Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13

AVA AAA04AAC o1 VIC NuG0LlOAl
y Mark, its unbroken flight OF
nearly one week over Southern
California has been highly bene-
fetal to aeronauticS in general. It
has had a most wholesome effect
on public opinion and has served
to open one Of tie most fascinat-
ing subjects Of speculation in
recent aviG> dion history.
Flyers, for the first time, arc
begirAing to plan seriously for a
Nonstop flight around the world
~ airplane. Air enthusiasts are
considering the application of the
refueling principle employed Ill
the Army flight to %tranSconti-
mental nonstop flying, long
range ocean hops of hitherto UNI
dreamed-of magnitude and TO
long distance military bombing
raids.
Anthony H. G.. Fokker, designer
and builder of the Question Mark,
Is reported to be considering a
nonstop round-the-world flight
as a part of his firms program for
the year. He also has called at
tention to the possibility Of elabo-
rating upon the refueling idea and
has proposed the transfer not only
Of gasoline and oil from plane to
plane but also of airplane motors
and even crews. He admits, how
ever, that it is too early to say
whether these ideas may have a
possible application to commercial
aviation.
GocbeI Plans Jaunt, Too.
: Not only is the Fokker organiza-
hon planning a globe circling
flight, but, according to Associated
Press dispatches from Wichita,
KanS., Col. Arthur C. Goebel, one
of the country'S finest pilots, also
is making plans for such a trip.
Goebel hopes to make his attempt
late in the Summer, flying from
West to East, with refueling planes
along the route. Two pilots and
two radio men would make up his
crew. An organization is being
formed to finance Gobel's project.
Goebel was the winner of the
Dole flight from California to
Hawaii and holds the t%ranSconti-
mental nonstop speed record. He
proposes to start and end his
flight at Wichita.
The Fokker fight, according
to tentative plans, will be from
Paris to Paris, with refueling
planes at Aleppo, Syria; Karachi
and Calcutta, India; Hongkong,
China: VladivoStok, Petropavlovsk
and Kamtchatka, Siberia; Prince
Rupert or Vancouver, Winnipeg
and st. Johns, Canada, and posi-
bly, Greenland. Next June has
been suggested as 81 time for the
attempt.
Maj. Carl Spatz. commander of
the Question Mark, has predicted
the establishment, by means OF
aerial refueling, Of a nonstop ex-
press air service between the At
lantic and Pacific Coasts. Aerial
%refueling, he pointed out, elimi-
mates the hazard of taking off
with a heavy load of fuel. which
is the critical point in all long
distance flights.
MOffett Says Flight Possible.
Read Admiral William A. Moff-
EFT, chief of the Navy Bureau of
AeronauticS, holds that a nom
stop world fight now is within the
realm of possibility. The recent
California flight, he said, has
pushed back the horizons that
bound human flight.
THE flight of the Question
Mark" he said, "StirS the imagi-
nation deeply and creates new
standards against which to range
our ambition"
The feat of the Army crew has
aroused the lighter -than-air peo-
pie, who have maintained the SUI
premacy of the dirigible in the
field Of long-distance operations
and who now find their claims
challenged rudely by the 150-hour
endurance and estimated 10000
mile distance records of the big
Army plane. The dirigible people
contend that the only reason dir
igibles have not passed long since
the 150-hour record is because the
attempt never has been made.
They point out that the Graf
Zeppelin, after cruising liz hours