Evening star., 1933-12-10


More than so cities have notifi
activities next Saturday and Sund
foremost aviators are preparing
demonstrate the progress man has
the bleak Wintry day 80 years q
opened q new and revolutionary el
Ray Cooper, new general manager Of
the National Aeronautic Association,
has taken up the Aviation day program
with q vigorous hand and the celebration
promises In many respects to be most
unusual tribute to one Of humanitys
great pioneers. Orville Wright may
come to washington to receive the
honors Of the city and the Nation.
with his characteristic reserve ana true
modesty, he has declined an invttauon
to attend the celebration here, but ms
friends are attempting to prevail upon
him to change his mind, and indicated
they had some hope Of success.
Thirty years ago next Sunday the
first airplane took of, few and landed
under its own power. The distance
flown was about 100 feet. the duration
of the flight only IL seconds. Three
decades later to the day Comdr. Frank
M. Hawks will undertake to establish a
new world speed record for 1000 kilo-
meters. To do SO he must average about
200 miles per hour or better for q dis
tance of about 1850 miles.
Hawks will start his flight from Col
lege Park Airport, College Park, Md,
the worlds first airport and at one time
base of the Nations entire military
flying service. early next Sunday morn
ing. He hopes to land there within
fve and one-haf hours later, after
flying to Kitty Hawk, N. c.; from there
to Dayton, Ohio, and back by way OF
Cincinnati and Akron. En- route he
expects to broadcast description OF
his flight. This description, the first
during any official record speed flight,
Is to be picked up and rebroadcast over
a Nationwide radio hook-up.
While Hawks is reeling eff the miles
as his contribution to the celebration of
| this notable day in aeronautics, Alex
ander p. deSeversky. in Detroit, Is ex-
! pected to be attempting to better his
/ own world amphibion plane speed rec
ord of 1916 miles per hour over a
| 3-kilometer course; Roscoe Turner, on
the West Coast, Is to make a new air
| plane speed attempt; Jack OMeara. in
| New York. will be after q new glider
loop record: Mae Haizlip Will be climb
| ing in an effort to set new women's
altitude record and Viola Gentry, at
Miami, may be in the air in try to
\
Jimmy Weddell may undertake to es-
tablish q speed record between WASH
| ington and New Orleans, though at the
time this was written his plans still
| were indefinite. Should ne do so he
will start from College Park about the
time Hawks is getting away.
The local celebration is to include a
military aviation demonstration of some
sort at Boiling Field Saturday after
noon, banquet at the Mayfower Sat-
urday night, the record flights Sunday,
Sunday afternoon.
Glider Meet Discussed.
Gliders have progressed almost as
fast. relatively, as airplanes during the
past 80 years. The glider experiments
Of the Wrights which led to the first air.
plane resulted in the finest flying of the
kind which had been done in this
country, yet their best flights were short
affairs, rarely lasting more than min
ute or two.
Today the table of existing glider rec
ords indicate startling progress in the
art of motorless flying. Gliders have
stayed in the air more than 80 hours,
have flown cross-country distances up
to 130 miles and have climbed to al
titudes of q mile or more above their
starting point.
Next year may find the Nations finest
glider pilots assembled in nearby Vir-
ginia in an effort to wrest from Ger
many world leadership in this sport.
Selection Of the site for the 1884 ma
tional soaring contest probably will be
made at the Winter meeting Of the di-
rectors of the Soaring Society of Amer
lea, to be held in February. Suitability
of the Blue Ridge country in Virginia
for record soaring flights was demon
American distance record was smashed
twice on consecutive days.
The people of Waynesboro, Va, near
the point from which the two record
flights started, are anxious to have the
fifth annual national contest staged
there and have opened negotiations with
the society to bring this about. Elmira,
N. Y, scene of the past four annual
meets, again is prepared to sponsor the
contest.
Blue Ridge Site Is Good.
In the opinion of leaders of the soar
ing society, Elmira offers unusual ad-
vantages for those inexperienced in
soaring but the Shenandoah country ap-
pears best for the advanced pilots
equipped with high performance SAIL
planes. It has been suggested that two
types of meets be held, one at each of
the sites, the Blue Ridge meet to be
reserved for attempts at records
Aerial photographing and survey of
the Big Meadows site in the Shenan-
doah National Park is being sought, ac-
cording to officers of the Soaring So
ciety. Lieut.. Con1dr. Ralph S. Barn.
ably and local glider pilots have made
a study of the possibilities of Big Mead
ows and are confident that it can be
made suitable for training with auto
mobile-tow launchings and for element
ary and advanced soaring.
This combination of primary train
ing and soaring operations on the same
sites is highly desirable" it was ex-
planned.
The society is planning conference
with officials of the Aeronautical Branch
of the Department of Commerce on
gliding and soaring matters.
1.-THE S. S. A. feels the department
will cooperate to a greater extent than
has been possible in the past in gliding
and soaring" it was stated by the as
sociation, "and is confident the new
administration Is very sympathetic with
the possibilities of motorless flight In
the development Of private flying and
all phases of sport flying. The S. S. A.