Evening star., 1926-08-08
BY FREDERICK X. NEELY.

What will constitute the fivver
alrplane in the near future.
With the advent into aircraft pro
ductiOn by Henry Ford. thinkers and
Vlsioners have painted the skies black
with the same sort of inexpensive
aerial vehicle that now populates the
roads of the Nation. Aerial traffic
cops. hanging from captive balloons.
have been pictured as a Forthcoming
necessity: regulations for making
right and left hand turns have been
discussed; schemes for two planes
passing in flight have been looked
INTO and ways and means of handling
the congestion have been touched
upon by the farsighted
Special emphasis has been laid on
the tiny plane, the idea seeming to
be the smaller the plane the cheaper
the production, the larger the sales
and the greater the consumption. Air
people in Washington are not dis
couraging this forecast for the future,
because they are too busy working
out new military aircraft with great
er speed, more rapid climb, longer
cruising radius and greater lifting
power. But they are interested in
what the average man is going to
fly in few years.
The fiivver plane still is in the ex.
perimental stage, as far as universal
adoption of a type here is concerned.
In Europe much headway has been
made. Throughout the United States
there are many "mongrel" types of
airplanes, some handmade. some rem
resenting the first and only born of
an optimistic aircraft concern and
some a composition of old war and
new material.
Marked Advance i'm Designs.
AT the annual air meets a better
class of these candidates for the poD.
ular term "fivver" turn up each year.
At st. Louis in 1928 the offering was
terrible; at Dayton, in 1924, the crop
had some new blood in it. and at New
York last year marked advancement
in the design and quality of privately
owned, small, light airplanes was
noted. What will gather at Phila.
delphia in September for the national
air meet is being looked forward to
with interest here, especially in view
of the fact that comparativelv large
purses are being offered the winners
of the various contests
There are some military aeronautical
engineers in Washington who believe
the fiivVer plane should not be too
small If 1t is to serve any usefulness
whatever. Tiny aircraft are exceed
ingly difficult to handle, and to try and
get the layman. with no inherent
knowledge of the science of flying, to
go out and perform in such a craft,
probably would discourage private
flying more than encourage it,
Therefore, the flivver must have
some size to it, some power in the
engine, some room for a passenger,
some space for 4 gOod-sized fuel tank.
With such plane, pilot could buck
a 20-mile wind and reach his goal:
he could fly for three hours or more,
perhaps. on a charge of gasoline. and
at a speed of 80 miles an hour; he
would not hesitate to plunge through
a local rainstorm. and he could ami
hilate time and distance
With such a plane, too. he could fly
from Washington to Dayton-400
miles-in not more than five hours,
making one stop midway for fuel. or
he could fly to New York on one tank
of gas in about three hours. He could
carry some light luggage in addition
to a passenger, and make a week or
week end Of his trip. In other words.
ii would serve a, purpose: he could do
something after he got off the ground.
But a tiny plane OF almost negligible
weight. with a small and low powered
motor, with a small wing area. and
with small fuel capacity. could serve
hardly any purpose but to cruise
around an airport on cloudless. wind
less day If that is all that the pilot
would desire, then there is no objection
to it, But the pilots in the military
service work under the banner of
performance. and a plane that will
not perform is of no use to them.
Another disadvantage in the too
tiny craft is that it is more difficult
to handle than the more powerful and
heavier machines. 1t would have lit
tie or no reserve power, ii could not
go crashing through bumpy air en-
tirely oblivious of the bumps or match
its strength against a head wind A
large three-engined Fokker mono
plane would he more pleasant to fly.
In fact, the midget would be more of
a glider and its pilot would have to