Evening star., 1933-01-29

all a1rmall business is IN the nanQS OF
four companies and still the days of the
mergers are not at an end.
Proposals now are understood to be
pending which may combine the four
great systems into three and possibly
of big business in aviation has def
nitely arrived.
Curious Parallel Shown.
The lives OF Capt. Hugh NJ Elmen-
dorf and Lieut.. Irwin A. Woodring, two
Of the Army's most noted postwar pur-
suit pilots, who were killed within q
week Of each other and who have just
been buried in Arlington National
| Cemeterey, show q curious and fatal
parallel
They were killed on the same day of
the week while test flying new airplanes
of the same type at the same field. The
accidents apparently occurred in much
the same way. They were buried on
the same day of the week with just
about the same set of honorary pail
bearers.
The parallel, however, goes even fur
| ther. On two occasions these two Off
GERS were involved in the same acci-
dents. On July IA, 1927, they were in
volved in collision at Selfridge Field
| The wing tip Of transport in which
Lieut.. Woodring was taking of slid over
the tail and fuselage of q pursuit plane
In which Capt. Elmendorf was landing
striking the back of the captains head
and crushing him down into the cockpit
| Elmendorf was badly injured, his
spine being hurt, and was In the hos
pital for many months. He had ex-
pressed the belief that a parachute
Jump would probably kill him and had
indicated that if he ever were in an ac-
cident he would chose to ride the plane
down rather than to jump.
The accident which killed him ap-
parently resulted in no effort to jump
on his part. The plane was in violent
spin, however, and it may be that the
force OF the spin injured his weak back
and that he was unconscious. Capt
FRANK OD. Hunter, his passenger, who
jumped at such low altitude that he
was seriously injured. said that Elmen-
dorf appeared to have slumped in his
seat and may have been unconscious
Following Emendorf's recovery from
his Selfridge Field accident, he and
Woodring served together in the 95th
Pursuit Squadron at Rockwell Field
Calf, where they engaged in the nota-
BILE pioneering work of that squadron
in high altitude tactical maneuvering.
Their second mishap occurred or
April %, 1880. when. as members OF
the 95th, they were engaged in "doe
fight" at Sacramento in connection
with the Air Corps maneuvers of that
year. At the height of their fight
Woodring's plane went into spin from
which he failed to pull it out. As
Capt. Elmendorf helplessly followed him
down he finally abandoned ship and
took to his parachute and safety.
New Dutch Fokkers Built,
Anthony H. G. Fokker, who left the
United States to continue building
planes in Holland is reported to have
under development number of new
high-speed transports, some of which
1t is reported, will carry more load al
greater speed than any multi-enginet
transport plane now in service in the
United States or in Europe
Nearest to completion Is the FIX, a
trimotor Of IL to 20 passenger capacity
for which a maximum speed of 18a
miles per hour and a cruising speed OF
155 miles per hour are claimed. There
also is the F-36, to carry 80 passengers
| and crew Of 4, and powered with -four
engines driving tractor propellers. A
smaller high-speed transport, for 10
passengers; high-speed single engine
PAoAAc AoA itioh VI CA6Ao pdSocil6cIo dllU
a twin-engine design also are being de-
veloped.
The FIX, which is to be used by
the Royal Dutch Airlines, has the Fox
ker tapered cantilever high wing, but
in other respects is departure from
ali previous Fokker practice. The fuse
lage is elliptical in section, with nose
and outboard engines cowled with the
type of cowling designed by the Ma
tional Advisory Committee for Aeronau-
tics of this country. Landing gear and
tail wheel are fully retractable. The
first Of these planes is to be fitted with
three Of the new TOO horsepower Wright
engines recently put on a production
basis in the United States. The F-36
Is to be powered with four of these