davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
DECLARES PUBLIC
IS READY TO FLY
Commerce Inspector Says
People Will Patronize Planes
if Price Is Right.

Parker D. Cramer, an aeronautical
inspector of the Department Of Com
merce, now on leave Of absence to act
as navigator on the proposed flight
from Rockford, Ill, to Stockholm,
Sweden, via Greenland, and who ''in
the old days" transformed about the
country with old Jennies, is authority
for the declaration that the public will
fly If the price is cheap enough.
1.-THE public Is not afraid TO fly"
Mr.. Cramer told representative OF
The Star while on a recent visit to
Washington. 1.-THE only reason 1t does
not take to the air more than it
does is because the price Is too high"
Mr.. Cramer's territory for inspecting
airplanes and licensing pilots Is in the
Southwest, and during the past nine
months he has been In close contact
with transforming pilots, who, he says,
have confirmed his own findings on
the subject.
"Once I went into town with an
old rebuilt Jenny, established myself
on field outside of town and an
nounced would carry passengers on
sightseeing flights for SIS a flight" Mr..
Cramer related Nothing happened.
Then I cut the price to SIS, then $40
and finally IS, but stu no business.
Finally decided 10 see If the people
were afraid to fly. I put an adver-
ti3ement in paper one afternoon an
nouncing that from pm. until dark
would carry passengers at 81 each.
had to say 5 pm, as at that tiUe
the wind died down and the field was
only a two-way affair, making it very
dangerous to take of crosS-wind with
my particular ship.
by o'clock there was a crowd OF
people at my field. I carried passen-
gers until dark and the next evening
I carried just as many. Four days
after putting the advertisement in the
paper walked out Of town with
81 200"
Mr.. Cramer said a transforming
flying circus" landed in little town
in Alabama not long ago, and when
investigation revealed that the earning
power was $13 per capita per week,
the airnen despaired of making
penny. But they decided to take a
chance and advertised flights at 81
each. They left town a short time
later with gross receipts totaling 5000.
"That shows that If you bring the
price down to the public you'll get a
chance to take the public up" Mr..
Cramer said. He added. however, that
the 81 price won't work" where flying
organizations are permanently estab-
lished.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
The Students First Flight.

wrap an airplane around your neck
while lanGing!"
After that, the instructor received
more alert attention-until another
wave of drowsiness swept the class.
To try to set down all the informa-
ton you gain, or that you are sup
posed to gain in several weeks OF
ground school, is impossible. I'll try to
give tabloid account Of 1t.
You learn that the essential parts
of modern airplane are the wings or
lifting surfaces, the fuSelage or body,
control surfaces on the wing-tipS and
tail to move 1t about and motor and
propeller to drag it through the air.
The propeller works in the air ex-
actly as the propeller of boat works
in the water Only as the air is a
much thinner element, the propeller Is
larger and whirls much more rapidly.
The average is from 1900 to 1000 reyo-
lutiorlS minute.
How Flyers Are Trained.
For training students, the planes
have two cockpits and two complete
sets of controls which work together
The plane can be handled from either
set II you are, let us say, student
riding In the rear cockpit and your in
structor in the front seat moves the
control stick forward, the control stick
in your cockpit moves forward to exact
~ the same degree
In this way you can, by holding
lightly to the controls, gradually learn
to handle the plane without going to
the risk of going up and learning to
fly the plane by yourself, as many Of
the pioneers of aviation did.
After certain amount of ground
school training in the modern COM
mercial school, you begin your flying
training along with it. Ground school
work then becomes much more inter-
esting, because you work out in the
air the theories which you see demon
strated on the blackboard
In his article next Sunday, Don Brown
will tell how 1t feels to handle roartns,
speeding machine in the air.
fConyright 1923 in all countries hy the
North American Newspaper Alhance.l
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
II MORE LIVES
SAVEDBY 'CHUTES
One of Caterpillar Clubs"
lump This Year Occurred
at Boiling Field.

Seventeen lives have been saved by
parac1utes since the first Of the year,
according TO a tabulation Of members
OF the CATERPILLAR Club 10 date just
compiled by the information section OF
the Once of the Chief Of Air Corps.
OF these II forced jumps, one occurred
In washington when Lieut.. Barnett T..
Talbot of the Naval Air Station, Ana
costa, jumped from hts burning plane
over Boiling Field after he received
severe burns about the hands during
q valiant effort TO land the ship and
save 1t.
Lieut.. Talbot is one of six military
cir men now living In washington whose
lives have been saved by parachutes.
The others are: Capt. Frank Old. Hun
ter Of the ONCE Of the Chief OF Air
Corps who has two forced jumps 10
his credit. one at Dayton when the tail
surfaces Of an experimental pursuit
plane collapsed and the other at Self
ridge Field. Mich. when his ship caught
FIRE In the air: Capt. Ford o. (Tex1
Rogers Of Marine aviation headquarters;
Mai. Horace II. Hickam, Air Corps ON
Ger on the Army General Stad; MAI.
Herbert A. Dargue, leader Of the Pan
American good VIII flight, and Lieut..
Stephen A. Mcclellan, Marine Corps
As far as can be learned by the infor-
nation section Of the Air Corps, there
ars 81 living members Of the Caterpillar
Club and five who died in subsequent
2irplane accidents. Those saved SO far
this year are:
Gene Althof, civilian enaploye Of the
Air Corps, at Dayton, Maj. L. M.
Bourne. Marine Corps. now In command
OF the Marine aviation forces in kicara-
Rsla: Lieut. Walter G. Greene, II. 8. N.
r.. Lieut. Samuel g. Colwei, u. s.. N.
r.: Lieut.. Talbot, Air Corps Cadet
Douglas NJ. Swisi7er, Edward Dickson,
civilian: Al Wilson, civilian. Lieut. STAN
icy Umstead. Air Corps Lieut.. Law
renee J. Carr, Air Corps Clark r.
Woilam, civilian, Lieut.. Maxwell Bal
four. Air Corps. Lieut.. John A. McCoT-
mick. Signal Corps: Ensign L. T.
Cleaves e. IS. ~. Capt William L.
Campbell, Air Corps Reserves; Air Corps
Cadet William r. Sheppard and Lieut..
e. H. Even, H. s. r.
The last recorded forced jump was
July 80 at the Naval Air Station, Pen
saeois, when Lieut. Ewen's Curtise
sHawkt' was disabled following COLI
.sion with plane plotted by Lieut.. I, j.
AacOuade Of the Marine Corps. The
planeG were flying in formation at the
time of the accident, which resulted IN
the tail Of Lieut.. Ewen's ship being car
RED away. Lieut.. McC2uade's plane
vas not damaged and he landed safely
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
BY DON BROWN.

AS a fairly average individual, one of
the hundreds of thousands who have
become aviation enthusiasts during the
past IL months, I am learning to fly
and am writing my experiences for The
Star.
I'll go through everything from the
ground school and the first practice
hop to the final solo" flight
Even the most famous fliers had to
90 through these first experiences, had
to learn their "A, B. C's." / intend
to get an idea of what they faced.
All these men spent hundreds of
hours i'm the air before they attempted
the feats which made them famous.
But I have bunch that those first 10
hours were like the famous first 10
years" of the war, probably the hardest
and most exciting.
Flying" School Had No Planes.
To begin, / started wrong and wasted
several tedious weeks. Not knowing any
flying men, I answered a well written
magazine advertisement and enrolled in
a school which had impressive new ex-
ecutive Offices in downtown New York.
Their stcnographers we're evidently
picked by Mr.. .Ziegfeld; that part Of
their equipment was Al. But after
three weeks of fooling around in a
ground school which had no equipment
except the salvage from wrecked war
time training plane, and getting prom
.ses every day of a flying field and
training planes "in few more days"
I became disguised.
The upkeep of the impressive Office
had been so heavy the outfit couldn't
nav for any planes or lease field.
- &fnn cftV rYGF
paid this company from $500 to $500 in
cash for their courses. Some of them
were low-salaried clerks or mechanics
who had been saving for the tuition for
several years.
I went to the aviation editor of a
metropolitan newspaper, He told me
that such "bloomer" schools are pop
ping up over the country like flowers IN
the Spring Before you pay any money
to a school for flying instruction. 60 out
and look over their equipment or have
their financial status looked up. he
told me.
Ready to Fly.
He sent me out to the Newark Eliza
beth airport In New Jersey, where there
was a flying school with licensed planes
and pilots.
out there I found Fred Reich, the
head of the school, dressed in blue over
ais, driving a steam roller over rough
corner of the field had to climb up
on the roller and talk with him. His
executive office" wasn't SO impressive,
but there were some silver and blue
Waco hiplanes at the edge of the field
and big yellow plane ready to be as
sembled in the hangar. After three
weeks of that other ground school, =
they looked good to me.
tsFfll out this application TO the De-
partment of Commerce for student
pilots license" he said you'll have
to take physical examination for fy-
ing. Get that over with. come out to
the field tomorrow and you can stare
your preliminary work. We are setting
up another training ship for some Of
YOU boys to bust. If you start tomor-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

gear struts to the fuSelage sheared on
and after he had climbed he discovered
the break. due to the loose strut
humping against the fuselage. Charles
knew that to attempt a landing With
the gear in that condition would mean
much damage 10 the plane.
Another Gettysburg plane was IN the
air at the time, piloted by Charles col
league~~Hall McKenney, Charles drew
up alongside. cut his engine and Nc
Kenny did likewise. Then he yelled to
McKenney to go down and get him a
piece of rope. McKenny landed and
then returned to the air with the rope,
which was dropped to Charles.
Turning the ship over TO the student
Charles climbed out OF the cockpit onto
the wing and down underneath TO the
landing gear and dashed the broken
member securely He returned to the
cockpit. took over the ship and landed
without incident
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
AIR CORPS IN TESTS
OF LOAD CARRYING
Experiments Conducted During
Week at Boiling Field-Three
Observation Planes Used.

Boiling Field last week took on the
aspect Of the experimental division of
the Air Corps, which is located at
Wright Field Dayton. when important
load-carrying tests were carried out by
three members Of the Air Corps pro-
curement board ON three observation
planes.
The three planes tested were: The
OIL (Curtiss Falcon" with Liberty
engine): Douglas OH % modification
OF the standard Douglas observation
plane with Liberty engine) and the
all-metal Thomas Morse two-seater.
with Pratt g. Whitney Wasp air
cooled engine, The O2H was flown by
Maj. Carl SpAtx, the O-1l by Capt
Frank Old. Hunter and the Thomas
Morse by Capt. Charles B. Bubb. ell
Of the once Of the chief Of Air Corps.
The planes while not new to the
Air Corps. recently were fitted with
q new type aileron. which Is designed
to give increased efficiency. All three
were thoroughly tested at Wright Field.
but the procurement board, before
making its decision from the Ohio re-
ports, desired some direct evidence Of
its own. The three planes, each car
rying the maximum military load,
raced" at altitude levels Of 10000.
5000 and 1000 feet.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
Flyer Wins Trophy
Trying to Tune In
Without Ear Phones

Lieut.. Clarence WEIGH of the
Army Air force in the Panama
Canal Zone is at present poSSesSor
of France Fields trophy known
as the "furlined gaboon," for going
no on radio mission without his
radio helmet, which has built-in ear
phones, and trying to tune In his
set while wearing an ordinary he'-
met instead.
Lieut.. Welch's remarks on land
ing we're to the effect that he had
at last found a way TO absolutely
wipe out sparkplug interference and
that the set was the uuietest he had
ever heard.
The trophy" has been transferred
with appropriate ceremonies from
Mai. Paul Book. who landed Loen-
ing amphibian plane on France
Field with the wheels folded up IN
the huh, an act which has been per-
formed by more than one alert ofti-
Ger who forgot to turn the crank
that releases the wheels from their
sockets for landing on the ground.
Many Air Corps fields throughout
the country have special trophies"
for Observation-Disclosures demonstra-
tions such as related above. but the
details of their awards are kept more
or less within the family"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
TWO BERLINER CRAFT TO ENTER
TRANSCONTINENTAL AIR RACE
One Company Plane and One
From Gettysburg Win Seek
$4,000 Prize.
Veteran Flyers to Pilot En-
tries in New Y0rk-Los
Angeles Contest.

Two Berliner monoplanes now being
built by the Berliner Aircraft Co, Inc,
Of Alexandria, Va. will be entered in
the forthcoming transcontfnental New
York-Los Angeles air race by Henry A.
Beriiner of Washington. Lowell S.
Harding. World War ace and well
known commercial pilot here. and Paul
Charles. chief pilot Of the Gettysburg
Flying Service, Inc, which Is controlled
by Mr.. Berliner, have been selected as
the pilots.
The plane Harding will fly will be
the entry of the Berliner Aircraft Co.
while the ship to be assigned Pilot
Charles will be the entry of the Gettys-
burg company. Prior TO the race the
plane will be delivered to the Pennsyl-
vania city for use in the flying service
there and then will be withdrawn for
the transcontinental event.
In Three Glasses.
The race this year. like the one last
year from New York to Spokane.
Wash, will be divided into three
classes: one for ships powered with en-
gines of $40 cubic inch displacement or
less. one for ships powered with EN-
gines of more than $40 cubic inch dis
placement but not exceeding 800 cubic
inches and the third for ships With
more than 800.
The Berliner monoplanes will come
under the first class, as their engines
are the Curtiss OX-5 90 horsepower
type Although there undoubtedly VIII
be planes entered with the new air
cooled engines now being developed
this division Is generally known as the
COX race" The second class will in
clude ships powered largely with
"whirlwindH 220-horsepower engines,
while the third viii include the three
engined airplanes and the higher
horsepower air~cooled types,
Six prizes totaling $4,000, will be
awarded to the winners OF the 'OA
race" $4,000 going TO the first place
S2,60O TO second place. 81 900 for third
800 for fourth. $500 for NTH and $500
for sixth,
pilot Harding is an airinan OF many
years experience on all types OF planes
He was one of the organizers Of the
Potomac Flying Service, Incg at Hoover
Field, which recently sold It's Stock 70
the Mount Vernon Always, Inc, Until
the transfer of the business he was
general manager OF the service and still
Is continuing IN that capacity Tor
short period, until the new purchasers
have become settled
Midair Repairs.
pilot Charles Ia brother Of j. u,
Charles Of Richmond who came IN sec
ond In the New York Spokane Derby
last year. flying an ON~a~engined
Eaglerock, The Gettysburg pilot has
had much experience with all types OF
commercial planes
Included In this experience ~ a
Jam" In which he found himself q
short time ago while giving instrue-
ton TO a student over the Gettysburg
airport As hia Eagierock plane took
off a bolt holding one OF the landing
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
Army Pi-B Pursuit Plane.

The Hawk" is powered with IA Cur
tigs D-I2 water-cooIed engine OF II
cylinders, ~" type aud about 400 horse
power. The D-l2 engine differs from the
Liberty In that 1t gives improved re-
liability and durability, weighs less per
horsepower and IL smaller In general
dimensions,
Fuel lis carried In a big tank between
the engine and the pilots cockpit and
also In belly tank" located under the
fuselage and behind the wheels. For
long distance work this tank can ne
disconnected and dropped while in
flight after IL is empty, thereby redue-
Ing the head resistance produced by It,
With full gasoline load the plane can
cruise for seven hours without landing
The radiator IL slung under the en-
CINE bed In streamline form and Is
known ne O "tunnep type The entire
ship IL stTeamlined 10 give II the maxi
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
AVIATION
BY FREDERICK r. NEELY.

A STUDY of far-reaching i'm
n portance to flying person
"A mel of the Navy has been
= ordered by Rear Admiral
William A. Moffett, chief of the
Bureau Of Aeronautics, into the
possibility of establishing a stand
ardi7ed system of signals to be
communicated to passengers in
Navy planes when the pilot finds
the ship in distress and unable
to make a safe forced landing,
Originally the inquiry was de-
signed to determine how the
passenger should be told to
abandon ship" by the parachute
route, but further contemplation
of the subject has carried it into
a wider Scope--how to get out Of
the plane when it is in certain
positions. and. above all, when III
q spin.
The aviatorS appointed to make
the study are: Lieut.. Afford j.
Williams, high speed pilot and
senior member of the board;
Lieut.. w. G. TomlinSon and Lieut..
Rudolf L. Johnson, all of Wash
ington. While their task may not
be original. as individual conSid-
Grafton is known to have beer
given the subject before, their as
Signment marks a concerted eff
fort to thrash out the problem to
the most minute detail and leave
something of record that Others
may employ with confidence and
effective results.
You've got to DO as much of
your thinking on the ground as
possible in aviation" Lieut.. Will
iiams, who has devoted much per-
sonal thought to the parachute
escape subject in the past, de-
clares. You've got to have your
plan of action already mapped
out for tight SqueeZeS and not
wait until the last moment. when
seconds are valuable. to figure out
q method Of escape"
The Navy, since its inception.
has had a standardized method
OF signals and drills for "aban-
doning ship" Each person aboard
knows in advance where his post
is to be in event of distress to the
craft and what life boat he will
take to. But. generally speaking
in aviation of all types, escape is
an individual problem. Those
who fly constantly know without
much Speechmaking on the part
of the pilot when the situation
becomes precariouS. On the first
intimation from the pilot that the
crew should "go over the side
everything is carried out to the
letter.
Such cases, however, are when
the plane is caught in a binding
fog or rain with a rapidly dying
engine, when safe forced land
ing would be a miracle. In such
cases also the ship usually is on
even keel, giving the passenger
or passengers opportunity TO get
out orderly and methodically.
Then there are cases when fire
develops and rapidly spreads. The
plane can be held stable until the
pilot goes over last Some cases
Of structural failure also allow as
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

mum speed The upper wing Is canti~
lever and extends out beyond the two
lower panels, The plane derives most
Of It's lift from the upper wing AS a
biplane, better visibility Is accorded
the pilot and greater opportunity for
wing bracing Ii offered by using the
two lower panels The plane Is highly
maneuverahle and has been put through
performances that have brought as high
as 2T,000 pounds Of pressure on 1t
without incident.
Two machine guns are mounted on
the top OF the ftiselage forward the
pilots cockpit and fire through the pro-
peller. One is so caliher and the
other n 80 ealiber gun 1t also carries
small augmentation bombs. This type
constitutes the first pursuit group at
Belfrjdge Field, Mount Clemens, Mich.
known throughout the world for It's high
efficiency and sterling tEing as a unit,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

much as minute or two for eff
fective escape.
But there are times when a
pilot cannot cut the gum" turn
around and say, Fellows. things
look pretty bad. / guess we bet
ter leave the old crate right here.
Smith, you go first: then Jones
and l will follow" If the ship is
Swirling nose downward in q
speedy spin, there's no time for
conversation. What happens?
Chaos and panic, particularly If
the passengers are not expert
enced in flying. 1t is every man
for himself to get out of the spin
ming Ship--but how?
There are theories and argu-
mentS and possibly few facts
to support them as to how a pilot
and his crew may escape from a
ship in a fatal spin. But there
is nothing on record--at least In
the Navy--in the form of inStruc-
tionS. detailed or otherwise, that
can give to an airman course
of procedure that will get him out
in hurry and with happy re-
suits.
It is known that a person may
be spun without a belt and be
held as securely in the cockpit as
though he were laShed down. The
writer experienced such ma
neuver without safety belt"
and while at the time he thought
he was holding himself in by sink
ing the finger-nailS into the cock
pit cowling for an inch or two,
retrospection revealed that that
death grip" had nothing what
ever to do with keeping him in
the seat.
Efforts actually have been made
by one pursuit pilot, it is known,
to rise up in the seat while spin
ming diZZily toward the earth, and
this pilot reports that he was able
to push himself upward only with
the greatest difficulty. Once on
the top edge of the cockpit he be-
lieveS he would be whirled off into
space, but how and where is the
question.
Recently a new airplane was
being tested over Washington,
and before it was taken off the
pilot told the passenger in the
back seat to Jump if I can't get
this thing out of a spin" The
passenger nodded that he under
stood and away they went. At
5000 feet the pilot kicked the ship
into a spin. Down they went,
making about five turns, when
the pilot decided that was about
enough. He neutralized his con-
trolls to come out, but nothing
happened. The ship continued to
spin.
Knowing that he was in for a
session with that ship, the pilot
got down to work and fought that
spin for another thousand feet,
Finally it stopped spinning, the
pilot transformed the dive into
horizontal flight and then felt 4
bang on his shoulders. He looked
around and heard the diSco1-
certed- looking passenger yelling:
How do you get out? I tried to,
but couldn't"