Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-17
AIR MEET PLANES
WING WAY HOME
Service Flyers Given Credit
for Success of Coast
Exposition.
BY FREDERICK r. NELLY.

airplanes of every type and description
SCARED out of Mines Field today, home
ward bound, for all parts of the United
States after having participated in the
colorful and eventful 1923 nationals air
races and aeronautical exposition which
closed here last night.
The final day of the aeronautic&l
show yesterday broke all previous rec
ords attendance, and California All;
Race Association officials. promoters OF
the event. dashed about with lighter
step, sweeter smiles, kindlier voices and
courteous manners as that banner at
tendance recouped and surpassed the
expenses that had piled up for tho
past several months. In other words.
profit was made-how much could not
be determined-but the money received
from the gate, the concessions and the
exhibitors exceeded the money spent III
building the field, erecting the enormous
grandstand and exhibition auditorium
and the thousand and one incidental
expenses that go with an affair of this
u.
used as Los Angeles municipal airport.
So commercial aviation, assisted by
the Army and Navy with its expensive
equipment, its superlative pilots ard the
free service of Col. Charles A. Lind
bergh, made a profit. Every one appeals
to be happy over this, particularly the
promoters, who in the main who in the
are representatives of the real es-
tate, motion picture. oil and automobile
institutions of southern California.
Services Saved Show.
As much as the services would like to
be in the background at events OF this
nature and as much as the followers of
commercial aviation would like to See
more of the civil side of flying, 1t was
evident here that had the Army, Navy
and Marines withdrawn the projec.
would have fallen with a dull thud that
could have been heard around the
world The services co-operated--in
fact, put on the show-as part Of thei,
program to report to the people at in
fervals on what is being done with the
public money.
The California Air Race Association,
or any other group seeking to promote
an air meet, could not have purchased
the three and only headline acts that
ran daily out here-Col. Lindbergh, as
@ regular performer in command OF
the Arny's Three Musketeers"; the
"Three Sea Hawks" of the Navy and
the thrilling flying of the various mill
tary aeronautical tactical units pres
ent at the races. Col. Lindbergh con-
tributed his services free. The other
the committee and they actually col
lected it every day. Under the law
governing flying in the Government
services, if an airman stays longer than
70 hours in one place he cannot collect
expenses So all the military pilots
were wards of the race association and
all the mechanics likewise, the latter
receiving 81 a day. /
A canvass ef the higher aeronautical
thought here as to the results obtained
from the meet leaves nothing definite
One faction enthusiastically declares it
has done more for the education OF
the people who witnessed it than any
thing since Lindbergh's flight to Paris.
It has fired the interest of youth in
flying to emulate the plotting ability
of the colonel, Lieut.. l. A. Woodring
and NJ. L. Cornelius and his Two Mus
keteers." the Three Sea Hawks" and
the other pilots VINO performed just
as we'll in less spectacular roles. 1t
has given the older and more skep- |
teal an understanding Of the poten- +,
tial power of the airplane in time
OF Aar as well as its ability in time
of peace.
Viewed as Dangerous.
S6i the other hand, there were those
who felt the eight days were given
over to "a f1ashy, dangerous and spec
tacular performance of flying. which
will not hasten the adoption of avia-
ton by the notifying public at pres
eat ana some were so bold as to say that
had it not been for the two serious
crashes on the airdrome at the open
ing of the meet, and the timely ap-
pearance of Col. Lindbergh to dissi-
pate, with other things, the low fog
Of depression that hung over the field,
the results would not have been the
same.
Regardless OF who is right or wrong,
more than 100000 people, orderly
and possessing all the characteristics
of an Ideal crowd" sacrificed much
time to attend the affair. AS a public
getter the meet was the most sue
cessful ever held anywhere.
The feature of the closing days
aeronautical activities was the action
of the Navy In tearing away the shrouH
of secrecy that has surrounded the new
Boeing experimental single scatter
fighter, only two of which are in ex-
istence One is on test at the naval
air station, Anacostia, and the other
is being given service trials on this
coast. The performance figures on
this craft have been closely guarded
as military secret, but today 1T was
entered as dark horse" in the Navy
free-for-all pursuit plane race.
Lieut.. Thomas P. Jeter, formerly OF
the Bureau of Aeronautics, Washing
ton, piloted the plane around the 60
average speed of 1925 miles per hour
Lieut. Wallace M. Dillon, also for
mer Washington officer and now in
fighting plane squadron with the bat.
tie fleet, was giving description OF
the race through the public ADDRESS
system" and in announcing Lieut..
letters speed, he said: You can allow
for 10 miles an hour lost on the turns
and this will give you stralghtaWay
speed Of 1872 miles per hour"
Attaches Present.
The air attaches of the British and
italian governments were in the stands
and witnessed the performance, which
exceeded by more than IL miles per
hour the plane which placed second.
Then a short time later this plane
entered an altitude race to 10000 feet
in competition with the same Curtiss
and Boeing single-seaters, which now
are standard equipment, and won hands
down. The performance of this little
ship has been guarded from other gov
ernments because these powers are
Tightening up on publicity regarding
their new aeronautical creations.
Probably the greatest piece of educa-
ton derived from the meet was an IN
nocent- looking contest called dead
stick landing" This required the COM
peting civilian plane at 1900 feet to cut
the engine entirely, make 360-degree
circle and land to mark on the field. AS
the engines were cut and the propellers
whirled slowly TO a standstill there were
raSns from sections of the audience, as