Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
AVIATION
T@HOSE who watch the twin
king lights Of the night air.
mail plane sliding along
oOoiva.f &YoA klonL eIxv sell
q, BY JOSEPH s. EDoERroN.

,IMT@HOSE who watch the twin
~ king lights Of the night air.
Il mail plane sliding alone
~ aRainst the black sky sell
sl0om realize the struggle which
goes on to make it possible FOL
that plane to be where 1t Is at the
time 1t should be there.
There are many varieties Of
.&grief which can occur in the oper-
, ations ONCE at an airmail field on
any busy line. Through the news
columns Of any daily paper you
may hear Of the difficulties which
the airmail pilot faces; generally
only when he fails to overcome
these difficulties. You seldom
hear anything of the trials and
fluctuations Of the ground crews
There is q saying among air
mail people that airmail progress
must be made on the ground. It's
O saying based on experience, and
when you watch what happens In
q busy operations ONCE you real
ize that it is as true as any saying
can be.
Much Ground Work Necessary.
Before an airmail plane can be
put into the air an enormous
amount Of work is necessary on
the ground. When the plane has
taken off there is no cessation OF
this work. There must be team
work between the pilots and the
ground crews every minute the
line is in operation or there will
be trouble somewhere.
A glimpse of the activities at
the Eastern Air Transport office
at Boiling Field at any hour OF
the day or night is SUFFICIENT to
show the need for teamwork all
the time. The section If this line
between Washington and New
York is the heaviest Travelled air
mail line in the country, with SIX
planes operating daily. From
Washington south four planes
travel the line every "a hours on
regular schedule, and others must
be pressed into service whenever
unusually large mailingS are re-
ceived at any point along the line
A record of what went on at the
Boiling Field office one afternoon
during the past week may serve
as an example. There were nc
weather complications other than
a strong wind from the south and
southwest, holding steady at al
attitudes. It was the day the
double header" schedule, which
has been in operation irregularly
during the past six months OF
more, was replaced by a regular
schedule. A new airmail stop al
Charlotte, N. c., also was added
The operations, however, were
routine as far as the functions OF
ground and air personnel are con-
cerned.
It is just before 4 o'clock In the
afternoon in the little operations
Office at Boiling Field. G. A. VIII
lis, In charge during this shift, Il
on the telephone attempting tc
learn from the city post once
how much mail will be ready fol
the southbound plane which hal
left Hadley Field, the New York
terminus, at 8 o'clock.
In the Office Of the Boiling Field
weather station, the Eastern
Transport teletype station, con-
Meeting all fields along the line, Is
clicking away. Message after
message appears on the narrow
ribbon OF paper.
Messages Are DECIDED.
DECIDED, these messages run
something like this:
There is considerable mail
here, and we will have two ships
each way" comes q message from
Charlotte. After some discussion
the general operations ONCE at
the New York end asks Charlotte
for information as to the weight
Of the mail to be Nown north and
south from there.
$50 far there will be about $50
or 100 pounds to Atlanta and
more going north. The local mail
has not been worked or collected
yet" the reply goes back.
81 think that the first ship out
Of Newark can handle south
bound" New York replies. eff
you can't get it all on arrange to
have second Southbound stop at
Charlotte and pick up the rest.
Will you have extra ship there for
the northbound?"
While this message was on the
way south Charlotte was wiring
New York that there would be five
pouches of mail, weighing 400
pounds, northbound from there.
"How about extra ship there?"
New York repeated.
81 have one and can use that
II necessary" Charlotte replied.
care you going to take it up
yourself?"
IT will if it is o. K"
"All right with me. Then with
other ship from AN (Atlanta), ,
and also the second can stop there
II necessary, that should handle
1t. You want to have second ship
stop In both cases and not use
extra ship If we can get out Of it.
Is that the dope?"
Second ship may have heavy
load from Florida" came the
'Better try to use your ship and
try to get 1t all on that one and
the first northbound in"
"O.K. Will try to do the best !
can and hold down overhead"
Ferrying Is Avoided.
All this chatter on the wire had
to do with the handling of extra
mail and the routing Of ships so
that each plane could be used to
the best possible advantage. The
matter Of keeping planes evenly