Evening star., 1936-09-13

every indication that the gains will
DR.. Lewis has served with the N. A.
C. A. since its organization in 1919,
principally as an aeronautical re-
search engineer. He also has taken
an active part in non-Federal activi-
ties for the promotion of aeronautical
design and engineering development,
among them the Daniel Guggenheim
safe aircraft competition and the
Wright and Manly Memorial Medal
competitions.
A IR transport passengers between
Washington and the Pacific
Coast soon will be able to travel all
or nearly all of the way in the new
Douglas DC-3 or sleeper transport
planes. Both United Air Lines, which
has increased its order of Is of the
big ships to 20. at a total cost of
$2,100.000. and American Airlines will
operate them on their transconti-
mental runs.
The new airliners have a gross
weight of $4,000 pounds and a wing
span of IS feet. Some of them will
be equipped to carry 81 passengers on
short intercity flights, but both air
lines will operate long distance non-
stop trips with most of the new ships.
For these long flights. United will
carry only IA passengers. leaving $500
pounds of pay load available for mail
and express. With this load these
airplanes will have a range of 1,500
miles and can be flown across the
United States with only three stops.
The DC-3 is powered with two Pratt
& Whitney two-row. l4-cylinder en-
gines. each capable of delivering 1,l50
horsepower for take-off, making them
the most powerful land planes in the
country. United expects to operate
non stop service between New York
and Chicago on schedule of 3 hours
IS minutes.
HEATED baggage compartments for
dogs and other pets are feature
of new airliners ordered by United Air
Lines for its transcontinental service
So insistent has been the demand that
pets be carried that the airline, after
holding out against the practice fol-
years, has capitulated. Pets will be
carried as baggage, at the discretion
of the line, at excess baggage rates, it
was announced. Even so, pets will be
confined to containers in the cargo
pits
So great has been the increase in
traffic on the transcontinental route
of United that the airline today is fly
ing an average of l.703 miles every
hour. setting what is believed to be a
new international record for CONNER
cial transport operations. This one
airline has an average of nine airliners
in flight every minute of the day and
night and at peak travel hours, the
line frequently has as many as 80
planes in the air at one time.
A UTOMOBILES have replaced boats
in the Servicing of Bureau of Ali
Commerce airways beacons on islands
in Great Salt Lake, Utah. as result
of the drought Several of the 2,000,-
O00-candlepower beacons, installed on
islands in the lake, formerly were
accessible only by boat.
AS a result of the dry weather, the
waters Of the lake have receded so far
that airways maintenance crews now
are able to drive across the salt bot
tom to the lights. The beacon course
skirts the lake for many miles, cut
ting across long stretch at one point
on the transcontinental run.
The saline content of the waters of
Great Salt Lake, saltiest body of water
on earth, except the Dead Sea, has in
creased as result of the drought and
it is reported by pilots of United Air
Lines. which flies the lake route, that
pelicans often become so heavily en-
crusted with salt that they cannot fly
until they have cleaned off the de-
posits on their legs and feathers.