Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26


been chief Of the section since 1928,
two years after the birth Of the De-
partment Of Commerce aviation Or
ganization, and has been in the Gov
eminent service for 80 years.
Collins succeeds Donald Bartlett,
chief of the bureau for about a year,
who has resigned to go into business
in his home, Como, Miss.
An important step in naval aircraft
desigr. was taken with the awarding
a few days ago Of a contract totaling
S3,e3C00C for the purchase Of ia
Doug la torpedo-bomber airplanes.
These will be the first monoplanes,
! with the exception of a few cargo
types, the Navy has acquired They
represent a radical departure from
Navy standards for its combat air.
planes
The new airplanes, formally desig-
mated as the TBD type, is of low-wing
monoplane construction and is ex-
pected to have markedly greater speed,
considerably greater range and other
improved characteristics of perform.
ance over other carrier types.
Secrecy shrouds the new project and
the Navy has nothing official TO say
about design and construction be-
yond the fact that the new ships are
powered with single engine and will
carry crew of three.
The Navy never has used the mono.
pane type for carrier operations be.
cause the greater wing-span necessi.
tated by this type of construction
makes the storage problem more diff.
hcult. The necessity for perfect down.
ward visibility in connection with
landings on the restricted area of a
carrier deck also has initiated against
conventional low-wing monoplane
of the single-engine type.
| The award of the Douglas contract
was the result of three competitive
phases: First, competition in designs
submitted by several firms, evaluated
on engineering merits; second, COM
petition in fight performance by sam.
pie experimental airplanes built I'M
der contract by the two leaders in the
design competition, and, third, open
competitive bidding on the manufac-
tUre OF the ia planes, to be identical
in general characteristics with the
pane which won the flight compete
ton.
c. G. Grey, the eminent British aN.
alton writer. often has expressed the
view that aviation. by a sort OF process
OF natural selection. will refine the
genus pilot and automatically attain
the maximum of safety The fools
and the willful violators of the natural
laws Of safety will kill themselves and
in time none will be left to hinder
| the growth of flying
This somewhat callous and ocular
view apparently is borne out by facts.
The Bureau Of Air Commerce has Just
released q report which shows that
nearly half of the fatalities in miscel-
laneous flying operations during the
first half Of 1885 occurred in flights
which violated the Air Commerce
regulations.
! ~ eAiC 4S1 Adtdl1llco III
Gus operations, which includes all
civilian flying except that of scheduled
air lines, during the first half of last
year, Sc resulted from accidents in
flights which involved one or more
violations of regulations.
Illegal acrobatics contributed to the
death or fatal injury in airplane acct.
dents of IS pilots. 3 student pilots
and passengers. The Sc fatalities
occurred in 81 accidents, each Of
which violated one or more provisions
OF the regulations. Eight fatal acci-
dents were due to illegal acrobatics
alone. Eight others were due to a
combination of illegal acrobatics with
other violations, such as low flying and
the use Of unlicensed aircraft. Low
flying alone resulted in four fatal
accidents and, in combination with
other violations, accounted for four
more. Other deaths resulted from
such violations as the carrying of pas
sengers by student pilots, overlooking
and the performance of acts contrary
to standards of public safety.
Several world records for scheduled
airline operations are claimed by
United Air Lines on the basis of COM
pleted reports of its 1885 business.
The total of 87,1Os,71I passenger.
miles flown by the line during the past
year constitutes a new high for world
transport lines and represents 80 per
cent Of the total passenger miles flown
in the United States, it is claimed.
The line also claims 40 per cent of all
airmail and more than half of the
coTntry's air express.
Passengers increased in number
from 147,139 in 1884 to 177,457 last
year, gain Of 81 per cent. Mail
flown by the line increased from the
1884 total of 3,245,742 pounds to
5.097,037 pounds last year, while ex.
press traffic grew from SAT tons to
1862 tons.
The line now is completing expendi-
lures of S1,250,000 for Improvement
Of its fleet of so twin-engined trans.
ports, which have been speeded I'D
10 miles per hour through installation
OF new engines and which now are
being sound-proofed and refinished.
STAMPS.
USED SILVER JTIRTIFES