Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-29
.HE first official step taken
| in this country in prepara-
tinr1 for the anticiOated

ton for the anticipated
visit of the giant German
Do-X flying boat next August
was the introduction in the House
during the past week of a joint
resolution by Representative
ROYAL C. Johnson of South Da-
kota to permit the big ship to
enter the country duty free and
to operate here for year.
When the great Dornier plane
takes of. for the transatlantic
crossing she will represent the
result of a sort of international
areonautical engineering alliance
Though the plane was designed
and built in. Germany by DR.
Claude Dorner, the engines to be
used will be geared Curtiss Con-
Querors of American design and
manufacture. Certain of the
navigation instruments are to be
of American make, and the chief
pilot will be Lieut.. c. H. Dutch
Schildhauer, former American
. naval aviator.
The Do-X, it will be recalled, is
the 12-motored flying excursion
steamer which carried 1859 passen-
gers at one time in flight over
Lake Constance, Switzerland. Nc
other aircraft ever has carried SO
many people at one time, though
k2sere now is a huge italian Ca
pHoni, which undoubtedly could
duplicate the feat. The Caproni
has established a series of new
world records while carrying a
paw load of more than $4,000
pounds, or 26 tons. This mighty
load, expressed in terms of $50
pound people, would mean nearly
e50 persons. The Caproni is a
landplane.
To Fly August 9.
It is now planned for the Do-X
to take off from Lake Constance
during the early part of August
and to begin the ocean crossing
about August 9, after stops at
several European ports. The
ocean flight will be broken by
stops at the Azores and Bermuda.
Probably less than score of
passengers will be carried and the
pay load will be limited to five
tons or less, though the flight is
planned as a demonstration of the
feasibility of regular commercial
ocean service with this type of
plane.
Installation of the Curtiss en-
gines in place of the IL original
Siemens-Jupiter engines has made
necessary a change in the Struc-
ture of the rudimentary wing con-
Meeting the SiX-engine nacelleS.
The engines are mounted in tan
dems, two to each nacelle. The
method of handling the engines
Is unique and interesting. Each
engine may be controlled individ-
ually from the engine room. The
two engines in any one of the
nacelles may be cut out for minor
repairs while in fight.
For the instantaneous control
required by the pilots, however, in
landing and taking off, the mo-
tors are arranged for control like
those of a twin engined plane.
The pilot handles only two throt-
ties, one for each bank of six mo-
tors. 1t probably would be i'm
possible for the pilot to maintain
any sort of a check on the indi-
vidual performance of each of the
IL engines, though it is important
for him to know how much power
is being delivered. Two dials give
him this information. They are
tachometer dials, each giving the
average engine speed Of the six
engines in each bapk.
Pilots Burden Lightened.
In the ordinary plane constant
supervision Of the engines is the
duty of the pilot and co-pilot. In
the Do-X, however, this response
bility is transferred to the chief
engineer and his engine room
crew. For the information of the
pilot, however, there is a panel of
IL lights, one for each motor. If
one of the engines is cut out for
any reason, the corresponding
light flashes.
Construction of the great Ger
man plane was begun in the
workshops of DR.. Claude Dornier,
at Alteurhein, in December, 1927.
It's construction required $40 days,
and the launching and first trial
flight took place July IL, 1929. The
ship Is a high-wing monoplane,
with a single central hull and
stub-wings just above the water
line for stability on the water
without the necessity of wing tip
floats. A unique shaping of the
stub-wing root forces the water
downward and outward, aiding
the take-off and landing.
The outstanding feature of the
hull design is it's division, for the
first time in aircraft construction,
into three separate decks. The
upper, or control deck, contains
the pilot room, the commanders
room, the engine-control room
and rooms for the radio installa-
ton and auxiliary motors. The
middle deck, used exclusively for
passengers, has a length of II
feet and maximum width of
more than IL feet The ceiling is
more than 6 feet high. The bot
tom deck or hold is reserved for
fuel, provisions, freight and lug
gage.
Engine Mounting Studied.
Placing of the engines above
the main wing was the result of
long and careful study.
"1t Is now a generally recognized
fact that the lift is considerably
increased by mounting the pro-
pellers above the wing" it is
stated in report on the big plane
which has been reprinted by the
National Advisory Committee for