Evening star., 1932-06-05

the 18TH BOmbardment Group, at
Organization of the new uni
OF Congress to keep up appropri
year" program, which now Is beil
OF completion. The expansion RI
the new organizations Is regarde
the Nations aerial defenSeS. Ey
created are not up to war strengt
ating form for a wartime f1ghtin
the country has known.
This months developments max,
| Langley Field one of the most impor.
tant OF the Army's great air Senters
combining not only full air brigade
but also an airship center, since tn.
| neld Is the operating base Of the 18th
| Airship company. Langley Field alst
research laboratories of the Nationa
! Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
To Langley Field the Air Corps i
| moving the 36th Pursuit Squadron from
Selfridge Field. Mich, and the 58tt
Service Squadron from Brooks Field
| Texas. These SquadrOns, together with
the 33d and 35th Pursuit Squadrons
which are now inactive, but which are
| to be organized before June is. will
| compose the new 9th Pursuit Group
The group headquarters section now Is
active at Langley Field. The seth
! Squadron, now commanded by Capt
! Ennis c. Whitehead. will bring Off
| GERS and 100 enlisted men to Langley,
| while the 58th will bring three officers
| and 1870 enlisted men
/ The LIST Bombardment Brigade head
! quarters section and the 28th Commu-
nications Section both now active at
Langley Field, are To be fully organ
/ lied during the month.
| Fort Crockett has been the home Of
the Sd Attack Group. which Is to be
| expanded to the status Of full attack
wing, combining both attack and pro-
| tective pursuit aviation. The wing
headquarters section will be made ac-
tive at Fort Crockett on June IS.
For the purpose Of organizing the
18th Bombardment Group at Rockwell,
the Air Corps is moving ii officers and
| 80 enlisted men from March Field to
Rockwell not later than June IS and
| at the same time will make active the
30th and 32d Bombardment Squadrons,
| which will be added to the existing nu-
cleus of the group.
In preparation for organization of
the pursuit outfits at Langley, 10
, P-l2C pursuit planes recently were
flown to Langley from Selfridge Field
The flight was under command of
Capt. whitehead Very bad weather
! conditions were encountered and the
| flight was delayed several days. two of
the ships being forced down and
slightly damaged. one near Uniontown,
Pa. and the other 20 miles from Wash
\ ington.
New Air Schedules Provided.
-
Airline express schedules between this
city and New York has given that line
| 80 daily flights over the line-the most
| frequent air passenger service in the
world. Four express round trips have
| been sandwiched in between the reg
ular hourly schedules, two in the morn
| ing and two III the afternoon. &c
| minutes flying time being allowed be-
| tween the terminals under the new
schedule.
The new express planes, three OF
which have been put into operation
are 10-place F1eetsters. powered with
$50 horsepower Wright Cyclone engines
Nine passengers are carried in cabin
ventilated by air-ducts let into the
leading edges OF the wings.
The Feetsters, developments of tht
| fast Army pursuit transports of the
past 18 months, cruise at 155 miles
per hour and have top speed Of about
| l80 with full load, including fuel fol
800 miles.
The Ludington Airlines, in 20 month:
| of operation, have carried approximately
| 100 900 passengers a distance totalinf
nearly 100000 miles between New
York, Philadelphia and Washington.
Blind Flying Practicable.
Operation of arlines day after day
i with virtually unfailing regularity
under conditions which call for more ol
less extended periods Of blind flying or
almost every trip. not only is possible
but is being carried on on some of tn,
Central and South American routes o
Pan-American Airways, the grea
United States Post Office Department
contracting airmail system which con
meets all but two of the countries il
the Western Hemisphere.
! The airline has instituted blind fly
| ing policies which have provided fo
the training of every pilot on the Sys
tenn In flight under conditions Of II,
visibility The result has been tina
operations on some of the bad section
OF the route are conducted with eveI
greater regularity than railroad opera
tons in the same area, it has been re
ported to officials here.
| On the route into Mexico City, wher
| unbroken clouds are the rule on ON
side Of the mountains or the other,
was possible to maintain less than 81
per cent OF the regular schedules prio
to the institution of blind flying poll
| cies. During the past three years. will
instrument flying as basic policy
schedules have averaged 99.7l per cen
/ N Oa n
one trip in thousand has been can
celed because Of bad flying condi
] tions.
The Pan-American system is said t.
be the first in the world to qualify al
its first-line pilots In blind flying. TIL
line established its first "blind-flying
class in May, 1929. at Brownsville
Tex. and today is operating branche
of the school at three other points I
has been found, according to officials o
the system, that any efficient pilot
fully capable of flying blind afte
proper training, though it had been ,
generally accepted theory that only TIL
exceptionally skillful pilot possessed tn
faculties Of coordination necessary t,
fight by instrument.
| Navy Transfers Ordered.
| Naval aviation circles in the Nationa
Capital will lose several well known fig
ures this month. Orders have been is
sued for the transfer to sea dut
of Lieut.. Comdr Wallace NJ Dillon, il
charge of Naval Aviation Reserve &C
tivities, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics
and Lieut.. Stanhope C. Ring, aide II
Rear Admiral william A. Moffett. chic
of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics
Comdr. Dillon will report to the U. S