Evening star., 1934-12-17
NAT|0N'SA|RMEN
MARK AWAT|ON'S
31ST BIRTHDAY
Capital Leads in Paying
Tribute to 0rviIIe and
Wilbur Wright.
FOUR CABINET MEMBERS
GIVE RADIO ADDRESSES
Broadcasts Featured by Talks
From Planes Above Boston, Day
ton, Chicago, San Francisco.

In the roar of airplanes above thou
sands Of American cities and towns
the Nations aviators today spoke
their tribute to Orville and Wilbur
Wright. the men who 81 years ago
today gave them their wings.
Led by the National Capital, which
put more than 11o airplanes into the
air in a massed flight, communities
all over the country and In American
territories joined in observance of
National Aviation day, under the lead
ership Of Federal and civil aviation
officials.
As several thousand airplanes took
to the air at 10:30 o'clock this morn
ing, the hour at which the Wrights 81
years ago launched their little BIZ
plane in the face of an icy wind which
swept the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk,
N. C., four members Of the cabinet
made brief radio addresses from
washington over a Nation wide hook
up following a short radio dramatiza-
ton Of the first flight. The radio
broadcast also featured talks by pilots
broadcasting from their planes above
Boston, Dayton, Chicago and San
Francisco.
Land at Boiling Field.
Following their massed flight over
Washington, more than 100 airplanes
of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps,
Coast Guard and Department of Com
merce, with scattering Of privately
owned and commercial airplanes from
six fields around the city, landed at
Boiling Field. where they are on pub
lie exhibition this afternoon from IL
noon to pm.
The development of the airplane as
a medium Of transportation and the
work Of the Bureau Of Air Commerce
IN fostering and maintaining air COM
merce were described by Secretary of
Commerce Roper in the first of the
four cabinet radio addresses. He char
acterized increased safety as the most
vital Of the results Of Government &C.
ttvity in behalf of aviation.
In the short space of 81 years air
craft performance has advanced tre-
mendously, so that today the air force
is one Of the most important elements
Of national defense" Secretary Dern
said in his tribute to the Wrights.
Secretary Dern was followed in the
broadcast by an Army pilot flying
above Orville Wright's home in Day.
ton, Ohio. who broadcast q brief
message from his plane.
Cites Governmental Aid.
TT has been largely through gov
ernmental aid to aviation, admins
tered by the Post Once Department,
that this country has been enabled to
take first place in world aviation" :"
Postmaster General Farley said in his
radio tribute. He traced the airmail
service in its growth to system
covering routes totaling 28,795 miles,
serving cities in Al States, and cover
ing l8,417 miles of foreign routes.
The Postmaster General introduced
Pilot Nal Freeburg, the Nations out
standing airmail pilot hero" who
broadcast from his airman plane
while in fight over Chicago.
Secretary Of the Navy Swanson,
closing the Cabinet broadcast, de-
clared that aviation today is not only
an inseparable component of our feet.
but we of the Navy consider 1t one
of the most vital elements of Amer
ican sea power"
All airplanes of the Navy and Ma
rine Corps, Mr.. Swanson said, were
sent into the air today as "a living
tribute to the inventive genius of the
Wright brothers, who placed this
means Of transportation in our
hands"
Broadcast from Dirigible.
The commemorative radio program
closed with a broadcast from the
great Navy dirigible, U. S. S. Macon.
flying over San Francisco. describing
the launching of airplanes from the
airship and their return.
The Nations winged tribute" was
arranged by Eugene L. Vidal, director
of air commerce, with the co-opera-
ton of Federal aviation chiefs and
the heads of national aeronautical
organizations and commercial avia-
tion enterprises, headed by Elliott
Roosevelt, acting for the National
Aeronautic Association and the Aero
nautical Chamber of Commerce.
Washingtons tribute began at 10
am. with the take-off from Boiling
Field of the first elements of an
Army Air Corps formation. The
Army was followed by the Navy,
Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Com
merce Department, a half-hour being
required to get all the planes in the
air. At l0:30 q number of privately
owned aircraft from various airports
around the city took of.
For nearly an hour the air above
Washington was full Of airplanes, with
formations visible in every direction.
Gradually the service planes as
sembled In q long column which
passed over the heart of the city from
north to south at low altitude in
formal review formations.
Continuing down the river to Alex
andria, Va, the column broke up and
the planes returned to Boiling Field
As o part Of their flight. the Army
Air Corps planes passed over the
route followed by Orville Wright and
Benjamin D. Foulois, then a lieuten-
ant in the Signal Corps. now major
general and chief Of the Army Air
Corps, In the worlds first cross-coun-
try airplane flight. from Fort Myer to
Alexandra, Va.
Representative Jennings Randolph
of West Virginia left Washington Air
port at $50 am. in Department Of
Commerce airplane flown by e. M.
Haight. aeronautical inspector, Bu-
reau OF Air Commerce, to fly over the
new municipal airport at Elkins,
w. Va, at 10:30 am. He then was to
hy to Martinsburg, w. Va, to address
an aviation day luncheon meeting of
business mems associations, returning
to Washington this afternoon.
Arrival of an aerial Santa Claus
over the city this evening will close
the local observance of the day. He is
to Jump from the plane and descend
by parachute at College Park Airport,
College Park, Nd, at 1880 pm. and
distribute souvenirs to those present
to watch the leap.