Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-28


Capt. Won GroNdus story Of his hicht
from Germany TO Nsw York City.
BY CAPT. woLFGANG Won GRoNAU
NEW YORK, August 2s.--Our fight,
/ think, has simply served to empha-
size that oyer-oceTn flying Is much
more difficult than the average person
believes. One is never sure of the
weather; one can never be sure of the
difficulties that may arise. In spite of
reports from ships and radio shore sta
tons of favorable weather conditions
along our route, we frequently found in
our 4.600-nile flight from the little
Isle of Sylt to this great New York
that wind and rain and fog beset us
and that weather conditions seemingly
could not be predicted with any GER
tainty.
Nevertheless, I think that some day
in the future-T won't say in the near
future-there will be regular scheduled
flights across the oceans. ! think such
service will begin on the South Allan
tic. for that is the easier route. When
will it start? Who can say? 1t may
be two years if Prof. Junkers or some
body else brings out an invention for
saving petrol.
or it may take 10, 20 years or even
more: no one can predict in such mat
ters. But one thing I arm sure of, the
ocean will be conquered by air some
time. Progress has been so tremendous
in aviation We may be sure 1t will go on.
The world moves SO quickly now that 1t
thinks each year without some giant
achievement is a year of life lost. The
world is impatient. but it takes time for
research, for investigation and develop
ment.
we are very keen, very-what you
Americans always are-buSy on that
nroblem of transoceanic flying today.
we are limited in funds, you know,
but we work on as well as We can.
Doubts Seadromes Are Practical.
But I myself have come to the con-
clllsion that regularly scheduled cross
ing of the ocean in land planes will
never be a successful or easy venture,
because in such a plane motor failure
means death to the crew. The proposed
seadrome of which have read so muen
is not practical, because 1t would not be
s,,ficient for landings in bad weather.
Yes. I think the SeadromeS VIII De
ouite unsuccessful. The Seaplane is
without doubt the best type of plane Tor
an oyer-water journey today.
The amphibian is what you call
hvhrid. It has no highest performances
because it is a combination OF types.
And one must have highest perform
ances in crossing the oceans. AS LOT
me, I think that in the future the ar
ship will always be the thing ior pas
senpers. and the plane for mail. Inc
superiority of the plane over the ar
snin is that it can get out OF storm
areas more quickly, but then the arr
shin. though slower, is more comfort
able and has a much bigger n1tlng
THAT will be just opposite to SHIPS,
.,o,1 see On the surface of the sea the
passengers travel in fast ships ana the
freight in slow; in the air ABOVE tne
oceans the passengers VIII trayei IN
the slower airShips and the man an
the fast planes. That seems strahge,
NIGHT wahr? But 1t is ioglcai, AoF Viie
airships have more comfort.
THE two problems of the future which
aviation must solve before it can nope
To suan the waters of the world are
more efficient motors and high aiti-
f,,de living. More efficient motors
mean less gasoline consumed and thus
greater paw loads: high attitudes mean
greater speed and ability to get out
of storms.
Forecasts New Motors or New Fuels.
The engineers and inventors must
get an engine which will not consume
fuel so quickly or they must ueVlse
motors which will burn gas or Oil OF
much less weight than petrol. The raw
oil motor, think, is step in the rlgnt
direction, or perhaps motor that WIZ
burn gas-blau gas, as the Maypacn
engines of the Graf Zeppelin dor
some other mixture. The fuel must
give a higher efficiency: it should be
more rapidly burning fuel, which viii
give more power. We may help that
time along by devising some new type
of carburetor, which will give us a bet
ter mixture.
when we get this we can fly far. for
then we will not have to use SO mucn
of the planes power in lifting petrol as
we do now. and the pilot need not be
afraid of motor failure.
The high altitude flying is very I'M
portant, too. II the old "Whale"
could have climbed up out of the fog
that was with us on half our trip, If
it could have pulled itself up to 10000
feet above the storm and rain and
wind of Greenland, we would have
gotten here much quicker, and Ger
tainly Fritz, Franz, thinner and !
would have felt much better. AL
80, 600 feet one can travel twice as fast
as at ordinary attitudes And, OF
course, one is always above the storms
and disturbances there is wind, but 1t
is not too strong and is always from
the east.
In Germany we have all been work
ing on this job of high altitude flying.
Junkers in particular has Lead the re-
search with an alright, enclosed cock
pit for the pilot and a similar en-
closure for the motor. Both the pilot
and the engine are fed by compression:
the pressure on the pilots body Is kept
at the same level as K he were on the
ground. Therefore 1t is not hard for
him to breathe; he does not become
exhausted so quickly because his skin
does not breathe oxygen as 1t does
awhen a man is subjected to great de-
creased in pressure. Before when we
climbed up to great heights the pilot
had to breathe oxygen from tank, and
that was exhausting. Now in the en-
closed cockpit 1t is the same as II he
were ON the ground. The cockpit, OF
course, must be strongly constructed
or it will burst apart. 1t is all still
experiment, but it lights the way.
On our Northern route the cold did
not seem to affect the engine much so
I do not believe 1t would in high altt-
tude flying. We had special radiator
put on before we left List; 1t was
smaller than the usual one and had
flaps that could be closed to prevent
the motor from getting TOD cold.
OF course, the big thing once man
has conquered the upper air is the navi-