The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-10
AERIAL NAVIGATION

| simultaneously with the aerenauti-
/ cal exposition held recently In New
York City, there, was published two
/ volumes on aerial navigation, one
| recounting what has been accomplish
/ ed under stress of war in the United
States and the other revealing in de-
tail what Great Britain is planning
for the future in order to control the
I air
How America grew wings and learn
| ed to use them Is decribed by the
| Aircraft Year Book, issued by the
| Manufacturers Aircraft Association.
The work shows that the airplane be-
longs to the United States by right
| of discovery. 1t reveals how nation
| al indifference was largely response
| bic for aerouautical unpreparedness
when we entered the war against
German. But, beginning April 1917,
| a tremendous industry was created: at
/ the time the armistice wa, signed,
! airplane, motor and parts invested
represented a total OF $1,000, 900, 600.
From production of few planes, the
output increased so rapidly that, at
! the close OF the war, more equtp-'
| ment was being delivered to the gov
eminent than could be shipped over
| seas.
The opening chapter OF the Aircraft
Year Book is entitled THE Future
of Aviation"
! Freedom" we read, has become
the most significant word of the day.
! This new sense of freedom and the
science OF aviation have, come into
! the worlds experience at the Same
time. The airplane itself is the ma
terial embodiment of freedom. Its
strcamline body and poised wings so
suggest freedom that the most prosic
bystander is thrilled by the sense of
it. There is freedom in the lift of
the plane from the ground. There
is indescribable and heretofore un
known freedom in flight, for the air
plane subjects the air to Its will and
is frcer than the air itself
"Of still greater significance than
this physical manifestation OF free
dom is the fact that In the science of
aviation, man has once moro advanc-
! Cd toward scientific truth; by this
science man has been freed from the
old belief in his limitations, from the
| cramped power Of one who is a crea
ture OF the earth and subject to 1t.
Now, neither earth's mountains, nor
deserts, nor storms are obstacles TO
II his passa &c. Not only the world, but
4 the sky has been given to mans do
minton.
1T is an old story that the way OF
the world has ever been to regard
! those who made each new advance
toward scientific truth as dreamers.
The fact that Calico stood the only
man in all his world who knew that
! the earth was but part of a great
err universe, did. not, in any degree,
change the truth. Columbus was the
/ only man of his world who glinpsed
! the truth that the earth is round and
that man is not limited to a small
part of it. He had the courage to
put his faith in the test and the fact
that no other man believed did not
prevent his demonstration The
world was sceptical about the rail
road, iron ships. the telegraph. the
telephone and the automobile. but
this sccpticism did not keep these
| utilities from the world The fact
that men laughed at Langley. the
| Wright brothers and Curtiss because
they thought they could fly, did not
keep these men on the ground
1T is true that men did laugh at the
inventors of the airplane as they
4 laughed at Calico or Columbus.
They were not quite so sceptical ms
! they were in regard to the railroads
and the telegraph The airplane came
at the time when the world urgently
needed 1t. The physical need was
great and the mind OF men was ready
to accept 1t. SO it came with liber-
ty riding upon it's wings
The history of aircraft production
is essentially that of individual
plants. The members of the Manu-
facturers Aircraft Association which
contributed 80 largely to the success
tul war program, are as follows:
Aeromarine Plane and Motor Corp,
1873 Broadway. New York City: the
Burgess Company, Marblehead. Mass.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corp.
New York City; Dayton Wright Air
plane. Co., Dayton Ohio: the Engel
Aidcraft Corp. Niles, Ohio; Fisher
| Body Corp. Detroit, Michingan the
Glenn l.. Martin Co. Cleveland, Ohio:
l.. w F. Engineering Corp. College
Point. l.. L.: Standard Aero Corp,
Plainfield, N. j.. Standard Aircraft
Corp, Elizabeth, N. j.; Sturtevant
Aeroplane Co. Jamaica Plain, Bos-
ton, Mass; Springfield Aircroft Corp.
Springfield, Mass. st. Louis Aircraft
Corp. ST. Louis. Mo: Thomas Morse
Aircraft Corp. Ithaca, N. Y; Wright
Martin Aircraft Corp, New Bruins
wick, N. j.; Gallaudet aircraft Corp,
East Greenwich. r. l.: Packard Mo
tor Car Co, Detroit. Michigan; West
Virginia Aircraft Co. of Wheeling, w.
Va. and Boeing Airplane Co., Seattle.
Washington.
( The industry is now confronted with
reconstruction. The whole problem
of changing from military TO peace
construction is highly technical" says
the book. Many of the present de-
signs are of purely military typa
and cannot be adapted to CONNER
cial uses where lifting power must
be combined with speed and slow
landing speed Is essential. The
weight distribution OF military plane
is not suited for commerce. and tha