Evening star., 1931-06-25
Guide Posts for Sky Travellers.

How long ago 1t seems that the trav-
eIer was guided from point to point by
finger boards" planted on the road
side! ITO Turkeyville, Ten Miles,"
with an index pointing the way, was the
token of his direction and distance as
he logged along in his horse-drawn rig
or trotted a-horseback. 1t was not
more than thirty years back when these
signs were all that were needed and
all that were provided. Much has hap
pened since to require more elaborate
and specific travel guidance aids. The
motor car, with its swifter pace, has
necessitated larger and more frequent
and explicit direction markers. The
improvement of roads has called for
multiple guide posts at corners and
intersections. Road maps are carried
by ell tourists, and these, with odometers
aclick on the instrument boards, furnish
effective information Of progress and
position.
Aviation has developed a new neces-
sity. Flyers have had to be given posi-
tive guide marks visible from high IN the
air. Natural landmarks, water courses,
railroads, settlements, large and con-
spicuous structures have been mapped.
Some enterprising towns have laid out
large-scale signs on the ground visible
from aloft, to tell airmen that "This is
Settledown," or have blazoned their air.
ports with distinctive tokens visible by
day or night. More should be done
in this line. Maps, Of course, must be
used by pilots for long-distance flying.
Pilots on the inter r-city commercial lines
soon know their way as familiarly as
the driver Of milk wagon knows his
route.
Now comes the transoceanic flyer,
who needs directional and location in
dices as well as did the driver of the
horse rig a few years ago, and the
motor driver little less remotely. The
general supposition Is that II a pilot
sets out from Harbor Grace, for exam
pie, and heads eastward, he will surely
strike a landmark, and will be able to
know his position. But suppose he Is
delayed by head winds, and makes his
land-fall after dark? How Is he to know
where he is, whether still over the sea
or over the land, and II over the land,
what land 1t is?
When Post and Gatty, who are now
on their way around the northern Sec
tor Of the globe, made their first land
ing after taking off from Harbor Grace
they did not know where they were.
AS their plane came to rest and they
were greeted by group Of officers at
the Chester airport, Post askedb "Is
this England, Scotland or Wales?" He
really had no idea where he was, save
that he was somewhere Ia the British
Isles. He and Gatty had first seen a
coast line, in the early morning, and
surmised that 1t must be Ireland, and
kept on and eventually they crossed the
Irish Sea and knew that they were clear
OF the Emerald Isle, but just where was
a puzzle.
This is England" This is New
foundland," This is France" This is
Germany" These and other signs, In
great letters-in the language Of the
land, Of course, for there are too many
tongues to accommodate all explicitly
may have to be conspicuously displayed
on the shores, visible by day or night.
OF course in time all flyers will get to
know the characteristics Of all the lands
on their lanes of air travel. Perhaps
in a little while transoceanic flying
will have become so common and so
regular and so certain that there will
be no need Of other guides than clocks
and paragraphs and q few other in
struments. But until then it behooves
the folks who believe in letting the
airmen know where they are to set up
guide posts for the sky travellers