Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-14
New Air Records.

Yesterday marked the establishment
of two major air records. one for speed
across the continent and the other fer
endurance Of plane and man in the air.
OF the two the almost unbelievable
time in which Capt. Frank Hawks few
from Glendale. Calf to Valley Stream,
N. Y. is the more spectacular, but for
sheer persistence and the will to win"
the smashing of the endurance record
by Dale jackson and Forest O'Brins
ranks high in the annals of human ac-
complishment. Hawks who has made
a speciality of ennihilsting time between
the Atlantic and the Pacific, pushed
his tricky little red and white racer
from West to East at two hundred and
thirty miles an hour to hang up an all
time mark of sustained speed, not only
between California and New York, but
for distance of more than twenty-five
hundred miles. He beat the record OF
Col. and Mrs. Lindbergh by two hours,
and as he climbed out of the cockpit he
naively remarked, Il am going to try 1t
again in the Fall and make real fast
trip" His actual flying time yesterday
was eleven hours and forty minutes, but
he made three stops of fifteen minutes
apiece. which gave him elapsed time OF
approximately twelve hours and half.
Not so spectacular were the ether
record breakers of yesterday Before
they even began their flight. which
was to end in regaining the title which
had been taken from them by the
Hunter brothers, Jackson and O'Brine
knew that they must spend more than
three weary weeks aloft before they
could begin to think about regainins
their title. Three weeks aloft cooped
I'D in a stuffy cabin before the record
could conceivably be within their
grasp! Certainly not pleasant pros
pect. But nothing daunted, they
climbed into their faithful old ship and
prepared to make it their aerial bum
galow for the time needed to set up a
new record. And twenty-three days
after their plane left the ground they
completed five hundred and fifty-four
hours and forty-one minutes of con-
tfnuous refueling flight and are again
the undisputed champions OF endur-
ance aviators.
Hawks record is the result of the
acme of plotting skill plus speedy
plane and smoothly performing en-
CINE. The endurance flyers likewise
showed skill of the highest order in
making their various contacts with the
nurse" ship, but they have needed per-
sistence and courage besides to combat
the hours of sleeplessness and the days
and nights of acute discomfort. These
attributes are perhaps best exemplified
by their announcement that they in
tend, If possible, to stay aloft for an
other three weeks. Whether they
succeed in their ambitious plans is
matter of conjecture, but that they
will break the old record by sub
stantial margin is almost foregone
1t is a far cry from the one minute
of sustained fight of the Wright
brothers at Kitty Hawk, a little more
than twenty-five years ago, to the
three weeks and three days that jack
son and O'Brine have completed up
to the present time, and there is just
as wide difference between the train
speed across the continent a quarter
of century ago and the dawn-to-dusk
flight of Capt. Hawks, but neither of
the two records is likely to stand for
long. Hawks few at an average speed
of better than two hundred and thirty
miles an hour. His ship was of the
latest design. But in a week, or a
month, or a year, perhaps, faster ship
will probably blaze its way through the
skies carrying its occupant, whoever
he may be, to fame and glory. If the
endurance holders stay up six weeks,
probably some one else, as persistent as
they, will start of and stay UP two
months or more. There is nothing so
fragile in these days CT aviation prog
ress as air championships. The heroes
of today are almost forgotten tomor-
row, but to Capt. Hawks, Dale Jackson
and Forest O'Brine go congra tulations
for sterling achievements.