Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-03
is THE AIR CONQUERED?

THE British dirigib!e R-34 that is riding
4 down the clouds on the way to Long
Island is, in general sense, Zeppelin.
The British frankly worked from the
German patterns and carried the design
of their airShip nearer to perfection.
The mission of the big dirigible sug-
gests an interesting contrast in racial
and pational traits. In the hands of the
friendly Englishmen, with crew ready
to risk their necks at any hour of the day
or night on a sporting chance, the latest
airship is helping little to show way
by which life is to be made richer and
happier for everybody. But her flight,
like the flights of the American and
British airplanes, involves a test of
human patience and endurance rather
than any final demonstration Of com
p!ete conquest in the air.
1t will be a long time, apparently, be-
fore airplanes and dirigibles replace the
ships that tramp the seas. The R-34
had to wait for favorable winds and
weather. Only great endurance and
heroic courage sustained the British and
American aviators who have already
made the transatlantic flight.
The British fliers leaped for a star
and landed gloriously upon it half by
chance. The men who flew the American
seaplanes went more seriously about
their business. They wanted glory, but
they wanted information, too, and they
acquired both. They proved that the
largest airplanes and the most powerful
gasoline motors of the present day are
too small for safe or successful trans
ocean flights.
1t was made clear on the flight to the
Azores that future planes devised for
passage to Europe will have to be large
and powerful enough to alight safely on
the ocean in any sort of weather and rise
again, even against the interference of
heavy seas. Such machines must have
devices to guide airmen in fogs and
clouds, which often leave fiers to doubt
whether their familiar world is above
their heads or below them. They will
have to be gale-proof.
The deficiencies of the lighter -than-air
dirigibles are suggested in the term of
designation generally applied to them.
So long as a ship is lighter than air it
will be buffeted dangerously in any
wandering storm and subject to delays
and even peril in contrary wind currents.
| The best scientific minds in the world are
concentrated on the problems of air
| traffic. Sooner or later, by one miracle
| or another. dirigibles will be made stable
| and airplanes will be made safe. Wire
| less will have a lot to do with the COM
! fort and safety of future travellers in
the sky. New compasses and stabilzers
are already said to be in sight. But for
| the present the experiments in air travel
are little like the covenant of the league
of nations. They suggest magnificent
beginnings, brave hopes that are certain
to be realized, the first steps into new
era-and little else.
America will extend its unlimited ad-
miration and good will to the British
airmen when they land for the first time
on this side of the world. They are a
truly magnificent lot. Grieve, who navi-
gated Hawker's plane, was Royal Air
man who bore all the responsibilities OF
the wild adventure and shrank from
praise or notoriety. The British aviators
were the sincerest in praise of our own
navy's flight
The arrival of the big dirigible, though
less spectacular than the flight of the
airplanes, will be more significant. Here
is suggested the ultimate method Of
cross-ocean traffic by air. The Atlantic
continues to narrow. 1t is less than day
wide now. Soon it may be only half a
day wide And that is why all the peo
pies of the world, living at closer quar-
ters, must feel that their greatest neec
is a means of mutual understanding tha
will make friction impossible and un
necessary.