Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-26


Then Ray pulled back the stick and
the machine fairly leaped of the ground
in tremendously steep climb which in
the blink Of an eye carried him clear
of the tree tops. He swung to the
right, the trees cut him from view. An
instant later he appeared a full thou
sand feet high. President Hoover
smiled delightedly. Senator Hiram
Bingham, who has seen the Hoover face
in all kinds of situations, says it never
beamed so happily as when Ray climbed
into the sky to close his remarkable
demonstration.
Ray a Real Veteran.
Jim Ray is one Of aviation's real vet
Grams. He has been flying since the
days of the original Curtiss Flying
Service, where he teamed up with
Casey" Jones, Bill McMullen and
Dick Depew. He has been connected
with Harold Pitcairn for a long time
and was operations manager of the
Pitcairn airmai service when it was
opened between New York, Washing
ton and Atlanta in 1928. When Pitcairn
sold the mail line to Eastern Air Tran
sport, Ray went over to the autoglro
business and became vice president of
the company. He was the first man in
this country to fly an autogiro and has
more flying time on autogiros than all
other American autogiro pilots put to-
gether.
Ray is most pleasant hammered.
quiet. an intelligent engineer. He is
admired and respected in aviation cir
cles. His chief eccentricity is his fly
ing helmets. He wears them with the
fur side outside and they are famous
from coast to coast.
New Airmail Line Planned.
Within a month a contract will be
awarded for Inauguration of airmail
service between the National Capital
and Pittsburgh, the Post ONCE Depart
ment has announced. The announce
ment follows several delays. Funds for
the extension of the Cleveland Pitts
burgh mail line to Washington were
provided by Congress and made i'm
mediately available last February. The
funds provided were Sufilcient to cover
operation Of the line from March to
July /, when it is to be made perma-
nent.
It is expected that the contract will
be awarded to Pennsylvania AirlineS,
now operating airmal passenger and
express service between Pittsburgh and
Cleveland and passenger express serv-
ice on to washington. This line, eStab
lished by Clifford Ball, has splendid
record Of operations over the noun
tains between Pittsburgh and Wash
ington. Flying over some Of the worst
country imaginable, Balls line never
has had an accident. It has been n.y.
ing passengers longer than any line
operating out Of the Capital.
One Of the arguments in favor of
awarding the contract to the Ball line
Is that the local representative, Jerry
ODonovan, Is going to get married
ought to have more than Just plain
passenger revenues to support a family
properly. Ask VIII Rogers. Ask any
body. Ask Jerry. Or, better yet, ask
Cliff Ball.
Heavy Painting.
The experience Of the Ludington
Line in reducing the weight Of its tri-
motored Stinson so pounds apiece
merely by changing the color Of the
paint on wings and fuSelage Is an indi-
cation Of the care and attention to
detail necessary for air transport eff
f1ciency. The amount Of lacquer re-
Qutred to cover q modern transport
plane Is astonishing. The big Boeing
trimotors require Is gallons Of lacquer,
weighing 219 pounds when wet The
weight Is reduced to about 90 pounds,
however, as the finish dries.
The Ludington planes have been
painted deep, rich maroon and gold.
The maroon paint contains a large
quantity Of red lead, which is quite
heavy. The new color combination is
black and gold. The black Is much
lighter, the coloring matter being lamp
black instead Of red lead, which &C.
counts for the difference Of so pounds
In weight.
Another peculiar feature Of the
change is that the black seems to In
crease the apparent size Of the plane
through some optical illusion, though
the maroon used Is 50 dark as to APP
pear almost black in certain lights.
Airmail Record Falls Again.
The passing of each month Is coming
to mean the passing of another record
for airmail operations on the Eastern
Air Transport line through the National
Capital. The first three months Of 1881
have witnessed the establishment of as
many new monthly records for guam
tity OF mail flown.
In March the total was 1927
pounds, or more than 43 tons, flown
on the route between New York and
Miami. This exceeds the February fig
ure, previous high-water mark, by more
than three tons and is nearly 20 tons
greater than the quantity flown in
March, 1880.
The 43 tons of mail flown last month
Is the equivalent Of some 1000 900 indi-
vidual letters and packages, 1t is esti-
mated by postal officials. During the
three years Of operation Of the coastal
mail route some $1,000, 900 individual
pieces Of mail have been flown over the
route through Washington.
"A Meet of 46 airnail and passenger
planes was required to handle Eastern
Air Transports mail and passenger
business during the past month. The
f1gures do not include operations over
the new MISUNDERSTANDING cutoff.
which Is expected to add materially to
the sum OF future records. The system
now serves % cities scattered along the
Atlantic Coast and in this respect
ranks as one Of the largest air TRANSPORT
systems in the country
Fast Texas Line Planned.
Air passenger service between the
National Capital and Houston, Tex, on
29-hour schedule by air and rail is
planned by Wedell- Williams Air Serv
ice, now operating between New Or
leans and Houston and New Orleans
and Fort Worth.
The service, TO be inaugurated within
six weeks, will involve rail travel at
first from Washington to st. Louis
Lockheed Orions. low-wing monoplanes
with retractable landing-gear, capable
OF cruising speed Of IT'S miles per
hour and top speed Of 2l9 miles, viii
negotiate the TBS miles from st. Louis
10 Houston In about four and one-haIf
hours. The route viii be an almost
direct airline by way of Little Rock.
Ark, and Shreveport, La.
Local traffic arrangements for the