Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-08
BY FREDERICK r. NELLY.

Firm in the belief that there is abso-
lutely no limit to the speed at which
man may fly In an airplane. aerorauti-
cal engineers throughout the world to-
DAY are working toward an immediate
goal OF between $50 and 400 miles an
hour.
Four hundred miles an hour probably
could be registered today If 1t were pos
sible to take the fastest racing planes
now in existence, put them in the air,
fold up their landing gear out Of sight,
withdraw several square feet of wing
surface and open wide the engine. But
| 400 miles an hour with plane that
must land at not over 100 miles an
hour as maximum and around so
miles an hour from the standpoint Of
pilots preference is mighty hard to
squeeze out when following the prin-
ciples of airplane design and construc-
ton In vogue today
Hence the big problem standing be-
Two designers and speed is, How
can we retain slow landing speed
while boosting the top speed?"
Few, If any, pilots want to land a
plane at $50 miles an hour and stake
their lives on the hope that tire won't
blow" as they make the contact with
| the earth at that high rate, or that the
wheels will not strike some unnoticed
small obstruction and cause violent
nose-over with disastrous results.
Plane Held Not Adaptable.
An airplane that will fly $50 miles an
hour or more on the straight-away and
then make 1t necessary for the pilot to
iisk l0-to-l chance against getting
down safely Is not contributing much
| to the advancement of speed In avia-
ton. In fact. such machine is a
| freak, not an airplane, as its perform
ance trimmed down correspondence
could not be adapted to commercial and
military needs with opportunity fol
much profit.
At some future date, and not far off
it is believed here, the conventional
type high-speed plane will reach the
end OF its rope as far as producing an!
! more miles per hour is concerned
Then something new will come alons
enabling that plane to fly much faster
and yet leave the landing speed at &
| safe and sane figure.
Because of the increased landing
speed craft, wheels have been aban
doned and pontoons have been substi
tuted The worlds fastest airplanes to-
Gay. the Italian Macchi- Flats and tn;
British Supermarine and Glosters. art
on pontoons. and hence are seaplanes
The Italian plane holds the world rec
ord for maximum speed on straight
away three kilometer course of 3l8 ant
a fraction miles per hour, while TIL
British Supermarine won the Schneide
international seaplane trophy at Venic
last year at speed for the closed
sharp-turned course of nearly 200 mile
an hour. The Gloster showed up littl
faster, but did not finish the race. Al
are monoplanes except the Glostel
which is a tiny bip!ane.
Could Make Higher Speed.
Undoubtedly the Italian Macchi- Fiat
with its famous pilot, Maj. Mario d
Bernardo, at the stick, could register a.
even higher speed If on wheels. as tn
resistance created by the latter Is he'll
to be less than that of the pontoonI
To date, however. Mai. de Bernardo ha
not yentured aloft in q land plane
The British began a series of high
speed tests to capture the world recor
for maximum speed, using one Of 1t
Supermarines with floats. This me
with disaster In the trials and they hav
not been resumed. But no word Ia
been received here that IF and whe
resumed the ship would be on wheels
The pontoon has the advantage owe
the wheels because there are more area
of smooth water available for take-off!
| landings and. above all. forced landing.
A pilot flying high-spsed seaplane We
over 500 miles an hour for record
hardly more than 800 feet high abov
the surface. II the engine quits sud
| denly he must land straight ahead. L
flying over water. everything straigh
ahead Is smooth and clear. but Ian
plane Of such tremendous speed can &c
! down safely only at its home airdromt
and II something Is wrong while OF
flying. it's either o forced landing 9
over 100 miles an hour In an untrie
field or garden patch or jump. Aboy
j all. a seap!ane can be landed faster tina
n land plane and with no increase
risk.
/ Therefore. it appears that the sIee
little black Army racing plane that re
poses in the aircraft building Of tn
Smithsonian Institution today repre-
sents more than an American designe
and built 'high-speed plane that cap
tured the Pulitzer race of 1925 and tn
Schneider saaplane event a few week
later. Already it Is beginning to hecom