Evening star., 1939-12-15
Trade Board
Praised for
Airport Role
Government Official
Says GroveIIy Point to
Be Ready Labor Day

Two Government officials closely
connected with the Washington ma
tional airport project paid high
tribute to the Washington Board Of
Trade last night for its pioneer eff
forts in promoting the selection of
Gravelly Point as the site for the
new airport.
Hailing the project as the solu-
ton of the Capitals greatest avia-
ton problem, Col. Sumpter Smith,
chairman of the Interdepartmental
Engineering Commission for the air
port, and Oswald Ryan, member OF
the Civil Aeronautics Authority,
told the board it was entitled to no
small part of the credit.
Addressing several hundred men,
bers of the trade organization at
meeting devoted almost entirely to
aviation, the speakers warmly
praised the board for blazing the
trail by proposing the Gravelly
Point site more than a decade ago.
Hydraulic Fill Completed.
Col Smith informed the board
that the entire hydraulic fill for
the surface of the flying field and
the runways was completed at 3
am. last Saturday.
"Only the hour and respect for
sleeping citizens, am sure, pre-
vented a jubilant blast from the
whistles of the four big dredges that
have done this work months and
19 days ahead of time" he added.
The flying surface will be ready
by July ane the entire project will
have been completed by Labor Day.
Col Smith said. Projecting on
screen illustrations of the plans and
models of the new airport, he ex-
planned how the expected increase
In traffic will be handled.
THE technical needs, exacting as
they are, have been met generously"
he said. 81 hope you will agree
that, esthetically, the buildings fit
into that Washington scene of
woodland, park and water through
out which are set the shrines of our
history and our Government in the
classic and Colonial tradition"
Col. Smith explained that Col.
r. S. Thomas and his staff of the
Corps of Engineers will be busy for
the next few weeks filling a cause
way across Four Mile Run at the
extreme southwesterly limit of the
airport and completing the fill for
the apron in front of the terminal
building.
Present Airport Crowded.
Cnnon1otjny, nf rrnioct coY,t
come too soon, Mr.. Ryan said, be-
cause the present Washington Air
port has reached its saturation point
and the common carriers of the air
have not been able to schedule the
regular services and extra sections
required by the increasing demands.
The increase in transport opera
lions at the present airport has been
80 per cent above that of year ago,
but the airports of New York, Chi
cago, Cleveland and other cities
have experienced an increase Of
approximately So per cent in the
same period, he said.
Thus Washington has not kept
pace with other cities with which it
is linked in air commerce." he de-
clared "It is estimated that some
100000 passengers now enter or
leave Washington by transport plane
each year. But with new airport,
it is safe to predict that the air
traffic will reach a much larger
volume"
This new airport will serve as a
worthy model for every other city,"
he said. "It will be recognized as
one of the best in the world"
Cites Safety Gains.
Discussing aviation in general, Mr..
Ryan said the year ending last No
Hember 80 disclosed safety record
approximately 31a times as high as
that of any calendar year before
1889 in terms of passenger safety
and pproximately three times as
high in terms of freedom from fatal
accidents. For each fatal accident
in that period, 100000 airplane
miles were flown, he said
1T has now been more than eight
months since there was fatal acci-
dent on any American airline" he
added, knocking on wood.
Capt. William j. Tate, 70-year-old
veteran of the lighthouse service,
related some of his experiences with
the pioneer aviators. Orville and
Wilbur Wright, who stayed at his
home during their epochal flight ex-
periments at Kitty Hawk, N. c., at
the turn of the century.
The white-haired captain COM
S,1ofo11y ofivofoJ I,ie o,,Iioroo ool
nearly brought down the house when
he explained how his wife had sue
ceeded him as postmaster of Kitty
Hawk before the Wright brothers
discovered u.s."
II had been postmaster for sew
eral years and then there was a
change in the administration" he
explained. But we know how to
handle politics down there just as
well as you do in Washington. I
recommended my wife for appoint
ment as postmaster and then had
myself appointed assistant post
master"
McCracken Tells of Committee.
William P. McCracken, jr., for
mer Assistant Secretary of Com
merce, now chairman of the Avia-
ton Committee of the trade body,
outlined the activities of his COM
mittee. He explained it is divided
into five subcommittee: One on
Junior aviation activities, whose pur-
pose is to stimulate interest of boys
and girls on aeronautics; one on
national defense problems, sports
men pilots, commercial air service
Of the District and the Gravelly
Point airport.
David Colladay, chairman of a
special subcommittee of the Public
Order Committee, which made a
survey of the District Fire Depart
ment, announced his group is in
favor of a cor,prehepSivo dotajled