The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-11-06
WNU Service, 1343 II Street NV,
washington, ID. G.

VIM SERVICE, 1875 n street N-W,
Washington, d. G.
One thing the war will produce,
upon which there is general agree
rnent, Is national airmindedness.
And there will be basic changes in
the living habits of the nation, pro-
duced by development of the air.
plane, as great or greater than were
produced by the automobile.
The automobile and the good
roads which made its use possible
revolutionized small town life. The
airplane, according to the experts
who manage to snatch a moment
to think beyond bombers and fight
ers to passenger and cargo planes,
is going to change big town life and
perhaps something far more impor-
tant-small-world life.
Recently I had a long chat with
one Of the men who heads up q
plant that is turning out planes for
Uncle Sam. That is fulltime job.
But he Is dreamer, too, and the
moment he gets chance to lean
back and think out loud about the
future, he paints an epic picture of
the skyways of tomorrow.
what the roads did for the auto
mobile the airfields will do for the
airplane," he said to me watching
imaginary airplanes in blue cloud
of cigar smoke. 1--WE now have Is
times as many airports as we had
before the war. They are in many
remote places. Those places won't
be remote any more"
Nest for Wnrbirds
When he said that I couldn't help
recalling a trip ! made recently on
a special plane across the country.
Because we were going to see lot
of airplane secrets anyhow, we were
permitted to ''look"-I mean by that,
the curtains weren't drawn as they
are in all ordinary passenger planes
these days. / won't reveal the de-
tails of what I saw, of course, but
can tell you it was hard to be-
lieve. Suddenly in the midst of no
where the runways of field below
would be visible. A few miles away
could see automobiles or railway
trains moving along like bugs or
worms. knew the passengers were
looking at the landscape as they
passed., But plain and hill and riv-
er were all they could see. Just out
of their range of vision there
would be busy airport. Only war
birds nest on it now, but some day
commercial planes will rise from
these thousands of tiny intersections
in the sky routes that will lace the
world together in a tiny ball.
The way these dots on the air map
have increased is incredible. The
Civil Aeronautics administrators
first airport program got under way
in 1914 with 1856 defense landing
areas designated for construction or
repair. There were 282 new air.
ports by the end of 1941 as well as
46 new seaplane bases and anchor
ages. The significant increase in
landing fields since then is, of
course, military secret. At the
beginning of 1912 there were 2,484
airports in the country, of which
1,086 were municipal institutions,
$50 were commercial. That in it.
self is significant for it shows how
communities themselves pushed for
ward to open their skygates without
waiting for a commercial organiza-
ton to do the job. The rest of the
nearly twenty-five hundred fields
were army and navy, emergency or
miscellaneous; 80 were private.
Airport Development
Meanwhile, with the aid Of the
CAA laws were drawn up in many
states which in the year 1912 result
ed in the passage of AZ separate
acts by state legislations designed
to provide municipalities or coun-
ties or other political divisions with
authority to cure defects in or de-
velop airports. Ten states passed
acts to acquire land and construct
facilities and operate them. Some
states built flight strips beside high
ways from unclaimed aviation tax
refund money. All this shows how
aviation was becoming part of the
national political consciousness.
During this time one Of the prob
lens of the air that few people,
even those who constantly use air
travel, realize, increased-the traf-
fic problem. As one pilot expressed
it to me, speaking of a field where
he learned most of his flying: "Our
traffic problem there was lot more
complicated than the one on Times
square in New York city,"
1t is easy to see why. Consider
that the block system on the rail-