The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-02-16
COMMERCIAL AERIAL
MITIGATION REALITY
Five Regular Passenger Routes We're
Established in the United States
During the Past Year.


the United States during the past year
The sudden cessation of hostilities a
the close of 1918 threw hundreds o
Iairplanes into the market and many o
these were purchased by private com
panies and remodeled for commercial
use. Airplane manufacturers, who's,
energies had been devoted exclusively
to the making of war machines, als'
turned their attention to the CONNER
cial possibilities of aircraft and have
perfected several standard commercial
types. II is estimated that there arr
more than 1000 privately owned air
craft in the United States.
Five regular passenger routes were
established the airplane mail service
inaugurated May Is, 1918, between
New York and Washington as an ex
pertinent, was extended to Cleveland
and Chicago and put on a definite ba
sis; and scores Of private firms pur
chased aircraft and utilized them fol
the delivery of merchandise and news
papers and for conducting aerial forest
surveys and patrols
Still greater strides were made II
Europe and Australia, where there arc
| few thickly populated eenters that dc
not boast of regular aerial commercial
traffic. either by airplane or dirigible
or both. The delay in the development
of aeronautics In this country was at
tributed by the Manufacturers Aircraft
association to-day to "the failure OF
the United States government to estab'
lish landing fields, enact regulatory leg
islation and adopt any fixed policy"
Inspired by aircraft manufacturers
chambers of commerce in at least 80
cities have undertaken to provide mu
nicipal landing fields for aircraft, built
on specified lines as plotted by city
planners and officials of the army air
service, which has assumed unofficial
supervision over the project, pending
the adoption Of federal regulatory leg
islation. These cities include Buffalo,
Boston. Cleveland Chicago, Philadel-
phia. New Orleans, Richmond, Va. At
ianta and Macon, Ga, st. Louis, Kan
sas City, Denver, Sacramento, Salt
Lake City, Omaha, Pittsburg, Butte,
Mont. Fresno. Cal. Scranton, Harris
burg and Altoona, Pa, Syracuse, Roch-
ester and Albany, n. Y. Springfield,
H.. Columbus, O.. Louisville, Ky,
Nashville. Tenn, Mobile, Ala, and
Houston, Tex.
Regular passenger routes already es-
tablshed In this country are between
New York and Atlantic City, Mobile
and New Orleans, Key West and ha-
vana, San Francisco and Los Angeles,
and Los Angeles and San Diego. Lack
of ADEQUATE terminal facilities Is con-
sidered one of the principal handicaps
to aerial commercial traffic develop
ment. If aerial transportation IS TO
become universal aircraft manuiaetur'
ers point ont that there must be estab-
lished adequate airdromes with deli
nitelv marked landing places, eonve-
nient TO business centers and with Ia
cilities for housing the sHmen and their
machines and providing them with fuel
and repairs. At the height OF 1000
feet. considered the minimum at which
commercial planes of the future VIII
travel. especially over cities, II IL set
forth that an airplsne, the motor OF
which has become stalled, could vol
plane or glide a distance of four to five
miles i'm horizontal direction
In addition to the regular routes
company at Seattle has started an in
ternational air mail, operating between
that city and Vancouver, B c. Several
lumber companies in the northwest are
using the airplane for forest patrols
and SURVEYS. a Newark. \. j., de
partment store delivered merchandise
hy airplane TO customers in Asbury
PARK last summer while a large Chi
capo clothing house made speciality Of
delivering clothes to college students
within l00-mile radius of that city.
A Canadian aviator carried 400 pounds
Of furs from Toronto to Newark, y. j.,
stoppinp at Clayton. \. Y, TO pay Gus
toms duties on them. The navy con
ducted experiments in guiding fishing
craft by airplane at Gloucester. while
the army conducted a coast airplane
natrol between New York and Newport
News. Va.
One of the strangest uses for which
The airplane is being considered is the
spreading of the gospel in the Congo
states OF Africa A large American
manufacturer received request for
prices from the Congo mission of the
Church Of the Disciples Of Christ. which
proposed to replace steam launches
with fving boats The plan has not
Vet been carried into effect. Airplanes
and spare parts, valued at several hun
dred thousand dollars. were recently
sold bv American manufacturers 10
French interests, who are planning air
plane commercial routes in the Orient.
delivery OF the material has begun.
In Europe three English companies
maintain regular passenger and parcel
post service between London and Paris
and London and Brussels. On one Of
the trips grand piano was carried
from a London store TO its customer IN
France by airplane In accordance With
British aircraft regulations. adopted
last April. pilots Of these commercial
craft are examined, physically and
technically, and licensed By the govern
ment. landing fields and prominent
points along the routes are distinctly
marked. standard signals are used and
regular air lanes sre followed
Two French companies carry passen-
ncrs on sightseeing tours over the bat