The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-04
FLIERS FAVOR
STEAM ENGINES
FOR AIRPLANES
Model Ship Actually Works;
Other NeWSy Chatter of
Air Realm.
Aviation
BY ERNIE PYLE
soripps-Howard Aviation Editor


WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.-There is |
talk among aviators that a steam
engine for airplanes is being devel-
open by the Great Lakes Aircraft
Corporation of Cleveland They
say it actually works
Many fliers are expressing the !
opinion that ten years from now
there win be lots of steam-driven
planes. 9. IF it can be achieved, it /
should be cheaper, and probably
safer.
Imperial Always, the premier air.
line Of Great Britain, announced T
that it has nine veteran pilots who /
have been flying twelve years each,
and who average $685. hours flying /
time.
Whereupon, United Air Lines, the /
biggest system in America, comes
right back with its record. 1t has
nine pilots who average $500 hours. |
There are $50 pilots flying
United Air Lines planes, and the
average Of the whole bunch is 1000 |
hours. There are several with |
10000 hours, six with 5000 hours,
twelve with 1000 hours, eighteen
with 5000 hours, and forty with 5000
hours.
Lindy's Lockers Looted
The two men generally credited
with more flying time than anyone
else in the world, E Hamilton Lee
and Jack Knight, both fly for
United
A thief the other day broke into
Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh's
locker at Newark airport and took
some of his flying clothes and
quantity of canned goods he keeps
for long flights +. . India will abol-
ish its state air services on Dec. 81,
for reason of economy. =.
The Ell Paso Post reports that a
mystery plane flies over from Mex
leo about twice a week. .. 1t is a
Lockheed Vega, painted solid silver,
has no license number and flies ex-
tremely high. -.
Can't Get Near 1t
Narcotic agents think it is carry
ing drugs into Texas and Okla
homa, while customs agents think
it carries liquor. The plane is
so fast and flies so high that other
ships can't get near enough to
identify it. -.
W. F. Tough, district superin-
tendent of the Manitoba (Canada)
postal service, discovered on visit
to Chicago that there are more air
transport planes scheduled in and
out of Chicago every twenty-four
hours than there are trains in and
out of Winnipeg. -.
Mrs. Vera Lucas came to Wash
ington from her home in Grand
Forks, N. D., to bury her son Vern
in Arlington cemetery. He had
been killed in an airplane crash
after fifteen years of flying.
When she started the return trip to
North Dakota, Mrs. Lucas went by
airplane e..
She Wasn't Afraid
She flew at night, too, and took
her 14-months-old granddaughter
with her. She wasn't afraid.
"Of course I want to fly" she said,
"and I think Vern would want me
to-"
The All-American Air Races are
to be held in Miami on Jan. 7,
and 8. -. This is the fourth year
for the Miami races, and they are
becoming quite thing. . They
now rank second in Importance only
to the National Air Races at Cleve-
land.
A civic organization in Spring
field, Mass, has written in to the
army air corps, asking for the spring
convention of the Caterpillar Club.
-. Not knowing, apparently, that
the club is purely mythical one,
composed of people who have saved
their lives with parachutes, and
that no conventions are ever held.
5000 Seek IL Jobs
Several big airlines, including the
Ludington Line New York Wash
ington) and T. & w. A. New York
Los AngeleS) are looking for new
high speed equipment, and have
been considering the 0-mile-an-
hour FleetSter monoplane, built in
Buffalo.
There are twelve hoStesses on
Eastern Air Transports big eight
een-pasSenger Condor planes be-
tween New York and Jacksonville,
Fla. And there are 5000 girls after
those twelve jobs. . Eastern Air
and the Boeing Line (Chicago-San
Francisco are the only air lines in
America which carry hoStesseS on
the planes.
In Paris they are building two
autogiro flying boats for the French
navy. E. England is also building
an autogiro boat