Evening star., 1937-01-10

desired to grow grass and which was
very much in need Of fertilizer.
A 1R travellers from Washington to
the West Coast soon will be able
to make a major portion of the trip
in the most luxurious high speed air.
planes yet produced The first of the
new ships, known as the "skylounge"
type, Is to go into service between
Chicago and New YORK on a 3-hour-
and-55-minute Nonstop schedule this
month
After additional ships OF this type
are received, United Air Lines Will
inaugurate three-stop coast-to-coast
service. The "skylounge" is one Of
the new 21-passenger Douglas air.
planes, restricted to the carrying Of
IA passengers. The saving in weight
and space makes possible salon type
Of cabin, with individual overstuffed.
revolving chairs and other innovations.
Bridge tables may be installed to
serve each group Of four chairs. The
passenger cabin is % feet long, feet
9 inches wide and feet inches high.
United has taken delivery of six OF
% of the giant new Douglas trans
ports under a 100000 contract, and
is receiving others at the rate of two
week. Though 10 of the order are
the 21-passenger types. the one just
completed is the first of the skylounge
series, 10 of which are now under
~ 1f
2l-passenger day type or of the sleeper
type. eight of which are on the pro-
duction line.
MORE than sl1'oOo,ooo worth Of
new airplanes, radio and meteoro-
logical equipment has been purchased
or contracted for by domestic air
transport lines during the past year
and will be in service during 1887,
according to survey of the Air Trans
port Association of America.
AS result of these purchases, air.
craft of all types still considered mod
ern in other countries have been dis
carded for operations on the airlines
of this country. being replaced by
At the end of the year, according
to Col Edgar S. Gorrell, president Of
the association, the airlines of the
country were operating with a pas
senger load factor, or percentage Of
seats occupied, of more than so per
cent, as compared with SAB per cent
at the end of 1885. This is the high
est load factor of any medium Of
transportation, it was announced.
During the year. United States airlines
carried total of l,140,000 passengers,
a 81 per cent increase over the total
of the preceding year, Col. Gorren
reported.
1T is noteworthy that more than
1850 people and IA tons Of United
States mail are in the air every second
of the "a hours on regular established
airlines," Col. Gorreu said.
IDIOTS of Fighting Five Squadron.
aboard the U. S S. Ranger, have
decided that two safety belts are the
answer to a long considered problem.
The extra belt is to be worn about the
chest. in addition to the regular belt
across the thighs.
The upper belt, not worn tight, is
intended to protect the head and face
from injury in case of hard landing
or sudden stop and to improve control
when flying upside down or through
maneuverS of types which tend to
raise the pilot out of his seat.
"You haven't enough leverage to
insure absolute control when hanging
by your knees upside down unless
you grab the seat or pull the present
safety belt so tight that it is decidedly
uncomfortable" it was explained. With
two belts, an upper and lower, you
are fixed securely and have pur-
chase to apply force to stick and
rudder when in unusual attitudes"
THE question of what happens to
an airplane if struck by lightning
has been answered to the entire sat-
isfaction of the crew of one of the
Martin patrol flying boats of Utility
Squadron 2. attached TO the U. S. S.
Wright. Their airplane took a full
discharge of lightning through tow
| target cable with no damage except
a burn on the cable and the loss OF
two tubes in the high-frequency re-
ceiver.
The patrol plane. with aerial target
| in tow, encountered hail squall while
passing over the U. S. S. Portland,
approaching the firing range. The
pilot of the airplane and members
of the crew were blinded by a flash
of fire. All felt a distinct but mild
shock except two mechanics who were
sitting on a rubber boat.
Observers on the deck of the Port
land said they saw ball of fire
strike the towing wire near the target
! and travel along the wire to the air
plane.
CANADIAN transcontinental air
mail service is expected to be in
operation by July. Service Is expected
to be opened in the Spring over west
ern sections of the route, between
Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Five powerful radio-beacon stations
now are located on the prairie sec
tions of the route. Sixteen airports
and landing fields have been con-
structed between Vancouver and Leth-
bridge, it has been announced. When
the entire trans-C Canadian route Is
completed there will be landing fields
every 25 or 80 miles.
The route across CANADA has its
Eastern terminals at Moncton, st.
John and Halifax. The route west to
Montreal crosses Northern Maine.
From Montreal the route Is to Elms-
dale, Ontario. There also Is q line
from Toronto to Elmsdale. From
Elmsdale the route is north to Coch-
rane, across Northern Ontario to VIM
nipeg, to Lethbridge and through
Crows Nest Pass to Vancouver.
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