Evening star., 1925-06-16
BY FREDERICK u. \EELY.

Facilities for conveying persons as
mail matter over the transcontinental
air mail route are not available, and
even though they We're. it is doubtful
if human being claSsed as air mail
and rushed across the continent in
81 hours continuous flight would be
aware of what II was all about when
he reached San Francisco. There
fore, with the permission of Maj. Cen
Mason NJ. Patrick. chief OF the Army
Air Service. an Army plane was al
lotted for the flight and Capt. st. Clair
STREET.. leader OF The New York to.
Nome tAlaska) flight in 1919. in com
mand Of acrobatic instruction in
France. chairman OF the world flight
committee and chief Of The Army Air
ways System. WAS selected to make
the trip with the writer.
The journey began from Washing
ton. u. G.. on cloudy Sunday after
noon in q De Haviaud yacht. so desig-
mated because 1t had no provision for
military mountinSs in the back seat,
to the delight and comfort of the pas
senger. The plane took the air and
arrived at Mitchell Field. AIineola
Long Island. hours and ~ minutes
later. HaZelhurst Field. the head
quarters for the mail planes, is sep.
arated from Mitchell by a road.
filed to the top and we struck out on
a straight course to Bellefonte, Pa,
where we planned to spend the night.
We supposed the weather was all
right. but not having asked anybody
we were lacking in accurate informa-
ton. a final glance at the Metro
politdn tower. as we cut Manhattan
Island III half. told US it was 4:5o
o clock, daylight saving time, and
Bellefonte was o24 miles away. We
looked back at the island until II was
obscured by the mist and wondered if
we'd ever see il again. We biseCted
the city of Newark and then the first
hills of the days trip put in appear
ance. They were wooded and here
and there were some pretty good land
ing fields. Clouds began to get thick:
the motor runs all right-whoop. the
ships nose flies upward and we go
into half loop, dropping over on one
wing and now were in the position
Of the famous Barnum horse. 4 wave
of the hand from the skipper says
were going back. When we made
the sudden reversement-for that was
what we made-we were over Eaton,
Pa. The kittatinny Mountains were
only about 10 miles ahead, half sub
merged in fog and clouds, but that
couldn't he the reason 70, returning.
We'd been flying an hour 10 the point
where we turned. Thirty-seven min
uteS after reversing We We're down on
IN ground at Mitchell Field. The
skipper had a scowl on his face and
when asked what happened he re-
piled: why. blankety blank, we
could make better tim-e walking. II
took US an hour 10 fly 81 miles and
81 minutes TO get back" We had
four hours fuel aboard and ar that
rate Of travel, II we coJ to Bellefonte
d all against that terrific head wind
there would have been about a spoon
tul Of gasoline left. The skipper never
had flown over that course before:
there was no important mail to de-
uver. and we in the back seat thought
very wise move had been made.
The first idea of what the mail BOYS
are up against when working on
schedule was born at thar instant.
Try New Route.
The following morning we got into
the air at 6:13 o'clock, Eastern stand
ard time, and decided to pick up the
new route ont of New Brunswick.
\. J. Down Jamaica Bay and over
lower New York Bay we flew. and
saw the big city almost buried in fog.
At 6:42 o'clock we were directly over
the New bTunSWlCk nelO. ana Inen
and there officially began the trans
continental mail flight.
The air is smooth ard chilly. It
calls TO mind that we have on only a
thin sleeveless sweater under Sum
mer-weight overalls. The fiat Colln-
Try rapidly disappears and the ter
rain assumes a rolling wooded aspect.
The broken red line on he map the
compass course with a lot of figures
meaning absolutely nothing, takes us
through Raritan and Phillipsburg,
y. J.. over which we see lying straight
ahead the neat range, of the I<itta-
tinny Mountains. whose acquaintance
we almost made the day before. The
captain gently pulls the ship UP to
1000 feet and we pass over. What a
sight these mountains shut out from
the East. All idea of culture and re-
tinement in establishing mountain
ranges was forgotten when this area