Evening star., 1935-08-04

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peed flights to French possessions.
ister Denains of France, Henderson
/ government to fly in the Bendix.
of the Pacific. Heaving a line over
board, they were astonished by a
sudden pull, and after calling fran
tically for volunteers, a long, des-
perate struggle ensued. At the point
of exhaustion, they hauled their prey
aboard.
Being unable to identify the crea-
ture from the depths" continues the
account from the expedition, "an ex-
pert was called in and in no time at
all he had identified this denizen Of
the deep as taffran log.
Directly there arose a very knotty
problem requiring the aid of 16 men
to help the fishermen unknot the
knotty log line
Total loss, five knots unrecovered
up to the time of going to press. When
last seen the intrepid fishermen were
headed north by east by one-fourth
east by the after hatch-cover closely
followed by the mate. All hands were
making plenty of knots"
Allegheny County, Pa, has opened
Flyers Club at the Allegheny County
Airport. Pittsburgh. for the free use
of civilian and military pilots forced
to stay there overnight because of
weather conditions or for other rea-
sons
County officials have sent invitations
to personnel Of the Army Air Corps
and the Navy Bureau of AeronauticS
to visit Pittsburgh and make use Of
the club.
The third class of candidates for
fight training and appointment as
aviation cadets in the Naval Reserve
has been selected and the 10 success
full candidates are to report to the
various Naval Reserve aviation bases
August IL for elimination fight train
ing.
Five of the candidates are to report
to the Anacostia Naval Air Station
here. Three of them are Washing
tonians. The local men are w. C.
Neuenhahn, j. S. Martinek and H. r.
Bogusch. The other members Of the
local contingent are 6. A. McKusick
of Hibbing, Mimi, and H. Bragg,
Beckley, w. Va.
A sports flying meet, to be held at
Admiral Byrd Airport, Winchester,
We ie for Iof
A number Of Washington pilots will
participate in contests to be judged
upon skillfulneSs in take-offs and
landings and other standard Depart
ment of Commerce flight test ma
neuvers.
The useful life Of the modern air.
plane frequently exceeds five years,
during which it may travel nearly
1000, 900 miles, and there are at least
169 civilian airplanes now in service
in the United States which were
built in 1926 or before, according to
records of the Bureau of Air Com
merce.
License records of the bureau show
that on June there were 8,733
civilian airplanes known to be in
operation in the United States. OF
this number, 5,841 were licensed by
the Department of Commerce and
1882 were unlicensed, but bore iden-
tif1cation marks.
The records show that 4,207 Of the
total number of airplanes-approxi-
mately half-were constructed prior
to 1880 and were still in service. Air
planes constructed in 1880 or later
and still licensed or identified num-
ber 4,155
For 37l airplanes the date Of man
ufacture could not be determined, but
it is believed many of them probably
were built before 1926.
The year 1929, peak year In air
plane production in this country, also
| is best represented in point Of air
planes now In service. There are
2,414 airplanes which were produced
in that year now holding licenses or
Identification numbers.
Nomadic Indians of the mountain
jungles Of the upper Orinoco, in Co.
lombia, upon seeing an airplane for
the first time, promptly made plans
for stealing and Matching eggs Of the
great and noisy bird, according to a
tall tale relsyed by officials Of Pan
American Airways.
A few months ago airplane service
was extended from Bogota, capital of
Colombia, to Puerto Carreno, in the
mountains near the frontier Of
Venezuela. The line passes over great
areas of almost unexplored jungle
inhabited by aborigines who have seen
few, if any, white men.
The Indians, according to the stoy,
were awe-stricken when the firsts air
plane appeared, but Immediately laid
plans to follow the terrifying mon
stroSity to its den or nest.
"The chief, in his primitive yet
fertile Imagination, figured they could
make use Of such powerful birds In
defense of their ancestral mountain
territory" it is explained by Pan
American Always. obviously, this
big bird must lay eggs like eagles and
other birds.
"They located the field where the
plane made its nest A handful of
braves was selected to invade the
planes resting place during the night
and If possible capture one or more
of its eggs. Surprised by airport ON
cials in their soft-footed midnight
raid, the Indians, bearing spears, bows
and arrows, confessed through an in
terpreter that their chief had sent
them on their dangerous mission with
the hope of Matching the eggs and
raising some Of the fabulous birds
for themselves"