The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-16
ARMY FLYERS READY
 FOR TRIP OVER GLOBE
Feasibility Of Establishing Commercial Airway Around The World Is Purpose Of Flight;
 Success Will Give America The Lead

I July 1, 1916. On July 1, 1920, he wat transferred to the army air service with the rank of major. He is a graduate oi the Coast Artillery school, class of 1913 During the World war he was detailed to the aviation service and served ir Washington, D. O., and overseas in con nection with supply matters. \
 He received his flying training al Boiling field, Anaeostia, D. C., and al Carlstrom field, Arcadia, Fla. He com pleted his advanced flying training a. bombardment pilot at Kelly field, ,Sar Antonio, Texas,and was officially rated as an airplane pilot on August 4, 1921 Major Martin is now serving as com manding officer of the air service tech nical school at Chanute field, Rantoul Illinois.
 Lieut.. Lowell H. Smith--Lieut. Smith was born at Santa Barbara, Cal, October s. 1892. Upon America's entry into the World war, Lieutenant Smith en listed as a private in the aviation sec ton. Signal corps. Completing his training, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in December, 1917. Pro noted captain October, 1918. Commis' stoned lieutenant in the regular army July 1, 1920. During 1918 he received Handley-Page and heavy bombardmeni training in England. Participating in the transcontinental reliability and en. durince contest from New York to San Francisco in 1919 he was ahead of All the contestants from the west coast tc Chicago, where an unavoidable delay deprived him of an opportunity to wix this contest. z
 He particularly distinguished himself in the work of the airplane foFest-fte patrol carried out through California and Washington during the fire seasons of 1920 and 1921. He was practically in charge of this work, which resulted in the saving to the government of mil lions of dollars in timber, as well as protecting large holdings of private owners.
 Lieutenant Smith flew one of the army airplanes in the Liberty engine builders race at St. Louis in October, 1923, in which event he finished third. He gained considerable fame in 1923 when he and Lieutenant Richter carried out nonstop refueling airplane flight for duration of over 38 hours. In connection with these tests he later carried out a nonstop flight from the Canadian to the Mexican border his plane being twice refueled in the air during the flight. Lieutenant Smith has total flying time of approximately 1,700 hours, of which over 1000 hours are cfoss-coun- try. He has flown approximately 100,- GOO miles.
 Erie H. NeIson-Lieutenant Nelson, air service, was born at Stockholm, Sweden, June F, 1888. He was by profession an aeronautical motor ex- pert. and prior to his entry into the military service had seven years experi- ence in the United States and abroad on internal combustion engines. He served with the Curtiss Aer0plane com pany as aerOnautical motor expert. Joining the aviation service during the war and completing his flying training, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in April. 1918. He was commissioned first lieutenant in the regular army in June, 1920.
 Many Achievements
 Lieutenant Nelson has many notable flying achievements to his credit and has, perhaps, greater amount of cross- country experience. flying over differ ent types of terrain, than any other of ficer in the army air service. Among the notable flights in which he partici- pated and was in a great measure re- sponsible for the success of were:
 Gulf to Pacific in 1919.
 Alaskan flying expedition from New York to Nome, Alaska. in 1920. on which flight he acted in the capacity of engineer officer.
 San Antonio to Porto Rico flight in 1923, in which he again acted in the ca- pacity of engineer officer.
 In 1922 he won the Detroit News aerial trophy race in a Martin bomber, averaging no miles per hour.
 Lieutenant Nelson has also approxi- mately 1900 flying hours, of which 500 have been crOsS-eonntry.
 At the time Lieutenant Nelson was chosen to participate in the round the. world flight he was acting in the ca pacity of maintenance. Ii0ison officer of all air service activities in the United States.
 Lieut.. Leigh Wade-Lieutenant Wade was born at Cassopolis. Mich, Febru- ary 2, 1S96. He served as a private in the Michigan national guard from June. 1916. until the entry of the United States into the World war, at which time he was transferred to the aviation section, Signal corps, and in December. 1917. he was commissioned first lieutenant. He received his flying training with the Royal air force at Toronto. Canada. Upon qualifying as a pilot he immediately became a flying instructor with the Royal air force and later in the United States army air service. He served in the A. F. F., in France from August, 1918, until July. 1919. during which time he acted as test pilot. instructor. and then as com manding officer of the I20th areo squad ron at one of the large American train ing centers in France. After the armis- tice he was on duty in the technical in- formation section of the air service in Paris. Upon his return to the United States he was assigned to duty at Mo Cook field, Dayton, Ohio. where he car.