The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-19
Navy Now Plans to OutdO Its
Transatlantic Record.
Has Been Building "Giant
Boat" for Over Year.
ROUTE To COVER $500 MILES
To Be Assembled for First Tests
Early This Summer.
With $500 Horsepower Motors,
viii Garry Fifteen Tons.
BY HAROLD D. JACOBS.

Copyright, 1921, by United Press)
New York, April 19.-The United
States navy, first to make a trans
atlantic flight, will send a giant sea-
plane swinging across the Pacific late
this summer or early next spring.
The triplane, which will be known
as the Giant Boat" has been under
design and construction for more than
year. The wings and hull are be-
ing made at the naval aircraft factory,
Philadelphia. The motors and ma
celles, or bodies. are being turned out
by the Gallaudet Aircraft corporation
at East Greenwich, Conn. The pro-
pellers are being built in Baltimore
by the American Propeller company.
The time of the flight will depend
upon when the craft is completed and
upon the results of the exhaustive
tests to which the Giant Boat" will
be subjected. 1t is planned to begin
assembling the plan in June or July.
Route Covers $500 Miles.
The tentative route is: San Diego.
Cal, to Honolulu, Hawaiian Island.
2,1OO miles; Honolulu to Wake Island.
1,10O miles; Guam to Manila. Philip
pine Islands, 1900 miles.
This is a total of $500 miles.
Whether the plane would continue to
the Asian mainland has not yet been
determined. The longest single hop
of the historic NC-4 in 1919 was from
Nova Scotia to the Azores, a distance
of LOO miles.
The general public had its first op-
portunity to marvel at the size or the
great seaplane today when one OF It's
huge eighteen foot, three bladed pro-
pellers arrived in New York The
propeller was brought here from Bal
timore, en- route to East Greenwich,
where it will receive its initial test at
the Gallaudet works.
Arriving at an East river pier. the
propeller will receive it's initial test at
the Gallaudet works. At the pier, the
propeller was to be transferred by
motor truck to a New England coastal
steamer for shipment to East Green
wich. ,A4
Motors 5000 Horsepower.
The "oiant Boat" will have a wing
spread of 167 feet and will have three
propellers, each driven by three 400
horsepower naotors developing a total
of $500 horsepower. K
The most radical departure from
previous seaplane construction will be
the arrangement of the motors and
will contain the Galiaudet- gear drive.
making possible the connection of
three motors with each propeller.
Any motor may be disengaged without
interfering with the operation of the
propeller.
closed area, giving the mechanics op-
portunity to make any repairs without
1anger or inconvenience. The naceIles
are torpedo shaped bodies and the pro-
peller in each is situated somewhat
behind of their middle and aft of the
planes This has the added effect of
reducing wind friction to a minimum.
To Make Trip Alone.
A trial seaplane driven by a single
motor under this new type of con-
struction recently made the phenom-
email speed of 1928 miles an hour. It
was driven by Lieut.. E. P. Stone, who
was one of the pilots of the. NC-4.
The plane climbed 400 feet in ten
minutes. The Giant Boat" will prob
ably be able to make 10 miles an
hour. 1t will have a lifting capacity
of 10000 pounds and cruising radius
of three thousand miles without fuel
replenishment. The crew probably
will consist of at least twelve men.
Unlike the transatlantic flight
when three planes took off simultan-
eously in an attempt to cross the At
lantic. it is understood it will be made
by the one craft.