Evening star., 1937-04-11

there, as the terminii and interme-
diate landing points are controlled
by the British. This is true as to
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Ire
land on the northern route, and Ber-
muda and the Azores on the southern
! route. The Azores are Portuguese
territory, but conceded to be under
the British sphere Of influence.
The Post Office Department visual
ICES immediate success for the service
and complete fulfllment of expec-
| tationS in a big way" Ludlow con-
| tinued. Whether or not its optimism
| is well founded remains to be seen,
but certainly all of the factors of suc-
cess seem to be in the equation. The
alrmau postage rate proposed for
| transatlantic mail is 25 cents per
letter of one-haf ounce and 25 cents
additional for each half ounce or frac-
ton thereof. This compares with the
| existing foreign mail rate Of 5 cents
an ounce and 8 cents for each ad-
dltional half ounce. The service con-
templates the use of airmail all the
way from point of origin to point of
/ destination.
Based on close calculation Of the
prospective volume of mail, the de-
| partment predicts that at the 25-cent
rate, the revenues would pay the con-
tractual obligations at So per mile
and the service would be self-sustain-
ing from the start, which would diff
ferentiate 1t very markedly from the
air service to China, which, although
it has been in operation since Novem-
Der %, 1885, still registers big annual
deficit.
The picture of the transatlantic
airmail that is in the minds OF the
Post Office Department officials visual
ICES London as the funnel through
which airmail from all over Europe
will be gathered and sent to America.
"On the other hand, New York is
visualized as the funnel through which
mail coming from the Orient, al
countries in the Western Hemisphere
north Of Brazil, and all Of the United
States will pass on the way to London
and points in Europe From Hong
kong to San Francisco is six days BY
the China Clipper service; from San
Francisco to New York is one day by
fast plane, and from New York to
London will be 30 hours, so that mail
| from Hongkong crossing North Amer
lea will reach London in eight or
nine days by transatlantic airmail.
While the contract for carrying the
transatlantic airmal at a maximum
cost OF 50 a mile will be awarded on
the basis of competitive bids, it Is be-
lieved there is only one company in
America capable of executing such
a huge contract, and that is the Pan
American, which carries the mail to
South America, Alaska and China. In
England a like situation prevails,
where Imperial AirwayS, a Govern
ment-subsidiZed concern, is the out
standing aviation company. 1t is
probable that the service would start
with the four-engine clippers that
pioneered the Pacific, but testimony
before our subcommittee described
plans for constructing enormous new
ships for this trans Atlantic service,
one of so tons and one of 125 tons.
The China Clipper ships now in
operation are about IS or 26 tons.
with a wing spread of 13o feet. The
new ships will be immensely larger.
It will be written into the contract
that all airships used in this Ameri-
can postal service must be built in
America and that the contractor shall
employ only Americans.
The Post Office Department and
State Department believe after ex-
haustive Investigations that trans
Atlantic airmail will be vrey profitable
and desirable from the standpoint Of
America"
1--WE years ago Pan-American Air
ways definitely entered the
transatlantic picture when it aC-
quired all concessions and operating
agreements from Trans-AmeriCan
Airlines Corp. on its proposed 1869
mile route linking North America and
Europe.
Trans-American, at that time en-
gagged in domestic airmail operations
in the Northern United States, spent
more than year in planning, sur
veying and negotiating for the North
ern route across the Atlantic. The
route was plotted by technical staff
headed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson Of
New York, Dr.. Peter Freuchen Of
Copenhagen ana Prof W. H Hobbs
of the University of Michigan.
Surveys were undertaken by Parker
D. Cramer, famous American pilot,
and Oliver L. Paquette, Canadian
government radio service operator,
who crossed the Greenland ice caps
and went on to Iceland Cramer and
Paquette lost their lives, however, in
a North Sea hurricane when within
$50 miles Of their goal Mail Pilots
Edwin L. Preston and Robert H Col
lignon carried on the survey.
Trans-American representatives, it
was claimed, obtained a 75-year con-
cession, including exclusive American
airline privileges for Is years. from
Iceland
Pan-American went ahead at once
with active field research, preparing
two Arctic expeditions to conduct
meteorological and aerological re-
search in the Far North. The first
expedition, to East Greenland, was
headed by the noted explorer, H. G.
Watkins. 1t established bases 10
miles apart on the east coast of
Greenland and collected detailed
weather information over a long
period and made Typographical
studies from which detailed maps
were prepared for air transport pur-
poses.
On the west coast of Greenland
and in the interior Pan American
worked in cooperation with the Uni
versity of Michigan expedition under
direction of Dr. R. L. Belknap, in
association with the International
Polar Year Research group. The
main base was established several