Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-03-11
STRING OF
Aviator says Burlington Il Located On
Ideal Flying Route

There should be a string Of airdromes
from Long Island, up the Connecticut
river, thence over to Lake
and north to Montreal" writes Lieut.-Col.
l.. II. brennan. A.. S. A.. with head
quarters In Boston, in a letter to James
p. Taylor Of the Vermont Aero club.
Lieut.. Col. brennan was to have spoken
before the annual meeting Of the club
to-day on airplane landing places. but he
found at the last moment that 1t would
be impossible for him to be present to-
day. Under date Of March s, he wrote to
Mr.. Taylor, expressing regrets. This let
ter. which tsksD UP quite fully tho
prospects Of this section of Vermont in
the coming aero age is given IN part
below:
Your city Is on the route between New
York IND the principal flying centcr OF
Canada, viz. Montreal. There should be
a string Of airdromes from Long Island,
up the Connecticut river, thence over to
Lake Champlain and north to Montreal.
Flying conditions by this route are much
more favorable than by way of the Hud-
son river. / believe that any field that
you choose should DO as accessible as
possible to Lake Champlain. preferably
fronting on It so that your seaplane and
airplane bases can he adjoining. 1t Is also
important to provide facilities near the
shore of Lake Champlain to take care of
winter flying. The postoffice department
and the air service have been using skis
on airplanes during the past winter, and
their complete success has been DEM
onstrated. A plane equipped with skis,
by using the frozen lakes and river of
New England, has many more landing
fields in the winter time than it has in
summer
"An Aero machine operated for almost
a month on the Charles river basin here
in Boston with such equipment. Recent
blizzards have so tied up the land trans
portation systems that thoughtful flying
men have been convinced that aviation
car supply some very pressing needs of
New England for emergency transporta-
ton. The mail could easily rave been car
ried by air during the intervals between
bad storms, where the railroad facilities
were absolutely tied up. The same thing
applies to medical supplies and attention,
and even the supply of the necessities of
life to persons cut off from centers of
population.
IT am Informed by the postmaster-gen-
eral In charge of the aerial mail, Mr..
Preager. that IL the present aerial mall
bill goes through. the postoffice depart
! Slent VIII De autnOrlZed TO SUBSTITUTE
aerial routes for rail routes wherever
the operation Of same does not exceed
the cost for railroad mail. Contracts can
be given to private concerns, which
should result in considerable assistance
to struggling aircraft corporations. AT
least a dozen companies are planning to
operate In Boston and vicinity this COM
ing year. SO that you will probably see
! the fringes Of this activity. The sooner
your field can get into operation, the
sooner will your people begin to derive
the benefits from aviation.
People in this section OF the country
are sometimes opposed to establishing
landing fields because there has been sc
little flying here in the past. My answer
to this objection has always been that
there is so little flying here because there
are 30 few airdromes, that where air.
dromes exist, there is flying. Over two
thousand planes were sold commercially
last year. and / believe that six thousand
could be sold this year if they were
available. The distribution of these planes
will depend of course on airdromes. II
the automobile industry had waited 70,
the highways, there would have been nc
such industry. 1t is a fact that the high,
ways followed the automobile. Airdromes
are our highways, and ships will follow
these routes"