Evening star., 1936-02-23
(continued From First Page.)

selves. It Is 10 below zero when we
climb into the snug little Lockheed
Electra around midnight at Mr..
Casey's landing plstform. The ground
Is CLASSY with ice but the upstairs" s."
our pilot reports, is clear. Taking
q nap in a reclining chair, tucked
In with pillow and blanket, it seems
no time until we are landing in At
lanta, and shortly afterward climb
again into warm and friendly skies,
with a round moon smiling up at us
from the mirroring surface Of the
steady silver wing below our Win
dows."
One mere nap and the dawn brings
mazes of bayou and sinuous river,
the Father of Waters. old Grand
daddy Mississippi himself, and we
are sitting down" on the other
side of the Looking Glass, in sunny
fairyland where the birds are sing
ing and flowers blooming around
what Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker has
told us is the most beautiful air.
port in the United States-Shushan
at New Orleans.
This is the late Huey Longs Won
derland, where Huey and his friends
rubbed the Aladdins Lamp of the
taxpayers pocketbook and. presto,
there were bridges and roads and
capitol buildings and an airport for
the peoples enjoyment. And don't
think we are mixing metaphors too
lavishly. Down here in Mardi Gras
land everything is delightful and fam
tastic-anything can happen and any
thing usually does We go to see
A. l.. Shushan himself, for whom
the airport is named land SO well
named" various little birds tell us.
that it would cost anywhere from
$4,000 to $4,000 to remove the in
scriptions). ABE" as he is known
to his friends, receives us in gem
of modernistic Office, hidden in
the depths of rambling old whole
sale clothing mart. looking like a
genial and well-fed Buddha.
AS PRESIDENT of the Orleans
Levee Board, he was called upon
in 1880 by the Association of Com
merce to give the city an airport.
He was not interested at first. but
upon being sold the idea decided
that only super airport would do.
Having toured the country's ports
with his engineer, he picked upon
section of squatter territory along
the edge of Lake Pontchartrain and
literally out of the bottom of the
lake itself, between battles with the
Squatters on the one hand and the
Federal Government for one reason
and another on the other, built New
Orleans her airport That she still
does not appreciate what she has is no
fault of the amiable Abe. It is mere
ly the last note of fantasy in the
story-one of the least air-minded
cities in. the Nation being possessed
of an airport that may well be mod
ern 10 years from now.
There is very little to be quar-
relied with, except the fact that so
far only three airlines use it. But
that is matter to be remedied by
time, as Mexico and South America
dIe JuSG OelOW GIIt IlUI llOll, anu Id
cilities are present for every type of
land and sea plane. The administra-
tion building is spacious and delight
full, with every convenience, including
suite of hotel rooms and an ex-
cellent restaurant.
Community dances can be held in
It's auditorium; swimming pool and
tennis courts are being built in the
Handicapped Enclosures surrounding it;
parking space is available for 10000
cars. Hangers are of the most ad-
yanced steel and concrete type, with a
20O-foot opening which will swallow
the new giants of which we are being
informed without a murmur. The
shape of the field itself was dictated
by a study of prevailing wind direc-
tions, and because there are virtually
no distractions of any kind planes
can land from any direction on any
of four concrete runways, varying from
$3.50 to 4,400 feet long. Although the
original cost of the port was 81 600, 900