Evening star., 1928-06-03
BY FREDERICK r.. NEELY.

Giant airplanes. capable of carrying
$50 passengers or more and powered
with mighty engines whose aggregate
horsepower Is as high as $4,000 for
one plane, are being projected in Ger
MANY. according TO information reach
ing washington. These monstrous craft
represent a development Of the big
ship" field Of aeronautics, which the
German engineers have plunged into
with characteristic thoroughness since
the postwar allied ban against aircraft
was lifted, and In which they are re-
garded as the leaders.
agencies and the American aircraft
industry are watching with deep inter-
est this bold step toward giant planes.
which has been taken in this country
once or twice with more or less un-
satisfactory results The school OF
thought here is still Of an open mind
on the question of big planes, altnougn
there is a tendency to lean toward the
smaller, high-performance craft. :.
From the engineering standpoint II
has not been definitely decided WnetneI
such expeditions into the field OF giant
aircraft would be worth while at presen1
or not, particularly so since the ar
plane in vogue today Is stili suScepeln.e
of much improvement ana SUN ois.s noius
a few secrets from the inquiSitlVe
scientists.
But from the economical Standpoint
the American aircraft engineers, de-
sisners and producers are inclined 10
be more outspoken, stating tnat AZ
present it would be far more prontaoIe
TO an air transport operator 70 nave
four 25-passenger planes in his nan
gars than one 100-passenger Joo. Inc
operation cost would be less, for on days
, when he could Scrape togetner only
20 or so passengers but one plane
would be in use, thereby saving tne
cost of transporting unoccupled space
for rs passengers If he had the one
big ship The same argument, =
said. is adopted by the bus operators
who would rather have more vehicles
with smaller capacities than a small
number of buses with large capacities
~ =
While 1t may be possible to construct
| a giant air liner some day that can
operate from the ordinary sized airports
now In existence both here and abroad,
today It Is regarded as almost futile TO
attempt such an operation and hence
the development OF the mignty Trans
port is confined entirely to water opera
| tions. =.
-Four giant seaplanes now stand In
blueprint form in Germany, and even
| in this stage they are bold adventures.
But behind such move Is determir1a-
ton by the Germans TO provide air
transport comparable in every degree
with steamship and railroad travel. In
the words of DR.. B. Won Romer, recog-
nized authority on aeronautics in Ger
many, the problem is summed up:
Comfortable accommodations mus
be provided for the passengers. so they
can travel long distances in both DAY
and night fight, without long inter
ruptions. Hence, in the newest types
much attention has been given 70 tnt
comfort Of the seats and Of the sleep
ing accommodations and to the size arlc
ventilation of the rooms. The maxi
mum economy Is attained by using high
powered engines which do not need tc
be forced during ordinary fight"
The big planes built by Germany and
in actual fight today are the Junkers
&c 81" the Rohrbach Rocco" and tht
Dornier "Super-Wal." The GO 81" has
three Jupiter (British) air-cooled en-.
gines with a total Of 1850 horsepower
and can carry 25 persons. The Rocco
and Dornier "Super-Wal" are each
equipped with two Rolls-Royce engines
of $50 horsepower and are the largest
and most powerful commercial seaplanes
In use. A still more powerful plane. the
do R-Jas," which resembles the "Su-
per-Wal," and which is equipped with
four Jupiter engines with total hoEse-
power Of 1900, has Just been brought
out
* -
But these planes are gnats compared
with the projected giants. In the pres
ent ones the wings are not yet large
enough to provide sufficient utilizable
space inside of them and the necessary
accommodations therefore must be To-