
compished time after time what had previously
been considered impossible. When the war ended
the allied nations, including America, were COM
pleting an aircraft building program that would
have nut such fleet OF bomb carriers In the air
that Berlin, like Mannheim. Coblenz and the Rhine