The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-09-03
CL.EvE[AND'S
AERIAL SHOW
BEST EVER
So Praised by Rickenbacker
in ReCounting Gains
for Aviation.
SAFETY MADE PLAIN
Spectacle Was Unmarried
by Serious Accidents
at Airport.
BY CAPT. E. V. RICKENBACKER
Written for the United Press


Written for the United Press
CLEVELAND, Sept. 3.-"A great
air show" remarked a friend of
mine concerning the tremendous
aeronautical spectacle just conclud-
ed in Cleveland-the greatest avi-
alton show ever staged. What has
been gained from it?"
A lot has been gained.
Thousands attended the ten-day
program and saw for themselves the
strides that modern aviation is max
ing. They saw ships, both lighter
than-air and heavier-than-air, do
things undreamed Of a decade ago.
Learn First Hand
Many of these spectators at the
air show and races came to Cleve-
land via the air, some of them max
ing their first flights, and learning
first hand that air travel is safe,
clean and comfortable. Air lines
serving Cleveland had to run two
to three times their usual number
OF passenger planes to bring spec
tators to the show.
The factor Of safety and the i'm
provement made in year were
made clear-I mean as regards
planes, pilots and the regulation Of
flying. AS many as 600 ships were
flying from the Cleveland airport,
vet not a serious accident occurred
at the airport.
Jack Reid was killed some dis
lance from the field, after setting
an endurance record for solo flying.
He had plotted a ship for more
than thirty-seven hours when he
crashed. Lady Mary Heath was in
jured seriously in a test flight of a
plane, but not at the airport and
not as a part of the race program.
Fears of Wings
Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle tore
the wings from an army plane he
was testing preparatory to stunning
at the field, made safe descent In
his parachute and Immediately went
up in another plane to show his
acrobatics. ~.--
The crash of his first ship In a
field five miles away from the air
port as the result of the severe
test flight he gave it was but
demonstration of the wisdom of a
veteran pilot in finding what his
ship would do before performing
before a. crowd. His safe descent
was a demonstration of the effec-
tivenesS of modern safety devices.
With all the crowded program
and the hundreds of ships con-
stantly in the air, the Cleveland
air show was clean" show, Of
fering more flying with a. record of
no accidents than had been given
at any previous air meet.
A remarkable improvement in the
design and speed OF commercial
ships, surprising 200 miles an hour
in races around a closed course,
showed how the ship of the future
will speed with safety at faster
rate than any now operating. This
speed will be combined with stabil-
ity and ease of control, as the air
race program showed.
Miles Annihiiated
The lighter -than-air ships, the
Graf Zeppelin, which winged over
Cleveland on the last leg Of its
epochal round the-World fight; the
Los Angeles, in its visit from Lake
hurst, and the feet Of dirigibles sent
from Akron by the Goodyear COM
pany gave US n idea of how the
world may be compressed to a tenth
it's present size by the extension of
lighter-than-a air transportation, how
miles may be annihilated by the
business man Of the future and how
the nations of the world may be
brought together, in spite of separa-
ton by oceans.
The military demonstrations OF
the United States army, navy and
marine corps convinced the huge
crowds at the air races that our
has the nucleus Of the finest
fig .U4ng personnel in the world, In
its air services.
All that is needed is that these
forces be augmented. That goes for
commercial aviation as well. We need
,hree to four times as many airplanes
of every sort in the United States.
The most significant end of the
exposition was in the
Cleveland auditorium, where per-.
haps the greatest collection OF air
craft ever assembled was displayed.