Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
ENDURANCE PLANE,
IN AIR III HOURS,
STILL GOES STRONG
Craft, With Motors Function
j ing Perfectly, Seeks to
Smash All Records.
CREW is NONCHALANT;
CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS
1000 Miles Covered and 1000 Gal
Ions of Gas Taken Aboard in
25 Aerial Contacts.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
METROPOLITAN AIRPORT, Los
Angeles, Calf, January 5.-Limp-
ing with number of missing en-
gine cylinders. the Army monoplane
Question Mark tonight at 1886
o'clock Pacific time equalled the last
eficial record for sustained flight of
aircraft, that of the Graf Zeppelin.
METROPOLITAN AIRPORT, Los
Angeles, January 5.-Like a great in
exhaustible bird, the Army's endurance
plane Question Mark today scared into
its 18th hour in the air at midnight,
apparently just warming up to its task
of determining how long man can fiy
o reavier-than-ai machine.
The big plane, her three motors func-
tioning with perfect roar, needs only a
few more hours to go to equal the time
of the dirigible Graf Zeppelin on her
historic fight from Germany to the
United States last Autumn.
Several more hours beyond that would
bring the Question Mark abreast the al
time fight mark set by the Inflated
French dirigible Dixmude. The plane
already had far surpassed the once SEN
ational records of other heavier-thanr-
air craft.
On the ground, eyes following the
tri-motored ship reflected more anxiety
about her future apparently than did
those five men who have. ridden in her
cabin since the take-off the morning OF
January /. Messages from Maj. Carl
spatz, commanding officer, rung al
most with nonchalance, and II worry
harassed the crew they kept 1t secret
Crew Is Nonchalant.
Typical Of the messages was one
which fioated down as the Question
Mark returned from q 3aunt to Rock
we'll Field, San Diego, this morning
and prepared to refuei in the ar
written by STAFF Sergt. Roy Hooe'
mechanic aboard the ship. it read:
everything Is going good. keep
both ears on the grouno-tnaCS "tSe
crack-all the time listening 10 tls
motors, They sound sweet. we an
realize that it was the work OF you
1deut. Ray w. Harris, cngmeetniss
oficer of the fight. who supervlseo
the installation of the planes nIee
,-,otors9 and vour men at the Middle
town depot that helped to break the
records and now we are out TO make
one that will stand. ,,,
eve are out to make one that VIII
take a long time TO break. How apouC
that9 I told Mai. Spatz and the otner
officers aboard about the rapplI Iooe
that was tied to the tail skid wltnout
their knowledge and you should nave
seen them laugh"
AS the Question Mark sailed on
toward completion of its flfth oay OF
flight. this good luck symbol seemed 70
be running true to form, Tor not once
has any major misfortune oeVeIopSu.
The only near disaster occurred on the
third day when the ship ran low on
gasoline as it battled a heavy wino
in Imperial Valley, but an emergency
refueling kept the ship aloft. Refuel-
ing planes have made contact with the
ship nearly 25 times and approximately
1000 gallons of gasoline have peen
transferred in air via a four-inch hose.
Travels 1000 Miles.
At the average rate Of speed OF
10 miles an hour which the plane mas
been making, it was estimated that II
travelled 1000 miles when It's 100 nours
were up. If it continues to lib hours
or better. it will have Travelled approx
lnatelv $3.50 miles or more than third
of the distance around the earth.
Mai. Spatz dropped CHEEKY message
showing that the flyers were prepared
to stay in the air indefinitely His
message read:
we are pleased at all the mail we
are getting. Lieut.. Quesa6a is kept busy
answering fan letters. We sometimes
wonder how the ground organization
and refueling crew gets this stuff to us
with such dispatch. Teamwork, l call
it. We are proud to be associated with
the gang doing it all.
Send UP a wash basin If one is
convenient. We've gone four days
without washing and we're dirty as
blazes, but like it.
Goes Into Last Stretch.
As the monoplane purred into the last
12-hour stretch of her fifth day in the
air. having long since broken all records
for endurance flying, completion of a
climatic chapter in aviation history
lacked only three hours of f1ying-the
recording Of longer sustained flight
by an airplane than by an airship.
If the Question Mark is still in the
air at 1927 and 80 seconds am. Sum
day, the flight time of the Graf Zep-
pelin en- route from Germany to Amer
ica will have been equaled The Graf
made the trip in Ill hours and 46 min
usps.
Another seven hours in the air after
reaching the Graf mark would set a
record over all lighter -than-air craft.
The Inflated Dixmude few for lls
hours