Evening star., 1934-11-18


which the great American foreie
the boldeSt venture in air tranSl
Only the most meager information
concerning the new Martin has leaked
out. There are no authentic figures
available as to dimensions or design
characteristics. Three pictures have
been made public showing the great
craft, encased in network of scaf-
folding, during the final phases OF
assembly.
They indicate the new ship, despite
its tremendous size. will be one of the
most graceful airplanes yet produced.
1t is a high-wing monoplane, with a
stub lower wing. The engines are set
in the leading edge of the wing, as in
the case of the C-42.
AS to actual carrying capacity, only
official estimates are available. The
great plane is said to be nearly third
larger than the S-42, which, on record
flight for greatest load, carried 16.608
pounds of pay load, in addition to crew
and fuel. This is the equivalent of
80 passengers or seven Ford V-8 road
sters of the latest design. The Martin,
with its greater size, undoubtedly will
be able to carry more than 100 pas
sengers or their equivalent in actual
pay load, it is said.
While the Martin nearS completion,
the first of the great Sikorsky, now
in trial service along the Atlantic coast
of South America, continues to pile
up new records for efficiency of opera
ton. This splendid airplane now holds
10 official world records, eight of which
were established in a single flight.
They are for speed and distance with
record loads.
5,262 Feet of Metal.
The S-42, today the largest airplane
produced in the United States, has a
sheet metal skin on its fuselage, wings
and tail large enough to completely
cover three average city building lots
q total Of 5,262 square feet of metal.
There are $1,000 rivets in the outer
surface of the wing and 10000 in the
exterior surface of the hull; total of
approximately 100000 rivets.
During flight tests the plane covered
$3.50 miles, the equivalent of round
trip across the United States. During
these tests 100000 pounds of ballast
were loaded and unloaded by hand
More than one and aQuarter rniles
of cables are used to control the en-
gines, propellers, gasoline valves, all
eronS, elevators, rudder and other
moving parts.
Each of the wing-tip floats has sdf-
ficient flotation capacity to make a
comfortable four passenger outbcard
motor boat and the anchor weighs
200 pounds-large enough for a mod
crate size yacht. Approximately 900
gallons of paint were used on the S-42,
including primer, lacquer, bituminous
paint and dope. This Is enough to
give go cottages of average size one
coat of paint each. More than mile
of electric wiring is used in the plane
and there are nearly 100000 sepa-
rate parts, excluding the engines end
propellers.
Four complete wind tunnel models
Of the plane were built and tested
during the progress of the dasign work
and IL hulls were built and used in
water tests. Forty-six complete wind
tunnel reports were made during the
progress of the aerodynamic analysis
and 375 photographs were made of
progressive construction and the fin
ished plane.
Finished design data include 1855
closely typed pages, representing fin
ished work on aerodynamic analysis,
stress analysis, airplane manual,
weight analysis and specifications.
This did not include computations on
the materials. These 1855 pages to-
tai about 10000 words, or the equiv
alent of five complete novels of aver
age length.
There are 1,400 blueprints to cover
the construction of this airplane, not
including 900 research and expert
mental drawings and countless,
sketches.
Air Development Praised.
America is at least 10 years ahead
of Europe in air transport develop
ment, in the opinion of Capt. P. G.
TAYLOR. navigator for Sir Charles
Kingsford-Smith on his recent mag
nificent flight from Australia to Cali
fornia.
Capt. TAYLOR, himself noted as an
eirmail pilot on European lines, voiced
his views on the superiority OF Amerl-
can air transport facilities following
@ trip across the United States on the
overnight service of Transcontinental
and Western Air. He was passenger
on one of the new Douglas high-speed
transports, which holds the American
speed records for commercial air.
planes and which finished second In
the London-Melbourne race.
II have learned a great deal about
sirplanes and the most modern
methods of flying them in the few
hours it took me to fly from Los
Angeles to New York. Capt. Taylor
told officials of the line.
The Douglas he praised as "a mar
velously fast and comfortable ship"
He said he also was most favorably
impressed by the navigational equip
ment carried, especially the Sperry
automatic pilot, and with the big air
cooled engines.
Il am frank to admit" Capt Taylor
Is quoted as having said, that America
with its Douglas airplanes, its Efficient
operation and the reliability of its
radio communication and signalling
devices, Is at least 10 years ahead OF
European countries in commercial avi-
alton. I am glad to see that many OF
our European lines are being equipped
with the Douglas airliner."
Capt. Taylor is described as being
navigator by profession and a flyer by
choice. He had little to say of his own
work in navigating the Kingsford-
Smith plane-an American airplane,
by the way-across the Pacific. This
flight called for the most skillful nav1-
CATION, as the goals on two legs were
small islands at the end of long water
hops and only small error might
have resulted in missing them entirely,
with fatal consequences. Taylor said.
however. that he is eager to get back
to his job of flying the mail in Europe.
Fast Service Scheduled.
High-speed, high altitude service on
the coastal route through Washing
ton, from New York to Miami, will be
inaugurated tomorrow by Eastern Air
Lines. A fleet of tWo-engine Douglas