Evening star., 1933-09-17

Although a cry is going up among
aviation people for change, 1t must
be pointed in fairness to Mitchell
that he was not candidate for
his present post Mitchell. a Missouri
lawyer, admitted when he took the job
that he had no knowledge of aviation
and 1t was recalled that he was a
candidate for diplomatic post and
not for departmental berth.
In the Department of Commerce
Mitchell was appointed to post which
was to have given him supervision over
the service bureaus, including the
Aeronautics Branch, Shipping Board,
Bureau of Steamboat Navigation and
Inspection, Bureau of Lighthouses and
Coast apd GeOdetic Survey.
So far as can be ascertained by the
outsider, Aeronautics is the only ac-
tivity which has been turned over
wholly to Mitchells charge. Shipping
Board is understood to be in charge of
a committee, of which Mitchell is
merely q member The other service
agencies, it is believed, have not been
turned over to him. The record of
Aeronautics has been one of confusion
and difficulty. which has reached an
extraordinary climax in the appoint
ment of a committee of outsiders ito
deal with the aeronautical activities Of
the Commerce Department.
So broad are the implied powers Of
the committee that it is being rumored
in the aviation world that the COM
mittee, in effect, will take the place of
q director of the Aeronautics Branch,
. post which as yet has not been filled,
though the administration now IS more
than five months old
It also Is being rllmored that men,
Der OF the committee, Edward P.
Warner, former Assistant Secretary OF
Commerce for AeronauticS and present
editor of Aviation. is being considered
for the directorship. Little weight Is
attached to the rumor here, however
because of Warmers political faith. He
is a Republican and served during a
Republican administration. Another
member of the committee. Leighton w
Rogers, executive vice president of the
Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce Of
America, also served in a Republican
administration as chief of the aero
nautical trade division of the Bureau
Of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
The third member is Edward Hamilton
local representative of the Airline Pilots
Association.
Doom of Tri- Motor Seen.
Col Charles A. Lindbergh is being
quoted in Europe as having stated that
the day of the tri-motored airplane is
passing. and that this type is "a wrong
formula" Ltndbergh is quoted as hav.
ing voiced hts opinion that the tri-
motor will be replaced entirely by two
and four engined airplanes and that
single-engined planes will not be
operated on passenger services any
longer.
The truth Of the quotations seems
confirmed by the fact that United States
airlines, for which Lindbergh serves as
aeronautical adviser, have limited new
purchases to the two and four engineo
types. The giant new planes now being
developed in accordance with plans ap-
proved by Lindbergh for transoceanic
services contemplated by Pan-American
Airways are four-motored types. as are
the big Sikorsky American Clippers
now used in the Caribbean.
Lindbergh's remarks on the tri-
motors occurred during the course OF
Q conversation at Copenhagen between
the American and M. Prosper Cocquyt,
chief pilot of the Belgian Sabena sys-
tenn In a report of the conversation
carried in international correspondence
on aviation issued from Geneva, Lind
bergh is said to have remarked that
IN his opinion "the ree-engine design
should be abandoned in the near
future by any progressive air trafnc