Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18
Aviation
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

weighed half as much and had Dut nan
! the horsepower of many standard types
carrying the same load. Where gaso-
/ line consumption in some OF the TO-
, passenger tri-motors ran in excess OF
so gallons per hour the plane Collins
selected burned about 35 gallons and
that lower grade and much cheaper
fuel. The speed was high and, best OF
all, the plane could fly with full load
on two motors.
During the first four months of
operations between this city and New
York, Lucas said, planes of his line
flew 100000 miles on schedule with but
two forced landings and these really
were not forced" because the pilot
could have kept on going in case of ne
cessity. There were 100000 motor
hours flown to each of these two forced
landings, which were made because the
pilot chose to land when one motor
cut out rather than to attempt to con-
tinue on two engines.
They could have kept going, how
ever, had they chosen to do So" Lucas
said. "On one occasion George Pome-
roy, flying a full load of passengers
with baggage, had a motor failure over
| Trenton while flying at about TOO feet
because of low clouds. He kept on going
on two engines and had 2,700 feet of
altitude when he arrived at Newark
Airport"
Enter the Air COmmuter.
Lucas was asked whether many of
the passengers on the line are repeat
ers." He replied that he knows of sew
eral people who have made as many as
80 round trips over the line. There are
two men, he said, who are regular COM
muters between New York and Phila-
delphia
Taft, referring to these commuters
| said thpV RnnWn tn rOorcOnnnl of Lo
line as Weber and Fields" They are
engaged in radio research work which
requires daily travel between New York
and Philadelphia, Taft said. They have
been making the trip for several years.
using rail and automobile before air.
plane service began. For four years
they made the trip daily by automobile
wearing out two cars and wrecking two
others. On one day recently, because of
fog and rain, they made the trip by
rail. The train hit truck at a grade
crossing and arrived more than an hour
late. On the way from the station to
the factory at Camden, where they
worked, their taxicab skidded on the
| wet pavement and tore off a wheel. al
| most killing them.
They took VOW then and there
never to make the trip any other way
than by air If it were possible" Taft
said.
Taft said that if his line were able to
| obtain governmental assistance through
the Watres bill it would be possible to
reduce passenger fares to less than the
| railroads ever have been able to charge.
He predicted that before long one out
OF every 10 travellers between the Capt.
tai and New York, or 900 a day, will
be making the trip by air. The record
Tor single days air travel to date is
273 passengers.
"Humdinger" Built.
The "humdinger" has made its an
pearance in aviation. That homely old
word, long used to describe the diff
cult and rare. has at last found its
true application. The humdinger of
aviation is part of giant new wind
tunnel now nearing completion at the
National Advisory Committee for Aero
naut1cs' laboratory at Langley Field,
Hampton, Va. 1t is called a hum
dinger," explained a local official of
the committee simply, because it is a
humdinger
The giant tunnel, used for full-scale
airplane tests, has a throat opening so
by 80 feet, oval in shape Wind cur
rent through the throat is provided by
two immense propellers, each 80 feet
in diameter, slightly overlapping and
driven by great electric motors.
The throat Of the tunnel is of wood,
smoothly polished The throat must
change in shape from the oval of the
opening to the double circle at the pro-
pellers, smoothly and in unbroken
| curves. This portion of the tunnel, the
f1rst OF Its kind ever built, is the hum
Ginger. Though thousands of square
feet of polished wood surface are in
VOWED and the curves are of bewilder-
ing 1ntrlcacy, there is not a quarter of
an inch OF error in any part of the |
huge structure, final checking has re-
realed. 1t was extraordinarily difficult |
to design and build and there is no
word so well suited to describe the fin |
term adopted.
Carneal Steps Along.
The fastest flying time ever recorded
between Pittsburgh and the National
Capital was credited to Charles Car
neal, pilot for Clifford Balls Pennsyl- |
Vanla airline, day or two back Car |
neal caught tail wind varying from
% 10 90 miles per hour and came from
Plttspurgh to the unloading gate at
washington Hoover Airport in inst az
minutes. With three passengers aboard
MS single-motored plane, he took off at
1903 from Pittsburgh rolling I'D to the
gate here at 4:16. The distance is about
1876 miles and train time is approx
mately eight hours
Busy Days for Air Navy.
Approximately 270 Navy planes, form
ing the Navy of the air. will be en-
gagged in the coming fleet concentra-
tion and maneuvers at Panama from
February II to March "a, the NAVY
Department has announced Following
the Meet maneuvers a naval air con-
centration will be held in the Caribbean
from March "a to April g. Defense of
the Panama Canal will constitute the
major problem for the coming war
games.
David S. ingalls,, Assistant Secretary
OF the Navy for Aeronautics, and his
aide, Lieut. Comdr Robert P. Molten,
VIII make the long trip from this city
10 Panama waters by air, flying down
in two single-seater Navy fighters.
During the air concentration the air.
craft carriers Saratoga and Lexington
will abandon their usual posts with
the Battle Fleet and go on duty with
the Scouting Fleet.
The first specially constructed air.
| craft carrier built for the United States
Navy is to be known as the U. S. S.
Ranger. This name has been author
lied by Secretary of the Navy Adams.
! The two big carriers, Lexington and
! Saratoga, were started as battle cruisers,
and the third, the U. S. S. Langley, is
a converted collier.
"Blacking Out" Studied.
Lieut.. Ralph A. Ofstie, chief of the
| flight-test section at the Anacostia
Naval Air Station, and Lieut.. T. p.
Jeter, aviation member of the Navy
Board of Inspection and Survey, are
back in the Capital after tests of the
new Navy F4B-2 Boeing fighter at
Seattle.
The tests were of general interest
to all aviators because of the use for