Evening star., 1934-08-26

four Hornet mOCOrS. 1IllS is al dLldAluS
performance for a flying boat of any
type, and it is truly phenomenal for
one capable of carrying 80 passengers,
a crew of six and $500 pounds of mail
and express 1850 miles at such speeds
without stopping to refuel.
In establishing the records referred
to by Mr. Vidal the S-42 carried a
"pay load of eight tons to an altitude
of 1904 feet on one occasion, and five
and a half tons to 21,800 feet on an
other, thereby shattering previous world
records by wide margin in two differ
ent categorieS. At. the same time it
demonstrated to the satisfaction OF ex-
perts it's inherent ability to topple prac-
tically every other world mark for craft
of it's type in the field of Speed-with-
load over various distances. 1t is prob
able that the Brazilian Clipper actually
will have achieved these records by the
time this article appears.
Thus Americas water-borne air trans
port has stolen a tremendous lead in
the intercontinental field on other pres
ent contenders for commercial air su-
premacy-British, French, German and
Dutch-and has even transcribed the
accomplishments of our domestic COM
mercial aviation with its recently
achieved 200-mile- speeds.
For the new Yankee clipper ships of
the air, while a few miles an hour slower
than the latest Douglas, Lockheed and
Boeing multi motored transports to be
found on the Nations air lines, Surpass
the latter both in range and relative
"pay load" Besides, their improvement
in performance over the best previously
existing marine aircraft far exceeds COM
parable progress in the latest American
land plane designs.
\A/HEN one considers that the famous
w German Luft Hansa and the
equally well known Royal Dutch Air
Lines TX. L. M recently have sent here
to purchase Boeing, Douglas and Lock-
heed transport planes, and that Europe
has striven in vain to produce flying
boat whose performance anywhere near
compares to that of the S-42, it is evi-
dent that American commercial aviation
has given an excellent account of itself
in both the domestic and international
fields. Whether it will be able to main
tain this leadership is dependent on two
things-future progress abroad and
governmental support and encourage
ment of the industry at home.
Despite the fact that three-year Pc
fiod of research and development inSti-
gated by them has produced the worlds
outstanding flying boat, Pan-American
Airways officials insist that they could
have built a much better airplane if
more money had been available. This
company is spending nearly $4,000 900
for its three transatlantic" type ST.
korskys and three similar but larger
flying boats which the Glenn L. Martin
Co. is building in Baltimore.
BY way of contrast the company off,
cials point out that the French air min
istry, at total cost of approximately
$4,000, 900, constructed two big flying
boats and giant tri-motored land plane,
the Arc en- Ciel, for service across the
South Atlantic between French West
Africa and Brazil. After footing all ex-
penses, including those of pioneer trips
on this route, it is preparing to give
these ships to "Air France" the French
airways system, for commercial opera
ton. And "Air France" 1t might be
added, through direct subsidy and air
mail revenue, receives far more govern
mental assistance than is enjoyed by its
Yankee rival in the growing competition
for South American trade.
It is to meet this competition and the
additional threat of co-ordinated French