Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH s. EDdERToN.

and comfortable to sleep while deserts
and mountains slip along far below
This night passenger service on tht
Boeing line Is nothing new and thu
new schedules are far from expert
mental
Passengers will be served meals while
in flight or at ground stations. The
westbound passenger has breakfast II
New York, lunch in Chicago, dinner
while flying over Iowa City, midnight
lunch at Cheyenne, breakfast at Sal
Lake City and lunch at San Francisco
During the trip Is stops are made
in nine States. Fares on these anC
other American air transport lines now
are averaging approximately cents
mile, with some rates, aS on the Wash
ington- New York line, at considerably
below this figure.
New Drift Indicator.
One of the most Troublesome naviga-
ton problems with which q pilot hal
to deal is the determination Of drift
When there IL Q wind blowing across
the path Of q plane, the plane, o.
course, is carried OF its course. Tt
keep on his course the pilot must know
how fast he Is drifting and turn the
plane into the wind enough to CON-
pensate for the drift.
There have been many devices tried
out for determining drift-and many
rejected. One Of the latest and appar-
emily one Of the simplest Of all for the
pilot to use Is being tested by Capt
Frank M. Hawks in his famous low
wing racing monoplane.
The instrument is mounted in the
floor of the cockpit, where it may be
read with little effort. The pilot sees
only a 81 Inch ground glass screen.
Below this screen is a lens which focuses
the image Of the ground below the
screen. Objects on the ground appear
and travel across the screen in the d.
rection of the moving airplane. BY
rotating the screen until the objects
travel parallel to sight wires, the pilot
can read his angle OF drift from q scale
on the instrument. He then Is able To
correct his compass course by adding
or subtracting the degrees Of drift.
The instrument, which Is known as a
drift angle meter" enables the pilot
to make q quick observation to obtain
the drift angle Of his plane without
sighting over the edge Of the cockpit or
opening cabin window.
Blackboard Flying.
BlackboardS and chalk have been
pressed into use as aids to navigation
in VT-IB torpedo squadron Of the
battle force. Pilots were having diff
Guilty communicating between planes in
formation until it was discovered that
the backs Of the plywood chart boards,
painted black, made excellent black
boards.
with q supply Of chalk as the only
additional equipment, the pilots were
able to maintain entirely satisfactory
| saTyf-
cation and other purposes.
A new wrinkle in communications
between members Of the crew of plane
Is being tried out by the three section
leaders Of VO-4B observation squadron
Of the battle force. Voice tubes have
been installed in each of the planes for
communication between the pilot and
radio man and are said to be working
In q fairly satisfactory manner.
Makes Tricky Landing,
A combination of cool courage and
| flying skill displayed by Lieut.. Arthur
w. Meehan, Army Air Corps pilot and
former foot ball star at the United
| States Military Academy. resulted In
| the saving to Uncle Sam q few days
ago Of $4,000 worth Of afrplane.
Lieut. Meehan was flying a P-12C
pursuit plane, the latest type ID use in
the pursuit squadrons at Selfridge
Field. Mich, during close order foTma-
ton exercises when the wing tip OF the
plane behind struck the tail surface Of
his own ship. The controls we're dam.
aged so that Lieut.. Meehan w1s unable
to work his horizontal etAbilizer by
means of the control stick.
In q situation which would have
justified his abandoning the plane and
taking to his parachute, Lieut.. Meehan
elected to stay with the ship and at
tempt to land 1t In its damaged condi-
ton. Using his motor and his etabilizel
adjusting crank to replace the dannagec
control surface. Lieut.. MeehA1 was sble
to bring the plane down for an almost
perfect landing. The naAneuver was
one which could not have been under.
taken successfully by any but the nlost
skillful, and Lieut.. Meehar1 Is receiving
the concentrations o. various ef1o
sundry fellow flyers all over the country
New Planes Coming Out.
One Of the most distinctive features
Of the National Aircraft Show at De-
troit. April 11-1s, will be the number
Of new airplane types making their flrst
| public appearance. The show itself Is
to be one of those digger and better
things and will stand as the major air
craft show Of the year
One of the new planes Is to be the
Detroit Lockheed Orion, equipped witt
retractable landing gear, for which
high speed of 40 miles per hour on
wasp 2O-horsepower engine, with q
load Of 6 passengers and a pilot, Il
claimed. On q test run from San Fran.
cisco to Los Angeles the plane averaged
236 miles per hour for the s55-nnt
run.
The new high-speed Lockheed Vegs
with wire-braced landing gear will bt
shown. This plane, of the type used
by Capt. Ira c. Eaker on his trans
continental speed attempt, has q tor
speed Of more than 200 miles per hour
A Vega on floats also will be shown. A
new six-place Ryan brougham with
wheel fairings and Townend engine
cowling win be an interesting feature.
Nearly 40 New Types.
More than 90 airpianes are to b
shown, Of which nearly 40 are 70 b
entirely new In design or are TO tncor-
porate new items Of design or con-
struction. There Will be q fve-placC
cabin Bird, powered with q 125-horse-
power Kinner, the first closed Bird ship
Bull will have two singie-seaters
powered with 45-horsepower Szekely
engines.
Curtiss- Wright is to have new types
including 2-place 30-horsepowel
monoplane. q 90-horsepower 2-place
low-wing eoupe, 3-plaee open ,biplane
a 2-place sport trainer and a 4-placC
Challenger powered sedan.
A tWin-motored eight-place am.
phibian monoplane will be presented a,
the first non-military offering Of the
Douglas Aircraft Co. There will b
three autogiroS. the FIRST time these
planes have been seen in an indoor
show. A seven-place Northrop low.
wing transport and two-place Swanson
cabin monoplane will be seen for the
first time at an aircraft show.
A new Waco. a four-place cabin