The midland journal., 1943-03-12

VIM OCEVACC, OukUW 1EuSt DuuuhuS /,
Washington, d. C.
The great bomber was in trouble.
The pilot knew it. One engine was
coughing like Camille in the last act.
He looked down. Below him lay
sleepy Somerset country, Pennsyl-
vania. On the far horizon was a
smoky blur he knew was Pittsburgh.
He had been following the long,
brown ribbon, wide and straight as
a string for many hundreds of yards
before it gently curved with hardly
a grade-the Pennsylvania Turn
pike.
The pilot picked wide green field
beside this highway, dropped down,
made his landing and his repairs.
A quick call to the state police and
the road was ready, for it is de-
fense highway now, a vital part of
the arteries Of transportation of war
supplies. But here was new use
for this wild dream that has be-
come a stern reality.
Traffic was stopped, the great
bomber TAXED out of the field and
onto the highway. The pavement
made a perfect runway. The
straight-way was of sufficient length,
the cuts were low and the wing
spread passed over all appurte-
nances. The good ship rose and
was on its way.
This was no flight of the imagina-
tion. It was real flight which took
place and was described little
over a year ago by Representative
Jennings Randolph Of West Virginia,
one of Washington's air-minded con-
gressmen.
And so a super-highway becomes
an adjunct of what is to be Amer
ica's super airways. More than 35
planes, Mr.. Randolph tells me, have
taken advantage Of this emergency
landing highway.
NeW Chapter Opens
And so a new chapter opens in
American roadbuilding. A new rea-
son for the development of the coun-
tryside that is to come after the war
must come if we are to meet the
demands of tomorrow's transporta-
ton, of tomorrow's demand for pub
lie works to take up the slack after
the war until industry can absorb
the returned soldier and the jobless
warplant worker.
In spite of the many pressing war
needs, congress is more awake to-
day to the needs of the air and the
collary developments on the ground
than it ever has been before.
Today, a Pennsylvania, trans
ported to Washington, cons the press
and listens to the radio each day
Che is retired from an active busi-
ness life in which he has amassed
a modest fortune) for word Of some
new benefit that child of his, the
Pennsylvania Turnpike, has given to
the country. He is Walter Jones.
The Turnpike was peacetime ven
ture. He obtained funds from the
$29, ESQ, 1000 federal grant and the
Reconstruction Finance corporation
purchased bonds amounting to
SAC, 800 1000. The first issue was over
subscribed by the public by go per
cent. The Turnpike is toll road
and the first year of operation, the
revenue was nearly three million
dollars.
No wonder. It was an engineers
dream come true-and a motorists,
too. AS near curveless, gradeless,
intersectionless, straightaway that
one could wish. When war came
with the overtaxed railways, it was
a Godsend for it opened a veritable
volga Of trucking from Pittsburgh,
its western terminal, to Harrisburg.
Dual Purpose
II feel confident" says Represen-
tative Randolph, twenty years will
iquidate the RFC loan"
So much for that highway which
may well be the father Of many.
It has served another purpose. The
emergency plane landing merely
symbolizes what can be done by the
highway for the plane.
The answer is the flight strip
for which congress appropriated ten
million dollars as experimentation.
What is ''flight strip? Official
ly defined, it is "an area of land
with clear approaches located to an
adjacent highway for use as an aux
iliary landing area for aircraft"
The war advantage Of this new
institution Is obvious.
We know what to expect in the
increased number of planes after
the war. We know the limitation
in matter Of space Of the airports.
We can guess what the men who