New-York tribune., 1919-09-16
First Proposed Transcon-
tinental Passenger BIZ
plane Flies 5000 Feet
Over Long Island Fields
Men Seated in Cabin
Read Papers, Gaze at Land
Below and Converse Easi-
ly OH Comfortable Voyage

A party Of sixteen, the majority
newspaper men, few 5000 feet over
Long Island yesterday in the Lawson
Airliner, q huge biplane.
Seated in comfortable wicker chairs
in an inclosed cabin they read news
papers, or glanced through the obser-
walton windows at the moving map-like
scene far below. At the end of the
cabin a movie man turned the crank
Of his machine and recorded a pict-
the passengers.
The flight brought new sensations to
all. For the first time they flew in
ordinary street clothes, and their or
dlnary headgear-straw or felt, ac-
cording to the inclination of the
wearcr. Even the terrific roar of the
two Liberty Motors, aggregating 500
horse power, failed to interrupt the
animated and at times anxious con-
versatlon that continued throughout the
flight
The flight was a demonstration Of
the possibilities of the transconti-
A'S oaA P0ooSHSol AERIAL service that IS
about to be established by Alfred W.
Lawson, designer of the giant air
craft.
Cabin-Like Railroad Car
The passengers entered the spacious
lnciosed cabin through six-foot door
IN the side, and then filed down the
aisle to their seats. The interior Of
the cabin is a reduced replica of the
modern railroad Oar or c1r
', After short run across Mitchell
Field. The huge plane took the air
gracefully st 4:32 o'clock. and rapidly
attained an altitude of 1000 feet, de-
spite its weight Of seven tons.
Flying at hundred miles an hour
the machine made a circuit around the
lower end Of the island 1t returned to
a perfect landing on Mitchell Field at
SOB o'clock
Immediately upon landing Mr.. Law
son said:
In the spring of 1920 the business
man OF New York will be able to step
into an airline sleeper in New York
and wake up in Omaha Neb.. the
next morning. There he will enter A
day par or airliner and fly to Salt Lake
CITY where he Will again step into a
nlght-fying sleeper. The following
morning he will land in San Francisco.
Constructing Sleeping Car
That is the service we intend to
establish. am already constructing
a sleeping car airplane. 1t will have
oerths for twenty-six passengers
Nv g are making this trip across the
continent to get data on which to base
the costs of operation and determine
thc fares At presen. I have no idea
how much the flight across the con-
TIE business man three full davs in
travel l do not think there will be anv
question about the fares We will
have ten ships like this one completed
IN three months. We are constructing
one hundred altogether"
The giant ship is the first COM
pletely designed commercial airplane
to be completed in this country. II
differs radically from all types Of war
craft, and is the most luxurious avino
craft yet built. 1t has a wing spread
of ninety five feet, and the body is
hfty-six feet long. 1t rides the air
with absolute smoothness. and despite
the tremendous power Of the Liberty
engines, there is scarcely any vibra-
tion. The passengers can walk from
one end Of the cabin to the other erect
The passengers making the flight
yesterday were: Richard H. Walk ms I
New York Sun; j. Earl Clauson,
New York World'; S. H. Pierson.
Morning Telegraph; Jack Binns,
New York Tribune; Eugene Fowler.
New ork American"; n. H. Johnson.
Brooklyn Eagle; John A. Bockhorst
notion picture operator; George J.
Smith, J: G. Fraenkel, Photographers;
Henry Woodhouse and Augustus Post
OF the Aero Club of America; A. Sci
ley. Vincent Buranelli, Carl Schorev
Andrew Surini, and Alfred w. Lawson
and Charles Coz. pilots.