Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-06
The Second Crossing.

When criticism Of the Wright-Bel-
ianca transatlantic plane. expedition
was at it's height because of dissension
in the crew and a delayed start,
Charles A. Levine, owner of the ship,
is said to have remarked, This ex-
perience has taught me lesson. Next
time this plane takes the air it will be
to accomplish something about which
we can talk afterward. There will be
no more talking until that time" Pur-
suant to this new policy, Levine had
his airplane filled to overflowing with
gas and oil and clad only in business
suit he nonchalantly took off with his
pilot, Clarence D. Chamberlin, for an
unnamed destination early Saturday
morning. Forty-two hours later under
the skillful guidance Of Chamberlin
the monoplane carrying its first over
seas passenger came softly to earth
at Eisleben, Saxony, one hundred and
approximately thirty-eight hundred
miles through the air without stop,
and definitely establishing new dis
lance record for airplanes.
Levine has made good his promise.
He can talk now and the whole world
will listen. He will doubtless give
full credit to his pilot on whose Shout
ders rested the success or the failure
of the flight. Sitting at the controls
even longer than did Charles Lind
bergh in his famous dash to Paris,
Chamberlin has established an en-
viable mark of airmanship for avia-
tors to contest. Levine, himself, is
not a flyer. He went along merely
as a passenger and although his au-
dacity in essaying such trip must
be praised, to Chamberlin alone must
go the lions share of laudation.
Lindbergh, who is now speeding
home on a United States cruiser, is
faced with much the same circum-
stances as was Gertrude Ederle when
she returned from her triumphant con-
quest of the English Channel. In the
midst Of her enthusiastic welcome
Mrs. Clemington Corson duplicated her
feat. But neither Lindbergh nor
Chamberlin need fear that the en-
thusiasm Of the people Of this country
will in the slightest degree abate be-
fore welcomes such as have never
heretofore been given are accorded to
them. Nonstop flying over the ocean is
a greater accomplishment than swim
ming or running or golflng or any
other endeavor and America will turn
out to welcome its newly crowned
heroes.
To those who have regarded the
Atlantic hops as stunt exhibitions,
awakening must have come with the
successful completion Of the second
crossing. The Bellanca plane had
previously established a worlds dura-
ton record Of more than flfty-one
hours, and Lindbergh's Ryan mono.
plane had sped across the country in
approximately twenty-one hours. Yet
these two ships were called upon soon
afterward to make the supreme test,
the racking, straining and whipping
trip across the ocean. Who can say
that the art of making ships Of the
air has not been advanced by such
demonstrations?
And in this pioneering example Of
sturdy airplane construction credit
must be given to the sterling perform
ance of the Wright motors used in
both ships. Nine cylinders, air-cooled
and developing more than two hun
dred horsepower. these identical en-.
gines sang the sweet tune Of safety
for an aggregate of seventy.flve hours
without missing a beat. Who is there
so foolish as to claim that the devel-
opment of airplane motors is not ad-
vancing?
There can be no controversy over
either point. Pioneers in every line
of endeavor make the supreme sacri'
flee that civilization may progress, but
with two successful ocean crossings
the pioneering period is being left be.
hind and the era of regular transat-
lantic flying is brought closer to take
rank with the wonders of the age.
--A~S~-
The clouds have superseded the Eng