Evening star., 1928-12-09
Story of AvatiOns First Is Years Is One of Phenomenal

single air line. barely 200 miles in length
and carrying only mail and using
slightly modified military airplanes. To-
day our commercial aircraft fly 43,400
miles each day on regular schedules
with mail express and passengers; To-
300 miles of routes are served, $500 OF
them lighted for night flying-and ex-
pansion goes on apace. European
countries have worked on different lines,
but all of the great powers have pro-
gressed notably in the commercial field.
Certain features are of vital interest
both in commercial and military flying,
and outstanding among them is the
safety of flight. Assurance Of high
degree Of safety is obviously pre-
requisite to the planning of passenger
lines.
The officers and men of the service
would cheerfully assume any necessary
risks and reflect, as they have in the
past. that the air service is always at
war" 1t goes without saying. how
ever, that no effort must be-and none
is-spared to reduce the risks to
minimum.
The experience Of the Navy again
will serve as an apt illustration of
what has been accomplished. In 1921
the service had a fatal accident for
every 1900 hours flown. There has been
corresponding figure reached 1900
hours. and for the first four and half
months of the present fiscal year, which
started July /, the record has been ap-
proXimately 5000 hours for each fatal
accident. This is believed to be
record which has never been beaten,
if, indeed, it has ever been approached.
by any non-American military or naval
air service.
TO recount what has been done is
easy. To forecast not so simple
Yet there are certain points that
stand out as almost assured. It is
assured, in general terms, that prog
ress will continue. The performance
Of airplanes will improve. They
rugged. more reliable. safer The pres
ent range of their usefulness is dinly
suggested by the extraordinary variety
Of the topics listed for consideration
by the international civil aeronautics
conference during the coming week.
There will be still further diversif1ca-
| ton ahead.
Under the specific head Of military
| operations We may anticipate that the
place of the airplane will grow still
more important and that the proper
tion of total appropriations for ma
tional defense which is directly or indi-
rectly allocated to aviation will con-
tinue to Increase The airplane to
some extent will replace other instru-
ments of war, and will be developed
| at their expense.
Especially may we safely anticipate
that the airplane will become increas-
ingly the dominant factor in coast de-
fense, and that airplanes based at
coastal stations will fly long distances
over the water to cooperate with fleets
and the aircraft based on them. The
/ proportion of naval vessels carrying
aircraft and depending on the airplane
| and its bomb as their principal striking
| force, rather than on the gun and its
projectile, will increase.
| Commercial aviation has vast field
| to exploit within the Continental United
| States We shall run far afield on
false scent If we devote ourselves to
the promotion of transatlantic air
travel at the expense of simpler and
| more urgently needed development at
, home. Transoceanic commercial serv-
ice is important, but for the airplane
it is far away, despite the success of
number of transatlantic flights car
ried out under selected conditions and
with specially prepared equipment and
| little or no commercial load.
There are 16.300 miles of air routes
operated in the United States now.
That figure can be multiplied by or 10
and the traffic increased hundredfold
or more. 1t imposes no undue strain
| upon the imagination to foresee the
transport by air Of all flrSt-class mail
between great cities 200 miles or more
apart, and passenger business has pos
sibilities as yet hardly touched. The
commercial operator of airplanes Is far
from having reached the point where
he will have to weep with Alexander for
| the lack of fresh worlds to conquer.
So far the omens are plain and legi-
bic. but they are only for the imme-
diate future. We have seen what won-
ders IS years of flight have brought
forth. Few will be so bold as to don
the prophets mantle and attempt to
look ahead for another IS years, or
to guess how much there will be to
celebrate at an international gathering
marking the semi-centennial in De-
cember, 1858.