New Britain herald., 1919-05-17
COMMANDER TOWERS
 SURE OF SUCCESS
Transatlantic Flight Not a Sport ing Event But Scientific Research

Trepassey, N. F., May 17.-When
 the giant American hydroairpIaneS
 sped away into the East, over 'he ] Grand Banks and the broad Atlahtlc' they entered upon a course not only carefully charted, but patrolled py l rescue and repair ships all the way to the Portuguese coast.
 { Looking upon the cruise not as a sporting venture. nor as an attempt merely to win for the United states l the honor of the first transatlantic ] air nlsht, but as an undertaking for 1 the advancement of science ana sea- l manshlp, the American Navy placed It's own vast resources at the disposal or the aVlatOrs. and enlisted those. of ! other government departments in an effort to assure the safety of the ] crews and to reduce to a minimum | the element of chance in the project Rescuing Ships Near.
 l fotilla of destroyers, reinforced ] by battleships whose more powerful | wireless equipment was intended to 1 DICK up messa ges from the flyers in 1 case the radio sets of the smaller vessels failed to function, formed a | chain of communication across the Atlantic while the planes were pro- ceedlng to thc-r base here. The fleet ] will remain oT station until the bird men have passed, the destrOyers so ! close together than an hours steam- | ing would bring one of them to the 1 alighting place of any of the aircraft ] forced to descend. Mother ships, l tenders and other naval units at l intervals along the course, have ! ok, l oline aboard, ready to give aid which l would make possible resumption of it's journey by a plane put out of | commission by slight defects.
 The patrol fleet, in wireless con- 1 tact throughout it's length and in touch with the United States Weather | Bureau, as well as ships of various naionalities cruising the middle At l lantic will keep the aviatOrs posted on weather conditions in the areas they are approaching, also co-operat- ing with the navigators aboard the planes in directing the flight.
 Confident of Success.
 "Give us no luck, good or bad, and the trans oceanic voyage should be 1 made without trouble,' said Com 1 mander John H. Towers chief of the l expediton, commenting before the Hop off" on the completeness of the 1 navy's preparations. We are not undertaking the impossible. we are l not banking on chance. We are at tempting a flight wholly within the mechanical possibilities of the NC planes, hoping to demonstrate, with | out reckless risk of life or vaIua ble 1 property, that an air cruise to | Europe is pra ctical proposition"
 One of Commander Towers brother officers declared that a new branch of the science of navigation was growing up around the NC planes l thus making the flight an underta king expected to contribute materially to l the advancement of the profession of the sea- Giant strides have been made in development of the steering l and weather charts 10 be used on the l flight and the crews expected to ac- complish worth while results in the l experiments above blue water
 Liberty Motors Used.
 The naval aircraft the NC 1. NC 8 and NC 4, huge flying boats which 1 ascend from a take off, in the water and Hand" on the surface of the sea, are driven by Liberty motors, four to plane and aggregating 1,600 horsepower. They are of the
 blplane type, with a wing span of 126 feet, length over all 69 feet and length of hull, A feet. The craft weigh 15,1OO pounds with navigating and
 wireless equipment aboard, but with out crew and fue'. The toal living
 weight is 2S,5OO pounds
 The planes have a dual control system, with seats side by side and
 forward of the gasoline tank. for the pllots each of whom has a comnlete
 set or instruments, including com
 passes. The navigating station, out
 htted with the regulation marine in
 struments, is in the bow, while the
 engineer and radio operator occup, . the main compartment at the tanks
 inc planes are expected to cruise Wlthout winds 75 Oand) miles ar
 hour and the gasoline capacity of II
 4oo pounds will carry them upwards 0f SN