The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-04-15

M IN f an p o I IN
- w EzzE connection with
Robert Hinckley its wartime i'm
portance. How
ever, he's chairman also Of the
Civil Aeronautics Authority and il
viii be as a post-conhict develop
meut, he foresees US as coming to
a speedy realization Of the plane S
possibilities for lifes normal utili-
ties. It simply is due, he asserts, to
transform our whole world for US.
He makes out . convincing case,
too.
For example, suppose a class OF
school children encounters some ref
erence TO Eskimos in the course Of
their studies and are curious con-
corning EN-. Teacher accordingly
will load a party Of the youngsters
into plane and iy EN- up to the
vicinity Of the North Pole for
look at an igloo village or two.
Think also how the new system
will relieve congestion in crowded
cities, like Washington. The gov
ernment's needed so many war
workers in a hurry that it's raked
the entire country. for 'em. Say
suitable selectee Is located in Chi
cago and instructed to report for
duty in the national capital. There
upon he and his family must pull
up stakes in the Illinois metropolis
and travel laboriously and expen-
sively by train into the District of
Columbia, only TO discover, on ar
rival, that-its next to impossible to
md living quarters to set up house,
keeping IN.
Suburbs Everywhere
But with a nice, fast plane avail
able to make the hop in few min
utes, that family will remain COM
fortably in its domicile alongside
Lake Michigan. the kids will go on
with their school work uninterrupt-
edly, and the old man alone will
skyhoot, mile high, through the
atmosphere, between breakfast
time and the hour for him to be
al his desk in Washington, return
ing. al his days works end, for
supper at his own Chicago dining
room table.
Hardly any place IN the United
States will be more than a suburb
Of some other place, a couple or
three hundred miles away, and it'll
be no trick at all to commute be-
tween EN-, according to Bob Hinck-
ley.
In fact, the whole world will be
all compacted together.
We Yankees will be able to spend
an occasional afternoon with
friends in China or 90 on a picnic,
now and then, down in Patagonia.
Bob Hinckley wants the public
schools to teach aviation.
He thinks that little boys ard
girls ought TO be encouraged to
play with top planes as they do
now with miniature express wag-
ons and automobiles.
AS military proposition he
doesn't advocate the abolition Of
land and sea forces, but he does
contend that aviations more i'm
portant now than either, or both
Of EN- put together.
What's to become OF railroads
and water vessels isn't quite clear.
It's evident that Bob believes their
function as passenger carriers is
fast approaching its finish. They
may still be in demand for bulky
freight handling, but Robert urges
that sort Of shipments by air as
far as is practicable.
Bigger Planes, Too
For one thing, very much bigger
planes are projected.
They're at an advantage over
choo-choo locomotion in that they
require no investment in roadbeds,
ties, rails and repair work TO keep
EN- in good order.
Automobiles doubtless viii con-
tlnue TO be needed for short trips
through streets. from airports to
places Of business and residences
and back TO the airports. Even II
the demand for EN- dwindles,
though, their factories won't suf-
fer, for they can be adapted to
plane production.
Therell be plenty Of II called for
II Bob Hinekley's a good guesser.
Building for civilian soaring will
have TO wait until the war ends
that's got TO be rstioned, like
everything else. except supplies to
fight the Axis with.
Bob unqualihedly indorses this
.hesis. but he's here to tell us that
we've no realization yet Of the new
sort Of an earthly sphere, plus it,
a - 4. ~