The Washington times., 1936-02-04
Human Side of News
Bv Edwin C.. Hill

n G.. Hill
going on. If you can launch an
airplane without that long, pre-
liminary ground run, you can
carry a load from 20 to 80 per
cent h savier than If you have to
fight gravity at the start.
The Germans, in their long.
trans-oceanic flights. beat this
by catapulting the heavily loaded
hydroplane from a ship. Why
not launch the airplane from q
dirigible? That's the new idea.
Experiments in which an airplane
in flight hooks the underside Of a
dirigible have been successful.
Similarly successful has been the
unlocking in flight.
The next stop will be for the
dirigible to pick up the atrplane
from a ground Standsttl, carry
it aloft and make gravity an i'm
pelling rather than a retarding
force in the getaway. Much will
depend upon success in making
dirigibleS with sufficient lifting
power to raise the dead weight
of a heavily loaded airplane, and
in working up speed while still
carrying it, so thai the plane may
be thoroughly stabilized in the
air before being released.
To repeat. the main point Is the
possible increase Of pay-load. OF
freight or passengers, for the air.
plane. And this business Of pay.
load is now at the delicately bal
anced fulcrum of self support or
subsidy for airplanes.
TECHNICAL ADVANCE
Dirigibles have been beautiful
all too beautiful and visible. Scout
ing ships at sea, they have been
spotted first by the ships. Vul.
nerable they obviously have been.
P aSt performance apparently
would rate them now as the roust-
abouts of the defensive forces, as
inglorious as an old switch engine,
but that isn't the whole story.
In and around the Navy Depart.
ment there is expert opinion which
insists that daring and radical in.
novations in design and construc-
ton will vastly increase their
speed and manageability and give
them a new, undreamed of soaring
capacity for observation. or for
shifting or launching airplanes.
Scientists. with commendable
restraint, are still holding out
much on the layman. The STRAIT
oSphere, in spite of occasional in
vasions, is still a No-Man'S land.
The rocket men, and there are
sensible, cautious scientists among
them, are fastening the picture of
high strata flights by which pas.
Sengers may be catapulted from
dizzy height to Paris or London in
an hour or two.
Just how high and how fast
and how potently new-fangled gas
bags may be made to travel is
linked with dirigible research.
There are no sharp border lines
in science. It is not unlikely that
in a few years present day Zepp,
imposing. ponderous and digni-
fled, will seem as quaint as an old
horse and buggy.
The Navy, of course. is thinking
of defense The air routes spread
over the world, and we were mind
ful Of this in our blazing the
new trail across the Pacific. Just
now, German mission is arriv.
ing in Washington to arrange the
establishment of air lines between
Germany and the United States.
Through it's great, and, Incl.
dentally, heavily subsidized Luft-
hanSa, Germany has made aggreS-
Sive outreacheS in aviation, with
145 successful flights across the
South Atlantic.
Defensive and economic phases
of aviation are interlinked. Blu.
reaucracy and politics have hamp-
cred our efforts in the past. Wash.
ington LENDS inform me that in
Congress and the various depart
ments there is a disposition to
cut lot of red tape, bring both
heavier and lighter than air plans
out in he open to meet the exi.
gencies of both defense and com.
merce brought about by the
swiftly moving technical advance
throughout the world. It's good
news if true.
Copyright. 1885. K. r. g.. Inc.).