Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-19

liShment comes first The alrway ana
the mail route may be considered more
or less together by the interdepart-
mental committee If it so desires, as the
first regular use of an airway has usual
~ been for flying the air mail. Express
and passenger lines may, OF course, be
established where there is no mail route,
but in most cases. in the development
of our commercial air navigation, the
mail has been the pioneer in regular
flying service.
The interdepartmental committee IS
authorized to hear the requests OF MEM
bers of Congress, State and local OH
Gals. chambers of commerce, or other
unofficial bodies, and even of private
citizens. for the establishment OF air
wavs and of air mail routes. The COM
mittee will set up its own rules OF pro-
cedure. and petitioners Will prooaoly
sooner or later be able to get rather
accurate advice as to what facts they
should be prepared to lay before the
committee. The Department OF COM
merce already has large information
Cena rtment which will inform prospec-
tive petitioners as to the requirements
of an arWay.
Stops Mean Loss Of Time.
Petitioners are likely to be well
equipped with maps and statlStlcs;
| weather records, population and postal
data. as we'll as booster arguments.
! Strictly speaking, the air mall Is FosI
! Office Department problem exclusively;
| and many applications by cities ana
! towns to get air mail service can De
handled without reference TO any Spe-
cial committee. AL present ~ - NeiS
| difficult to get new stopping point eS-
! tablished on an air mail route. Every
| stop involves loss of time and consider
able expense as well as risk. Inc ar
| mail does not stop, for instance, at Bal
/ timore. not because the city IS not large
| enough to be a point OF origin lcr
! great volume of such mail, put Dec@u
! the mail planes stop at washington. a.
| miles away. and there is nothing to keep
| Baltimore air mail from being sent To
| WASHINGTON and loaded there, an hour
| by rail from Baltimore. Baltimore peo-
| pie are far from satisfied with this plan'
practical as it may be under present
conditions. Their city Is larger trari
washington. Why should 1t not be on
the air map? So it goes all over the
country.
The Post Office Department is ex-
tremely hopeful that device will soon
be perfected for picking up and drop
ping air mail from plane in flght.
| This would enable the addition Of many
cities to the air mail routes. Many
inventions have been tried along TINS
| line, anu dI pIcScllL Il4C
working with one which looks hopeiui-
By using a very light steel wire when
adds little weight to the plane. ana a
sort of catapult device to start the mail
bag in motion the instant 1t Is auto
matically hooked to the wire. II may
be possible to pick up bags without
heavy, cumbersome device. The cata-
putt idea would shoot the bag forward
| in the direction the plane is flying, so
| that there would be no heavy initial
strain on the wire, and a much lighter
wire could be employed. Several nun
bred feet of the wire would be required.
operating from strong spring coll IN
| the plane.
This device swings down with the
mail bag to be delivered, and this Is
caught in a wide mouthed trap, like two
rails spread wide apart at the mouth and
leading together to the trap. Thus the
aviator need hit only the wide part.
The bag and patent hook are automatl-
cally brought into the trap, where one
bag is dropped and the outgoing bag
hooked on mechanically. At the same
instant the trap is sprung. and the cat
apult shoots the new bag off in the
direction of the fight. 1t is then simply
wound up on the spring coil. All OF
which sounds ingenious and Is, but
must be absolutely perfect and fool
! proof before its use can be risked with
! fast flying planes swooping low enough
| to deliver and pick up the mail bags IN
! this manner If the scheme works,
many more cities may become air &c
! pots, with delivery and dispatch OF air
! mail Accomplished without a stop.