Evening star., 1934-08-26
BY FRANCES SHIPPEN.

LOOKED like a strange sky bird with
trailing brood Of three fedgings as 1t took
of from Floyd Bennett Field, in New York.
The sky train!
What will the powerful locomotive" and
motorless "cars" have to offer future trans
portation? Will the sky open up channels for
the development and practical use Of long air
trains within the next few years? Months?
Trains that will have pulling power capable
of carrying many passengers and large quanti-
ties of baggage on one trip? Will it mean the
speeding up Of the present airman system and
the landing of mail in smaller cities, which
otherwise could not be served? Will it mean
the landing very shortly of these glider-cars
in small areas-Such as building topS-in large
metropolitan cities?
That is what the hackers of the air-train
believe. And that is why they sponsored the
experimental New Washington, D. c..
sky train flight the first of the month august
2, 1934)-the first time that plane and three
gliders have been flown tandem over long
distance, carrying mail.
Paving way for freight trains of the air. the
locomotive" biplane and three glider cars
left Floyd Bennett Field at 10:45 am, Thurs
day, August 2, for exciting trip that proved
to be by no means uneventful.
No sooner had they lost sight of the New
York skyline than the air train ran into strong
headwindS and heavy storms. For two hours
they battled unusually rough flying weather
and two hours later they landed at Philadel-
phia their speed having been greatly reduced
and their gasoline supply nearly exhausted.
1t was originally planned for one plane to cut
loose over Philadelphia, the others continuing
their flight. But Jack OMeara, 1888 national
gliding champion in charge of the flight, de-
cided to have the entire train land because OF
the weather conditions. While the train was
at an altitude of 3,100 feet and more than a
mile from the Philadelphia airport, O'Meara
ordered the glders to cut loose They looked
like three gigantic birds as they glided silently
down through the gray skies.
Eight minutes after he had cut loose OMeara
landed, followed a minute later by the second
pilot and two minutes later by the third glider.
The precision was perfect So enthused were
to go on, despite adverse weather conditions.
The ship was refueled. The gliders lined up to
continue the fight.
The take-of was as thrilling as the landing.
At signal from O'Meara, the pilot started to
taxi his plane with the tail held down. The
gliders moved less than 100 feet across the tall
grass of the airport before they were in the
air. They were held few feet off the ground
until the plane gained flying speed. In less
than a minute after the first signal the three
craft were in the air. Encountering terrific
storm near Wilmington, however, the train
decided to tNrn back to the Philadelphia air
port.
No break in the weather came until the next
day. At 8:55 am. Friday the air train took
off for its flight to Baltimore and Washington.
More head winds retarded their air speed But
a little before noon, Stanley Smith of Roches-
ter, N. Y, 1882 national glider champion, had
cut loose over Baltimore. More than 1000
people were at Logan Field to watch the ex-
perienced glider pilot make a perfect landing
in front of the hangar.
In a little less than an hour later, the glider,
piloted by OMeara cut loose from the plane,
circled six times above the White House and
slipped silently down to a perfect landing on
the grass OF the Ellipse-completing the inaug-
ural run Of the first aerial mail train. The
plane landed at Hoover Airport.
CLIAS LUSTIG, prominent New York sports
- man and aviation enthusiast, who also is
president of the sky train concern, trailed the
experimental flight in his cabin plane He was
one of the first to greet OMeara
"You have made aviation history Jack" he
told the glider pilot I'm the face of the worst
conditions possible you did what you said you
would do. am more convinced than ever that
the sky train will be the method of future
airplane transportation"
The technical arrangements for the flight
were in the hands of Prof r. e. Franklin of
the University of Michigan, noted aeronautical
engineer and pioneer builder of gliding and
soaring planes, who has designed craft of this
type used by the Navy in experimental flights
at Pensacola, Fla. Prof. Franklin piloted the
glider car which cut loose over Philadelphia.
His plan called for air train in the true
sense of the word. Although as many as three
ghoers have been towed behind airplanes be-
10 fhnxz, }aa WAL