The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-05-20

in flying the wide Pacific and Il
clipper ships has equipped the
needed for flying the most impo
Pan-American anyways and Impe-
rial anyways (of Great Brittany have
long been making preparations for
Joint operation which would involve
four round trip crossings per week.
Recently a third party, Glenn l..
Martin, announced plans of COM
peting in the transatlantic service.
Martin was the builder of most OF
the great clippers now flying the
Pacific and of many of the army's
most successful bombardment
planes over a span of Is years.
For his service Martin has de-
signed the largest transport flying
boat ever built. For construction
of ships of this type his Baltimore
plant, which was taxed to the limit
in the building of the Pacific clip
pers, is being enlarged. The type
of ship he is building for trans
Atlantic service will carry 40 pas
sengers, 5000 pounds of mail and
fuel enough for 5000 miles of nom
stop flying at a cruising speed OF
ITS miles an hour.
British Have Two Ships.
At such a rate of speed it would
be possible to make the crossing
from west to east to continental
Europe in 18 hours, and to make the
return trip, against prevailing
winds, in 81 hours. This is about
equal to the time required by linn
tied railroad trains between Chicago
and New York. It is faster by four
full days than the Atlantic cross
ings of the Queen Mary and the
Normandie, the two fastest liners
af1oat.
Imperial anyways already has two
giant flying ships, the Cavalier and
the Caledonia, engaged in expert
mental flights in preparation for the
transatlantic service. Two other
ships of this, the 'C'' type, have
been in experimental service over
the Mediterranean for several
months; one of them not long ago
established a record of Is hours
and 35 minutes for the 1000 miles
from Southampton to Alexandria.
Twenty-four more type CO. ships
have been ordered. The total cost
Of the fleet will approximate S10,-
100000. They are type of trans
port new to the British. They are
comparable in many ways to the
Sikorsky clippers of Pan-American,
although they are somewhat small
er. They carry gross weight of
$4,000 pounds as against $4,000 for
the Sikorsky. They are SO feet long,
"a feet high and have a wing span
of ia feet. Their four Pegasus
740-horsepower engines are capable
Of a top speed of 30 miles an hour
and cruising speed of 160 to ITO
miles an hour.
The plan is 10 use these planes
for passengers only on flights be-
tween New York and Hamilton, Ber-
muda; on such flights they will
carry Is in addition to the crew.
They will be used for air mail only,
on the hop across the Atlantic to
Europe, carrying only first and Sec
ond pilots, ships clerk, radio OPP
orator and steward.
Unbroken Safety Record.
Pan-American claims to be ready
to begin transatlantic flying at a
moments notice. 1t has available
many crews enriched by the expert
ence of five years of flying over the
Caribbean sea. The route from Mi
ami to Panama was for years the
longest over-water hop on any of
the worlds commercial airlines.
Since the first flight was made
over this route on December 2, 1880,
the line has made two regularly
scheduled round trip flights a week.
In total of 2,400 crossings there
has never been an incident of any
kind, and only few hops were
Cancelled because Of hurricanes.
Pan-American has also flown doz-
ems of successful flights from San
Francisco to Manila. With the early
difficulties ironed out it is now pos
sible to extend the flights all the
way to China.
A new addition to the Martin clip
pers which Pan-American has in
service on its Pacific route is
Sikorsky ABB, larger than any of the
ten Sikorsky clippers now being
flown to the West Indies and Pan
anna. 1t is larger and improved
over the earlier S42 which pioneered
the Pacific route, its gross weight
being $4,000 pounds as compared
with $4,000 pounds for the earlier
type. The wing span is 118 feet
against the old ia feet. Top speed