The spectator., 1921-10-14

ceS to the point WncFc SutteSs '' assprod Tn conseauence Omaha Is proudly claim ing to be Anercas most progressive aVlatloh center.
 The purposes of the congress are praisew"rthY' The congress itself is likely to be of great i'm portImcc.
 One rurpose Is to bring the flyers together for a biz reunion. the first since the World War An other is to show everything in connection with aviation. in order to interest the people or the nation In flying A third is to form natlona air body for tte advancement of aviation in Amer ica The bs purpose Is: Aviation supreme TOT America"
 The formation of n national air body appears to be we'll under way, through preliminary organi- zations in the states At this writing Twenty-Five states are forming state organizations Of the con gress and will be represented by delegates
 That there Is necessity for the formation of such n body seems hardly open to argument. Rudyard Kipling. years ago, wrote of aircraft: "We are at tho openlng verse of the opening page of the chaptcr of endless possibilities" We have read far beyond that now and the march of events forces to keep on turning the leaves, If we would keep our place in the forefront of the pro cession of the nations.
 In the opinion of those who seem hest qualified to know the United States has not kept abreast with other countries in the development of avia- ton, especially in the matter of development of airwnys. For example, the best We can show in the way of a transcontinental route Is that Oow-  Reno nnd San Francisco. The experts declare 1t 10 he not more than 10 per cent complete in organi za,ion.
 An essential of the success of big business Is imagination. Imagine, If you can what the part of aviation in the life of the nation will be five years from now It Is wonder that men of large affairs want the organization of a national air body and want 1t now.
 Omnhn's slogan was inspired Ny the Aero Club of Omaha. organization Of 100 former pilots and observers of the World War. Nevertheless, nil the city Is talking aviation these days. Three months ago of course II was not so Omaha was no more enthusiastic over aviation than any other city, When its citizens heard an airplnne droning overhead they gazed skyward for moment 9th erwise they were uninterested.
 Then Earl W. Porter. president of the Aero C1uh of Omaha conceived the idea of the con yre@s md went to work on 1t. Now aviation Is in tho blood of the citizens. They talk of the many pbascs of air travel with the nonchalnnce of aces In other cities the people may call anything that trayerses the air an arship. But not so In Omaha; they rightly use the word nircruft. Do you hear btmp In Omnhap Well. hardly, Omaha knows thst hlmp is not only slang. but obsolete slang, whereas people in other cities still applying the word ,rdiscrimlnetey to all balloons rigid nrd nonrigid airships and lighter.than,alr craft You never catch an .Omahnn these days saying hydropiane when he means seapane; he knows that the former never leaves the water And yoI find him correctly using nirpane seaplane and airshIp instead of neroplane, hydro-aeropiane and dirigihIp You may even oNcrhenr a cunvcrSa lion about the captive helcopter In short, everyone fin Omaha appears to be enthusiastic about ava. tion in general and the coming congress in par, ticuar
 President Porter went to his fellow cIuhmen They indorsed his idea and his plans md pledged their support. They also fixed on him the logi, cal head of the movement and he was duly ma,.e