New Britain herald., 1929-08-29
From Airship to Plane

Cleveland, Ohlb, Aug. 29 p- Moored overnight to a stub mast at Cleveland airport, the navy dirigiblo Los Angeles was pointed to a return cruise to join the Graf Zeppelin at Lakehurst, N. J., today after the completing for the first time trans fer of a passenger to an airplana while in flight.
 The maneuVer was performed be- fore 100000 spectators at the na- tional air races yesterday. The two craft made the first public demon- stration of a "1anding' in mid-ai during the maneuver when Lieut.. A. w. Gorton of the navy, fastened q hawser stretched between two up- rights on the top wing of his plane to hook attached to a ladder of metal grders lowered from the keel of the Los Angeles.
 After the contact had been estab- lished, Lieut.. Gavin Holster, of the Los Angeles crew, descended to the plane. Then the two craft turned into the wind, the airplane was dis engaged, and was landed under it's own power while the Los Angeles continued in flight above the air port.
 Has Practical Value
 The experiment had in view the use of two 6,000,OJ0 cubic foot dir igibles being built for the navy which have hangars in their hulls for five fighting airplanes, convert ing the dirigibles into airplane car riers of the air with their own fleet of fighting ships for protection and offensive combat.
 Both the army and navy have eX- perimented with the engagements in the air and several secret tests have been made along the Atlantic sea coast. Yesterdays maneuver was the first in which passenger was transferred, however, and the first contact to be established in public
 Climax of Thrilling Day
 The maneuver climaXed the great est display of aerial activity yet seen at the races. During the day two cross-country derbies arrived, there " OlN utiilOll5ll ilIOilS oI IIlillllC War fare by army and navy pursuit planes, and bombers. the largest glider contest ever staged in the United States was held, and Col. Charles A. Lindbergh again stunted for the spectators.
 The expected arrival of the Graf Zeppelin held 50,000 at the airport until long after the last event, but the crowd did not see the ship until almost midnight. The Graf circled the city and airport several hours later than it had been expected to pass over Cleveland, and flew imme- dlately to the east on the way to Lakehurst.
 Wendell Believed Winner
 Loren w. Wendell was thought to be the winner of the derby from Oakland, Cal, but official results will not be made known until a new computation is made of elapsed time made by the three flers who finish ed. Joe Barrows of Oakland, placed second in unofficial ratings and J C. Donaldson of Newark, N. l., third. Brett Williams of Greenville $. C., won the Philadelphia derby in the heavy plane division and J. Wesley Smith of Philadelphia led the light plane class.
 Revision Puts Rowland Ahead
 Revision today of the result of the Mlam- Miami Beach to Cleve- land derby which finished at Municl- pal airport here yesterday gave Earl Rowland of Wichita, Kans., first place in class c instead of. Leslie II, Bowman of Kenmore, N. r., credit ed with victory at the time. Eowland's unofficial elapsed time was 12:30:41 while Bowmans was 12:39:32.5 Rowland protes+ed strenuously when unofficial compu- tations placed him fourth, and the judges, after reviewing the figures, tentatively admitted that q dls- crepancy was apparent. Official re- suits will not be known for several days.
 An hours change in time between control points caused mistake in figuring Rowland's time which did rot take place in figuring Bowman's I time