Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-08-26
From Coast to Coast by Air.

Having flown across the Atlantic
alone. the first woman to accomplish
that feat, 1t was natural that Amelia
Earhart should essay solo flight across
the American continent This she has
succeeded in doing, the first woman
thus to fly from coast to coast without
stop. She made the trip in 10 hours
and minutes, from Los Angeles to
Newark, distance of 1926 miles BY
the airpath route, which is 2O2 miles
longer than the crows flight distance.
This is not as speedy crossing as the
record flight of Capt. Frank Hawks, who
made the distance without stopping in
II hours 80 minutes and II seconds.
The fastest continental crossing of all
thus far made was that of Maj. James
Doolittle, who covered the distance in
IL hours and 16 minutes flying time,
but with stops. The difference between
the Hawks and Doolittle perform
ances in point of time is accounted for
by the fact that in a nonstop flight
gasoline must be carried for the entire
trip and speed must be held down to
the point Of economic consumption,
while in flight with stops the highest
speed can be maintained between points,
with refueling on the way.
1t seems but yesterday when the sug-
gestion Of a nonstop continental cross
ing was viewed as dream of the avia-
tor without chance for success. The
airplane could not Withstand the great
stress of such long sustained operation.
The pilot could not endure the fatigue
and strain of continuous flight. In
May. 1923, however, Licuts. Kelly and
McCready few from Roosevelt Field,
N. Y, to San Diego, Calf, in 26 hours
and so minutes. This feat astonished
the world, but there remained a greater
one when Goebel and Tucker flew from
Los Angeles to New York in August,
1923, in Is hours and So minutes. Next
came Hawks in his record flight. Mean
while, Charles Lindbergh had flown
from New York to Paris in May, 1927
in 80 hours and 20 minutes. Then the
year after Hawks transcontinental nom
stop fight Lindbergh lowered his time
with one-stop flight from Glendale,
Calf, to New York, in IA hours and
As minutes.
Miss Earhart's achievement in the
nonstop flight is now compared with
two made by Ruth Nichols, in 1880
She crossed the continent from Los An
geles to New York, with stops, in IS
hours and 81 minutes, having shortly
before that made the east-west flight
on the same route, with stops, in a
shade less than II hours.
All these performances have contrib
uted to the development of the airplane
to the point at which it is now regarded
as a dependable transport agency
Given skill and sufficient fuel with rea-
sonably good weather conditions, there
are practically no limits to the range of
flight. Capt Mollisons recent achieve
ment in flying from east to west across
the Atlantic, alone in a small plane,
the first to perform this feat, carried
this demonstration further. He is now
about to return and there is reason to
believe he will achieve his objective
He is a skillful pilot with weather
sense" which is the prime essential OF
long-distance flyer, and short of meet
ing extremely adverse conditions, he is
likely to reach his goal and thus be-
come the first person to make round
trip by air over the sea.