Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-09
The Future of Aviation.

The Future OF AVIATION.
In the course Of his remarks felicitat-
ing Capt Coste and Maurice Bellonte
last night at the Board of Trade dinner
In their honor, Capt. Edward v. Ricken-
hacker, American ace of aces in the
World War, who was oficially credited
with downing twenty-six German
planes, made interesting prophecies as
to the future Of aviation and, radio
Linking both communication and trans
port through the air, Capt Ricken-
hacker asserted that they would go
hand in hand in the progress of civili-
zation. Fifteen hours across the At
lantic. the treacherous expanse of water
that took Lindbergh thirty-three hours
to negotiate, and the daring French
men, flying in the opposite direction,
more than thirty-seven hours, viii be
commonplace in the future. The gil
gantic R-io0 and R-10l, the biggest
dirigibles in the world today, will be
nothing but infants to lighter-than-air
ships Of the future and the huge crea-
ton Of DR.. Dornier, the DO-X, which
is soon to fiy to the United States, is
but a pigmy in size with heavier than
air machines that in the next decade
or so will be constructed according to
the captains predictions. And the de-
velopment of the radio especially in
two-way communication between plane
and earth will be the means of adding
the safety factor to flying that the
public demands.
Few men know the subject of avia-
ton more thoroughly than Capt. Rick
enbacker, although he learned his flying
only in the stress of war. A noted ali-
tomobile racer before he went overseas
as Gen. Pershing's chauffeur, Ricken-
hacker, because Of his knowledge Of en-
gines gained on the race track, was
transferred to the Aviation Corps. And
in that hard school near the front he
soon became master of flying. So the
American ace Of aces has seen the air.
plane emerge from an uncertain and
unreliable craft to its triumphs of to-
day, and predicts that greater triumphs
will follow.
What speed will be made across the
ocean or across the American continent
In regular passenger service in the flu
ture Is impossible to predict, but fifteen
hours from New York to Paris or eight
hours from Los Angeles to New York
seems conservative. Speed, as Capt.
Rickenbacker said, is the essential Of
this age, and when man decides that
he wants speed, some way will be found
70 produce 1t. To fulfill the flyers
prophecy 1t viii be necessary to cut in
half Lindbergh's time. which was the
fastest crossing. The Lone Eagle new
at o speed Of one hundred and seven
miles an hour. Two hundred and
twenty-five or two hundred and fifty
In the future should be by no means
impossible. In fact, Capt. Hawks on
bis refueiing trip across the continent
covered in less than twelve hours n.y.
ing time almost as great a distance as
did Lindbergh.
Again, in the matter Of size, both the
dirigible and airplane, predictions of to-
day are likely to look foolish twenty
years from now. From fiimsy contrap-
ton on which a single person was
perched on seat resembling those on
threshing machines the airplane has
grown, in little more than twenty five
years, to the huge Dornier flying boat
which only recently carried one hundred
and sixty-seven persons aloft for an
hour with each passenger comfortably
ensconced in its commodious cabin.
And the dirigible from the tiny expert
mental balloons, which were exhibited
years ago as q curiosity and which were
largely uncomfortable even when gaso-
line motor was installed as part of the
equipment. has developed to the man.
moth five million cubic feet capacity,
six-engined R-100 which recently
crossed the Atlantic In less than eighty
hours.
So predictions of future progress can
freely be made and the only reason
that they are likely to be COMPOUNDED is
that they will err on the side Of con-
servatism. Two hundred, thretghundred
or four hundred miles an hour and
the same figures for the number Of pas
sengers carried is therefore not an idle
dream. 1t viii not be many years before
It 10 reality.