The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-08-09
CHAPTER XIV

The transatlantic Hon-s1oP
s3isht between New York and Paris
was first brought into public con-
sideration by Raymond Oraeg,
who, in 1919, issued challenge to
The aeronautical world by offering
a prize of S25, 900 to the first sue
cessful entrant. Details of the
flight were placed in the hands OF
the National Aeronautic Assoaa-
tion and a committee was appoint
ed to form and administer the rules
OF the undertaking. $3.50,
/ first considered the possibility
of the New York-Paris flight while
flying the mail one night IN the
Fall of 1926. Several facts soon
became outstanding. The foremost
was that with the modern radial
air-cooled motor, high lift alrfol!s
and lightened construction, 1T
would not only be possible to reach
Paris, but, under normal conda-
lions, to land with large reserve
of fuel and have high factor OF
safety throughout the entire trip
as well.
found that there were a numb
.er of public spirited men in st.
Louis sufficiently interested in av-
iation to finance such a project,
and in December, 1926, / made "a
trip to New York to obtain infor-
NATION concerning planes, motors
and other details connected with
the undertaking.
In connection with any impor-
tant flight there are a number OF
questions which must be decided at
the start, among the most impor-
tant of which are the type of plane
and the number of motors to be
used.
A monoplane, although just COM
ing into general use in the UNITED
States, is much more efficient than
a biplane for certain purposes, due
to the lack of interference between
wings, and consequently can carry
a greater load per square foot OF
surface at higher speed. A single
motored plane, while it is more IL
able to forced landings than one
with three motors, has much less
head resistance and consequently
a greater cruising range.
Also there is three times the
chance of motor failure with tri-
notored ship, for the failure of
one motor during the first part of
the flight, although it would not
cause a forced landing, would at
least necessitate dropping part of
the fuel and returning for another
start.
The reliability of the modern
air cooled radial engine is so great
that the chances of an immediate
forced landing due to motor fail
nre with a single motor would in
my opinion, be more than count
er-balanced by the longer cruising
range and consequent ability to
reach the objective in the fact of
unfavorable conditions.
After careful investigation I
decided that single motored mo-
noplane was, for my purpose, the
type most suited to a long distance
flight, and after two more trips to
the East Coast and several con-
ferences in St. Louis, an order was
placed with the Ryan Airplanes of
San Diego, California, on Febru-
AIRY %, 1927, for a plane equipped
with Wright Wjhirlwind ] sc.
200 H. P. radial air-coolei motor
and Pioneer navigating instru-
ment including the Earth Induct-
OF Compass.
l went to San Diego to place
the order and remained in Cali
fornia during the entire construc-'
ton of the plane.
The personnel of the Ryan Air
lines at once caught the spirit of
the undertaking, and during the
two months of construction the or
ganization labored as it never had
before. Day and night, seven days
a week the structure grew from
few lengths of steel tubing to one
of the most efficient planes that
has ever taken the air.
During this time it was not I'M
usual for the men to work twenty
four hours without rest, and on
one occasion Donald Hall. the