Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-18
BY GEORGE II. DACY.

~APT. CHRISTOPHER coLUM.
BUS sailed over an uncharted,
unexplored ocean and dis.
~ covered the New World-an
epochal event Of fifteenth Gen.
fury maritime history.
Transatlantic birdmen of 1927 soar
cd over the same mighty ocean
through an encircling sea of air from
the United States TO European un-
rivaled feat in mans conquest OF the
atmosphere.
Separated by span of 4S5 years,
these two achievements in record
navigation are closely related in that
they both were accomplished by voy.
ayers who did not know precisely
how they were going to get to where
they were going. Columbus sought TO
prove that the earth was round in
stead of fiat as pumpkin pie. The
aviators who flew across the Atlantic
were determined on demonstrating
that the modern flying machine had
reached a stage in its evolution where
q S,OO0-mile trip over salt water was
possiblc-and practical.
The navigators of the Santa Maria
and her sister ships sailed by the com
pass, a pathfinder originated in crude
form thousands of years previously
by the Chinese. They had no charts
Dy WHICH TO steer lHcH tOutcS.
knew nothing of the nautical perils
before them. Explorers courageous
were they, hardy sailors of a strange.
hostile ocean.
Similarly, the birdmen who recently
have sailed through the air instead OF
over the salt sea were navigators OF
an atmospheric empire, most of whose
secrets had bafiied the persistent at
tacks of science. In the last analysis.
the first cloud cruises from the New
to the Old World were adventurous
shit or miss" expeditions. For as
Columbus sailed an unknown sea, so
also did the daring aviators navigate
an uncharted ocean of air.
Some of the Ayers paid the supreme
sacrifice They gave up their lives
IN the cause of aviation's advance
ment. Mighty birds OF steel. wood
and duralumin whose wings were
functioned by explosions OF gasoline
crashed TO earth or sank in the ocean
their coveted flights defeated by the
perversities of fate or mechanics.
Authorized by law to MAINTAIN mari
time security as close to par as human
activities can hold il. the United states
Navy, deprecating the losses of life
and flying equipment which he'd been
suffered, modified its agencies-the
best of their kind under the sun--to
chart the upper air over the North
Atlantic Ocean, so that future flyers
may have something more tangible
than vacillating rule of thumb by
which to pilot their planes from here
to Europe, or vice versa.
THE first pilot chart of the appar-
entity iimitless atmosphere above
the North Atlantic, Ocean for the
month of December is our Nays an
swer to the critical needs for touring
mans" for those who seek to make
lpng distance flights over Neptune's
monarchy of salt-fiavored water.
Our naval leaders make fight of
their upper air pilot chart consunma'
lions. They can see neither roma ace
nor scientific conquest in the accom-
plishments. Just a typical product
of another good years work. they
cali the pilot chart recently ISSUED
the forerunner of many more to follow.
why exclaim in verbal pyrotechnics
about a standardized necessity author
tied by law" they ask.
Because to the mind of the laynlan
this most recent production OF the
Navy Department is spiced with ro-
nance, sugared with technical adven.
ture and perfumed with mans intel
lectual superiority over matter.
These United States once again
score a home run in the forward forg-
ing of flying Under the Stars and |
Stripes is produced the first pilot chart |
or the upper air to guide aerial navi.
gators TO ever greater achievements. |
New safety and added security are
thus contributed TO this hazardous bus |
iness of sailing the airs spacious sea. |
The photographic Office of the
United States Navy has made a scru |
tinizinx scientific study OF all the |
flights. 1t has sifted in |
valuable information from the success
full air journeys: it has gained impor-
tant data from the attempts that fail
ed. The careful analysis of the
sources of such failure adds new in
formation. useful in the equipment
and preparation for potential flights.
The cooperation of the United States
Weather Bureau. Uncle Sans official
agency for meteorological research and
weather forecasting. has aided the ma.
val experts UNNECESSARILY in their sue.
cessful sorties into this new field of
scientific attainment. Congress has
authorized the Weather Bureau ~ pro-
vide whatever information thu Navy
Department requires to perfect its
pilot charts of the ocean as well as of
the upper air. This enterprise of IRE
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