Evening star., 1940-01-01
Transport Aviation
In 1910 Will See
Important Advances
Four-Eneined Planes
And Higher, Faster
FIyinq Predicted
Nv ALICE ROGERS HAGER.

By ALICE ROGERS HAGER.
WHAT'S ahead for American AVA
tion in the new year? Is all tne
aeronautical development in this
country to be- military, as IL Is
abroad?
One thing is certain-while the
airnlane factories are bulging with
war orders, the commercial sloe is
so far from being neglected tnat
the travelling public is going to be
presented with the chance to ny
higher and faster for lts money
than ever before.
Every so often, avlatlon mas W
have a new era, and the one tnaC
is now due to arrive is the era OF
four engines. We started out, back
at Kitty Hawk in 1908, with LOUD
noise and a hope up at the 1ronI
end of what the Wrights called an
airplane. A few years later we were
bragging about having progressed
to the very respectable use OF two
enqines--which made flying just
twice as safe-and each year better
engines have been built than the
wear before. But now, in l940, the
eirlines are doubling the ante ana
giving us two more per ship.
Engines More Accessible.
pan-American Always started the
game several years back with its
Martin Clppers-the ships that new
The pacific. But it got more ana
more ambitious and, in 1889, bios
sonoed out with half a dozen pig
new Boeings, whose engines coulo
be taken apart and put togetner
again by a man in white oVeraiis
as the limousine OF the air tooieo
Itself along over a couple OF thou
sand miles of open ocean. Ihey
had thughtfully provided space IN
the wings where the engineer mao
nlentv of elbow room to NIX all Ille
little nuts and bolts and pipe nneS'
as needed.
To show how good the idea was
there have already been 62 clippel
trips where some gadget called 1of
attention. eight of which would nave
meant a return to port If the mac
cessible Martins had been Tying.
And the passengers went rlght on
nlaving bridge and never knew any,
thing about it.
On the land side there are de-
velopments all over the lot. up III
seattle the home factory OF the
Boeing clippers is getting action on
ITS new stratolinerS, and these are
dine for delivery about the middle
of the year. Pan-American Will ny
them to South America and Alaska
and perhaps carry mail over the
Atlantic with them, and Iranscoh-
tinental & Western Airlines expects
to hop them between the East ana
West coast. They won't go into the
stratosphere where the balloons
have gone with Prof. Picard, but
thev will travel at a height OF some
10000 feet, with the ozone in the
cabins lust as comfortable as If you
were only half that high.
Douglas Planes Lighter.
Then, down in Los Angeles, Don
aid Douglas is getting to work on
q revised edition OF the famous
DC4. 1t will weigh a mere $4,000
pounds, somewhat less than its orig
inal copy, which Mr.. Douglas let
the Japanese have after he was
through with it. United Airlines
has its name in the hat for 10 OF
these planes, and expects, accord
ing to w. A. Patterson, its presi-
dent, to order a good many more
before those are delivered. A re-
liable report states that American
Airlines is going to sign for Is OF
the same. that Eddie Rickenbacker
of Eastern wants eight to carry his
flving fishermen to Florida and that
Pan-American would like three.
You won't have a chance to fly
in a DC4 on any of the lines before
1941 because of the war, but when
they come they are expected to be
IS per cent more efficient on ton
mile basis than their earlier sister
now in use, the DC3.
There are two other ships in the
picture, the Curtiss- Wright 20,
which started out with two engines
and then decided to get in the swim
and use four Lockheed, also on
the West Coast, has a 30-passengeS
job on paper that may provide some
strenuous competition.
Fare Reduction FOreseen.
The National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics says the beauty of
using four engines is that more
horsepower can be put into ship
without putting it all into two units.
The question is: How big can pro-
peller be and still do good job?
1t is possible now to build two en-
gines as powerful as the four that
are being used, but then you have
to have a multi-blade prop or much
bigger ones, and with the bigger
ones a way must be found to slow
down the number of revolutions per
minute or the tip speed will reach
the velocity of sound and won't do
anybody any good.
Mr.. Patterson of United Airlines
took five-year look ahead when he
discussed the new ships and told
this writer that they will be bearers
of good tidings in way that comes
home to all of us-to wit, an ulti-
mate cut of 25 per cent in fares!
Volume of business will have in
creased in that time along with the
efficiency of the new equipment; the
airlines will be able to fly more hours
per day; sales resistance will have
dropped (there won't be so many of
you scared any more), and, with fair
mail rates maintained, the basic
rates can drop quarter. He thinks
there should be extra fares charged
for special service, such as the trains
charge, and a differential rate for
nonstop flights. And he feels sure
there will be by that time three
types of service offered-big ships
for long and nonstop trips, medium
sized, such as are in use now, for
frequency and short hauls, and small