The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1923-02-22
One of Startling Early Develop
ments of Air Travel Predicted /
by General Mitchell.
WONDERFUL PROGRESS MADE
AirpIanes May Be Controlled by Radio
From Air as Well as From Ground
-Misconception of tho
Dangers.

Brig. Gen. William Mitchell, assistant
chief of the air service of the United
States army, in a communication to
the National Geographic society.
"Aeronautics is progressing more
rapidly at this time both from scien-
tific standpoint-as far as the de-
velopment of flying machines Of all
kinds is cOncerned-and also in the art
of actually handling and flying planes"
General Mitchell writes.
"a speed of 200 miles an hour has
been accomplished To rise vertically
from the ground is an accomplished
fact. We are able to fly at night,
through the storms, and through the
fog. Our worst enemy is fog near the
ground, and even there we are making
progress in eliminating fog over our
landing fields.
Radio telegraphy makes it possible
for us to talk from plane to plane,
from the ground to the plane, and
from the plane to the ground Radio
Is also able to guide us to urslanding
fields or to any place that we desire to
CO. In fact, airplanes can be sent on
long journeys with no living pilots in
them, but controlled by gyroscopic
instruments. These automatically con-
trolled airplanes rise from the ground
and fly at whatever altitude is set.
Radio Controls Plane Fleet.
Sin addition, by the aid of radio i'm
pulses, their courses may be changed
M. If hlouy, off tho courco NV tho yuip6
they may be brought back to it. Air
planes may be controlled by radio from
the air as well as from the ground,
so that it Is entirely within the realm
of possibility that an airplane with it's
crew may start. out and control a num-
Der of others flying near and around
it.
Aircraft are the only things in ex-
istence that are able to deliver their
cargoes at station in the air. Moth
ing can compete with them in this re-
spect, so that, from a military stand
point, when it is desired to deliver
bomb, gun, or observer wherever they
will have the most effect on an enemy,
aircraft have no equals.
each day sees an increase in the
radius of action of the airplane. In
our own air service the airplane has
remained aloft for 35 hours and during
that time has covered some 5000
miles. The distance from ireland to
Newfoundland is only LOO miles. One
of the great Zeppelin airships turned
out by the Germans could carry suffi-
cient fuel to go around the world at
the latitude of New York
"From a commercial standpoint, as
a means of transportation for passen-
gers and freight, the airplane is ex-
pensiye, but the saving in time is ire
mendous.
sDuring this year our own Post
Office department will establish mail
service between New York and San
Francisco and will make the trip In
q hours, total elapsed time.
Misconception Of Dangers.
''The public, in general, has mis-
conception of the dangers incident to
aviation. Military aviation will always
be dangerous, because the aircraft
employed must have the greatest
speed, the greatest gun power, and the
greatest lifting capacity. These things
are strained to the limit so we may be
able TO compete with possible enemies,
also, in order to be able to support
each other, military airplanes have to
fly in close formations, through all
kinds of weather and under all condi-
lions.
"On the other hand, commercial air.
craft may be constructed with slow
landing speeds, large factors Of safety,
and with reliable motors that weigh
little bit more than the military en-
gines The airways, with their land
ing fields, weather service, and radio
telegraphy between airdromes, may be
so organized that they will give more
security than the railways with their
block systems. switches, and repair
facilities.
"In Europe the commercial air serv-
ice, carrying passengers and freight,
has operated more miles with fewer
casualties than have the railways dur
ing the past year.
.The airplane really originated in
the United States and today we hold
the worlds altitude record, the worlds
endurance record. and the worlds.
speed record