Milford chronicle., 1935-02-15
BLUE SUNOCO STARTS
MOTOR MILE In AIR

Flovd Bennett Field. N. Y, Feb. IA
with Lou Reichers the trans
Atlantic pilot at the controls an
,TJnnercu-Burnelli transport plane
4ook off today with an automoDlle
snspended between the wheels OF the
landing gear. Carrying Ford ROAD
-sted slung beneath the fuselage' the
.nIane. a new broad-cabin type, SCARED
10 an altitude of more than a mile.
fTbe experiment was made to rest
the starting powers of Blue Sunoco
motor fuel in an actual car exposed
10 severest winter conditions.
Reichers took off easily, and
climbed spiraling into the wintry
sky. until, in the distance, plane ana
auto looked like some new, bulky
,tvne of flying stage coach. In the
cabin as SunocO test man, was leze
Never, the automobile racer. When
an altitude of over a mile was
reached with the plane racing at
over a hundred miles an hour, Meyer
climbed down through a trap door
into the car. and took his seat at the
starting mechanism. AS if starting
for a drive on a city street, he
switched on the ignition. In the icy
blast. one touch of the starter set
the motor roaring. Engineers said
sthe quick, starting qualities Of Blue
Sunoco were proved under the most
difficult conditions that could have
been devised outside of labora-
tory.
The plane is a new type, built
along the flying wing idea. 1t has
a certain width of twelve feet, as
compared with five feet for the or
binary type of big transport. This
provided room for singing the auto
mobile between the wheels of the
landing gear. Clyde PangbOrn, vet
eran globe birdler and a prize win
ner in the recent london to Aus
tralia Derby plans to use an Up
percu-Burnelli broad-cabin type of
lplane in a nonstop. refueling round
be-world flight which he intends to
make in the near future.
Aviation men declare that the ex-
perimental autO-carrying fight
proves the practicability of trans
porting bulky loads below a plane,
and points the way to a realization
of projects, hitherto in the talking
project stage, of airplanes carrying
vehicles of various kinds for quick
Launching on land or water.
Plans have already been suggest
ed to the United States Army for air.
planes to transport war tanks, sky
fleets releasing squadrons of tanks
behind enemy lines in battle. Sim
fuh hn
brought thorugh the sky to critical
war areas for observation and espi- |
onage. In the exploration of re-
mote Feserts, survey cars might be |
flown to sections inaccessible save |
through the air For rescue work
might be rushed through |
the sky to the scene of disasters, |
particularly such as earthquakes
with communications wrecked. If |
an airplane can carry an automobile,
why not a motor life boat? Nom
rescue cutters might be
flown to sinking ships and launched
for life saving.
Motor craft might be ferried
the air to flood regions. The
giant United States Navy dirigibles
are mother ships to airplanes, re-
leasing them and taking them in tow
again. Great transport planes might
do the same with smaller daughter
planes, with which they might main
tain communication with the ground
IN long range flights. Some au-
.hopities believe that future air
transport over great distances will
be done by huge liners that will
,ome to earth only at long intervals
or oVerhauling. and will carry
smaller planes for refueling and for
rans-shipping passengers and
reight to and from the ground.