San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-16
USED
L-AMER|CAN
THROUGHOUT
Specially Constructed Ships
Will Be Used by Airmen
in Flight.
ON WATER OR LAND
interchangeable Pontoons
and Landing Gear a Fea-
ture of the Planes.

The airplanes used by Major Mar
tin were designed by Donald Douglas
and constructed entirely at the plant
of the Douglas Company, Santa
Monica, Cal. Douglas ranks as one
of the foremost aeronautical engineers
in the Unitel states. being known
especially for his design of heavy
weight carrying airplanes for com
mercial and bombing purposes.
The Douglas World Cruisers, as
they are known, are designed as both
land and water types, being readily
convertible by the interchangeable
feature of wheels and pontoons. Con-
struction of the fuselage is entirely of
duraluminum. Wings are of wood and
fabric. The engine is of the Liberty
type with latest Improvements.
In the Round-the-W World squadron
win be four Douglas cruisers. Scat
tered at various points around the
globe will be the equivalent, in parts,
of 10 extra Liberty engines and about
200 per cent requirements in the air
planes themselves. At points along
the routes where flying will be en-
tirely over water. extra sets of pom
toons have been stored. Altogether ii
sets of pontoons have been provided.
Following is n general description
Of the world cruiser:
The fuselage is made in three de-
tachable sections-Engine- Section,
Mid-Section and Rear Section. All
sections are made of steel tubing. The
wings are of standard box beam and
built-up rib construction. The upper
wing is made in three panels. The
lower wing is made in two panels.
The wings may be folded, thus requir-
ing small storage space. The verti-
cal fin and horizontal stabilizer are
Of standard eye-bean and built-up rib
construction. The elevator and rud-
der are made of steel tubing. The
axl, are made Of alloy steel tubing,
heat-treated after fabrication. The
struts are steel tubes, strea-.lined
with wood. The landing gear (water
type) consists Of twin floats Of built
up wood construction. The top COW
cring is three-ply veneer, the bottom
planking being two plies of mahogany
Water or Air.
The World Cruisers are biplanes.
As q seaplane, empty, it weighs 800
pounds. As a landplane, empty, il
weighs 1900 pounds. As a seaplane
it has a disposable load (men, equip
ment, gasoline, fuel. oil, etc.. of
2615 pounds. As landplane it has
disposable load Of 2615 pounds. Its
gross weight as n seaplane is 7715
pounds. As a landplane it has gross
weight of 6915 pounds. Its speed as
a landDlane, therefore, will be faster
than rs seaplane. II has n gaso-
line capacity of 400 gallons. A wing
loading of 100 pounds per square
foot as a seaplane, and of OF per
square foot as q landnlane. 1t has
n load as seaplane of 1873 pounds for
each horsepower, and as landplane
Of 1863 pounds per horsepower.
The Liberty engine is of the usual
400 horsepower. The wing span, 18th
upper and lower, is so feet. The
span of the airplane with wings folded
is 200 feet 9 inches. The height over
all is 13 feet & inches. The length
over all is 30 feet inches. As a
seaplane it has a normal altitude OF
7000 feet, a nor-lal maximum speed
of 100 miles an hour and a landing
speed of 80 miles an hour. As land
plane il can climb TO 10000 feet,
travel 103 miles an hour, and land
at 53 miles an hour.
From the foregoing it will be seen
that, as a landplane, with a greater
height, it will be able to negotiate
successfully high mountain ranges,
and as seaplane it will be able to
land at = slower rate of speed in
waters which may either be rough,
or strewn with ice.
Supervision of Construction.
Lieut.. Erik II. Nelson, air service,
has been assigned 20 duty for the past
two months at the Douglas Airplane
factory at Santa Monica, Cal, super.
vising the construction of a special
airplane for this flight. Lieutenant
Nelson was the engineering officer on
the Alaskan flight and, also, on the
last years flight of six army air
planes from San Antonio, through
the West Indies to Porto Rico and
return to Washington, ID. c. Through
his efforts there has been built n
very successful around-the-world
cruiser, capable of remaining in the
air for over twenty hours.
POntOOns versus Wheels.
Upon arriving at Seattle, WASH,
the Douglas '. Id Cruiser will be
fitted with pontoons at the plant OF
the Boeing Airplane company. Water
landings will be made in sheltered
harbors along the coast of British
Columbia, Alaska and through the
Aleutian Islands; down into Japan.
The present plan contemplates the
removal of the pontOons and the use
of landing gears from Toxic. Japan,
or from Calcutta, India, depending
upon the conditions which the flight
encounters en- route. Landing gears
will be used across Asia Minor. and
Europe as far as Hull, England, where
pontoons will. again be placed on the
airplanes and used until the flight
reaches Montreal, or KeyDort, n. j.,
at one of which points the pontoons
will again be replaced by landing
gears for the completion of the flight.
The last replacement OF pontoons will
be made by the Aeromarine Plane x
Motor company at Keyport.
Preparations For Flight.
The most careful preparations for
the flight around the world have been
made by the Army Air Service. It
has been assisted by the Aeronautical
Chamber of Commerce of America.
Through the Aeronautical Chamber
of Commerce several score American
business corporations, with represen-
tatives abroad, have cordially lent
their assistance by providing letters
Of credit or personal letters of in