Evening star., 1934-02-25
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

1
the recent crashes and deaths in carry
ing the airmails, if it is attempted
seriously, is going to be q difficult job.
Members of Congress who know some
thing about the Army Air Corps are
taking up the cudgels stoutly for the
Army flyers. During the debate In the
House yesterday on the Brunner bill
| authorizing the Secretary of War to
place at the disposal Of the Postmaster
General airplanes, pilots, landing fields,
etc, for the purpose of carrying the
airmails, some of them came quickly
to the defense of the Army
| The administration has been sub
jected to more criticism because of
its course with regard to the airmail
contracts than for any of its other
acts to date More recently this criti-
cism has dealt particularly with the
tragedies of the air, in which six Army
pilots have been killed within a week,
carrying or preparing to carry the
mails, and others seriously injured.
Among the members of the House
| who rushed to the defense of the Army
| pilots in the House yesterday were Mrs.
Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts,
and Representative Robert Bacon of
New York Both hit hard at the de-
mandS made upon the Army pilots
when they have not been trained for
! flying the mails or provided with the
| proper equipment.
Describes Technique.
Mr.. Bacon described in detail flying
the BEAM" the technique employed by
! the commercial aviation companies in
| carrying the mails. Both Mr.. Bacon
| and Mrs. Rogers described the sending
OF the Army pilots into this service
without the necessary equipment as
murder" Mr.. Bacon declared that
| the airmail service should be dis
continued entirely until the admins
/ tration can work out proper plans for
handling this mail.
About 10 days ago, when it was
announced that these airmail con-
| tracts were to be cancelled" said
Mr.. Bacon, "a friend of mine came
/ down to see me with this story: Casey
Jones was an old Army pilot in the
war. He was one of the famous orig
lnal air pilots, and is known to every
| aviator in the country. He is now
| conducting a school to teach COM
merclal flying, how to fly on the
beam, as they call it. He told me
that when it was announced that the
Army was TO take over the flying OF
the airmail, these young boys at
Mitchell Field, N. Y, began calling
him on the telephone: Casey, for
Gawd'S sake, can you tell us something
about flying the beam? We have
| never been taught it So he got into
his plane the next morning at
O'Clock and came TO Washington to
get permission to teach these Army
| pilots to fly the beam To show
what could be done, he covered his
plane entirely so that he could not
see out OF 1t at all, and he left the
Newark airport and came down on
the radio beacon, and he only missed
the center of the Washington Airport
by 80 yards. without seeink anything
from Newark to Washington. poor
Army pilot left Newark yesterday and
the snow came on and he could not
see. He crashed at Crisfield, Md, 40
miles of his course, on the Eastern
Shore, because he did not know how
TO fly the BEAM
Flyers Ear Phones.
perhaps I'd better explain what
flying the beam is. In the Depart
ment of Commerce We have set up
radio beacons on all the airmail
routes, and the flyer carries ear
phones on his ears If he goes too
far to the right the letter "A sounds,
and if he goes too far to the left the
letter M sounds, so he flies between
these two letters, and he can fly
straight on his course. 1t requires
complicated instruments, comp icated
wireless apparatus, and the Army air.
planes are not equipped with that. to
begin with.
The reason the Army flyers are not
taught to fly these radio beacons, or
| fly the beam is because during the
war there will be no radio beacons
They will not be necessary, but if you
are to fly fixed mail route it is nee
essary, particularly if you are to get
the mail through on time, to fly the
BEAM because the air mail flies at
night, it goes in the fog, it goes in
SnoWstorms and it goes through reg
ularly. Airmail pilots are all taught
that and they can all come through
with safety.
Il do not know anything about the
| question of fraud in these contracts.
but if there has been fraud, the per-
petratorS must be convicted and
jailed. But there are many, companies
which have not been given any hear
ing in court, any hearing before the
Postmaster General or any hearing
before the committee.
Il believe We should stop this legal
lied murder. 1t will not do the coun-
try any harm if for two weeks the
mail is not carried by air."
/ Mrs Rogers not only came to the
defense of the Army pilots, but she
also accused the administration with
! seeking to play politics in its annul-
ment of the airmail contracts and
with attempting to smear the Hoover
administration.
Farley Holiday.
'It is very difficult not to speak with
the greatest possible bitterness about
the preparation of this unspeakable
thing-the destruction of human life
and property" said Mrs. Rogers.
why was it done Was it to make a
Farley holiday? Was it done to dis
credit the former administration?
The discredit is not there. 1t will be
written in red, written in blood across
the record of this administration and
will never be eradicated
Il don't know how many members
of the House have flown. Personally
have flown from coast to coast in
commercial planes. One of my trips
was on account of very serious illness,
, and know what it means in a case
/ of that kind
Il know what it means to the peo-
! pie of my district who have business,