Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-10

and other work today to annex one
more thrill.
With a big newspaper camera
strapped to my back, l climbed to the
forward yard arm, and with the wind
blowing nearly so miles an hour,
crawled out on one edge and took a
picture of the whole ship.
Really did it to get a shot or two
at the big boxes which contain my
plane.
| The view was wonderful, and my
situation was not really as dangerous
as many thought it to be, for 1 had
the shrouds to hold on to all the time.
| Capt. Lackey stood below on the
bridge, which, from my position
| looked far down, although it is one
of the highest bridges in the United
States Navy.
got my pictures and had no
trouble in climbing back.
Has Covered Ship.
I can truly say that I have been
crows nest to the fireroom, at the
very bottom, and I enjoyed every
| minute.
The luncheon with the entire crew
was great fun today. There was lots
| of competition to see what table /
should sit at, so / drew a number
| from a hat and pulled out 19-the
engineers crew.
Like all the other messes aboard,
| the food was very good. Afterward 1
had picture taken on deck with
| several hundred of the crew around
me, and before left they gave me a
hearty cheer.
They are fine lot of fellows.
Never Saw Los Angeles.
am anxious to see the beginning
Of the Washington reception when the
escort of six destroyers meets me and
the Memphis tomorrow afternoon and
the Los Angeles sails out to greet us.
1 have never seen this giant dirigible
and am looking forward to the
experience.
am also looking forward to the
first contact with one of the little
group which helped me to prepare
for the flight in New York. The Navy
has kindly placed a destroyer at the
disposal of Richard Blythe of New
York and he reaches the Memphis
early tomorrow for conference.
I was touched by wireless messages
from Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs.
Levine and Immediately sent them a
reply ana CONGRATULATIONS.
have had the first chance to read
the details of the programs for the
Washington and New York receptions
and am happy to see they left me some
breathing space, especially in Wash
ington.
The arrangements are wonderful.
will Fly Plane.
I still expect to fly the Spirit of
ST. Louis to New York from Wash
ington Monday morning. I am sure
the details of the New York reception
can be worked out to make this
possible, for my heart is set on it.
have got the book pretty well out
lined, with ample material rounded
out to make it complete and will do
more work on it tonight before going
to bed.
In the brief period that I was in
Europe l had but little time to in
quire into the progress and condition
of European aviation. There were,
however, several things which were
outstanding in comparison with our
United States.
Natural flying conditions are much
better in America than in Europe.
Yet, whereas there is a network of
passenger air lines between various
European cities, we have only a very
few popular passenger routes. These
operate over comparatively short dis
tances and obtain their greatest rev.
enue from tourist traffic rather than
regular business.
Nevertheless, we derive the advan.
tage of being able to fly long distances
without crossing international borders,
with attending complications, and time
m America is of much more value
than time in Europe. If there is a
sufficient volume of passenger traffic
to warrant regular operation of large
European air lines, then certainly we
should support system Of air COM
munication second to none in the
world.
Free From Insecurity.
There is, however, something to be
said on the side of American aviation
in this connection, for, while the air.
lines in Europe receive large govern
ment subsidies, we in America are
not subsidized in any form. The gov
ernments of foreign countries take the
stand that well developed commercial
aviation is essential in peace time as
well as war time.
A number of large passenger planes
could be converted into bombers on
few days notice, and other types of
planes could make a useful part of air
establishments in an equally brief Pc
riod. The ACCESSIBILITY of designing
commercial planes for emergency con-
version into military ships is ques-
tionable. In so doing the efficiency of
the machine, at least part, is of neces-
sity decreased and it's earning capacity
during peace time is lessened
They should be designed primarily
for commercial use. That probably is
peculiar to Europe, where the ques-
ton of national security is much more
insecure everywhere than in the
United States, and lack of it should
prove a determining factor in the, de.
velopment of American commercial
aviation, since it will not have to adj
vance with one eye constantly directed
toward military requirements.
Trained Pilots Asset.
The greatest military asset of CT
william aviation is available trained
pilots. Fighting planes can be built
in much less time than it requires to
train pilots to fly them, and CONNER
cial airplane factories, with their ex-
perienced personnel, need very little
| conversion to produce fighting planes.
The fact that planes are built more
| quickly than pilots can be trained
| should not be construed to mean that
| it is unnecessary for us to keep
| enough military ships on hand for
| defensive purposes. 1t would require
months to produce any large number
of fighting planes, and without a
strong defense a decisive blow could
be struck before we had our first
emergency production in the air.
We do not need subsidy for avia-
| ton in America, for, although it
would undoubtedly create a number
of airplanes almost over night, they
would be organized in such a way
that their growth and existence would
be regulated by the subsidy, and
eventually aviation would be retarded