Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-04-23


level authorized by government reg
ulation, fly on to their destination,
and land on earth, on roof top, or
on water-as fancy dictates. In
stead of wheels, the craft is mounted
on rubber floats-inasmuch as it
rises and descends like an elevator
anywhere, wheels are not needed.
These 'copters will be so safe and
will cost SO little to produce that
small models will be made for teen
age youngsters. These tiny 'copters,
when school let's out, will fill the
skies as the bicycles of our youth
filled the pre-war roads,"
But 'copters aren't the only ma
chimes that your children and their
children will be driving. For, says
Mr.. Bruno, "the great sport of our
youth will be motorless flight. Glider
meets will be held all over the coun-
try, much like the sailing meets of
other years."
However, the glider won't be a
machine for pleasure driving
only. 1t will become an important
economic factor in the transporta-
ton of the future. Powerful cargo
carrying sky trucks will tow trains
of cargo carrying gliders-since all
but the bulkiest slow freight will be
carried by airplane or glider-towing,
cargo-carrying dirigibles. The glider
will also become the great transpor-
tation medium of committing"
Trains of Gliders.
Which means that when you de-
eide to visit Aunt Emma back in
Syracuse or Cousin Will out in Ore
gon, here's how you'll go:
"Glider trains, lowed by lead
passenger-carrying plane that will
fly hundreds of miles, will drop Gid
ers carrying local passengers at air
ports all along the route. Thus, a
trip from New York to Albany, for
instance, would be made in a glider
attached to the New York-Buffalo
sky train. Passengers would board
the train at the overhead station of
Rockefeller Center. The sky-train,
which started from LaGuardia Field,
would pick up the Albany glider at
Rockefeller Center (and pick it up
in flight, too) and continue on
toward Buffalo. Over Albany, the
conductor-pilot of the Albany glider
will cut his craft loose from the
train and glide to earth. BY the
time the lead plane reaches Buffalo,
he will have dropped all of his Gid
ers along the route"
But all of these machines can
still fall down and kill people-no,
sir, I'll stick to good old Mother
EARTH" you say. The aviation OF
the future will become increasingly
safer, Mr.. Bruno believes. He
writes: "All aircraft will have tele-
vision weather survey sets, enabling
them to see and hear weather con-
ditions along the routes that lie
ahead. In this manner, they will be
able to fly above or around storm
areas and add to the comfort of
each flight.
"All airplane factories will be en-
tirely underground, air-conditioned
and deep enough so that no aerial
DolilD Cdi ever Illll tIlel1l. AlTpOTtS
will also 60 underground and what
will appear to be an empty field will
suddenly become active when a
plane lands on it. A quick taxi to a
designed spot, and down will go the
underground hangar as the surface
sinks under the operation of large
elevator. An international police
force, armed with the newest type
of air weapon, will have no trouble
maintaining order and understand
ing"
Such is Mr.. Bruno's preview of
"things to come" Do you find them
hard to believe? Then reflect upon
these final words:
'These predictions are lot more
conservative than the flat prediction,
in 1900, that before the century was
over man would build a machine
that would really fly. If anything,
most of my friends-men like Igor
Sikorsky and C. M. Keys, who read
this chapter, for instance-mark the
predictions down as being too earth
bound, too conservative. And this
should tell you that most of you will
live to see them all come true!"