The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-18
BY BURTON HEATH NEA Staff Writer

store, buy a book, q tube of shaving | ing cream and some sox then | drift up to the unpteenth floor and pick out your new plane for delivery | after New Years.
 How long after New Years will | depend upon how many others, like | you, have just been waiting for l wars end to buy . fool.pfoof two- | placer for week ends in the coufl- | try.
 It is the Ercoupe that now is | preparing to display samples in de. pertinent stores by about October, | with deliveries tentatively set to begin early in 1e40. But there are some half dozen other personal-or family-type = planes readying to compete for your favor - and your dollars and some are further along with reconversion than the Er. coupe is.
 William A. Burden, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, predicts in the Harvard Business Review that within the next five years there will be an annual output of 5000 personal planes con. trasted with a total, when war began in lo41, of only 26,000. ROSY FUTURE
 MT. Burden. the optimist of the predicters in this field, thinks that within five or ten years there will be 46o,O00 personal planes cruising the skies all over the coun- try. The National Resources Platl- ning Board estimates 26y0O0. Other guesseS range between these two ab. surdly disparate figures. An aver. age of the seven most entitled to consideration, Department of Commerce statements says, figures 2l0,7oo.
 All of these figures pale beside the statement of American Press, based upon . poll of weekly newspaper editors, that in the next five years S0o.00O personal planaeS will be sold in rural and sinall-town (under 10000 popula- tion) America alone.
 Secretary Burden, in his pre- diction, talks of personal planes having an average price of around $2,O0o. That price con- sideration may be assumed to be factor in his optimism. It is by no means impossible of course. But in dreaming about the fam- By plane you will pick out in October for delivery in January, don't think too irrevocably in 12,000 terms. The airplane has. truly, attained the automobile price class - but not the popular priced level.
 The Ercoupe is in the 92O00 class stripped. By the time you get 1t equipped, 1t will set you back, including tax, closer to 95,- 900.
 Most of the firms rushing per- sonal planes. aren't talking much yet about price. It is doubtful if any will get much under the Ercoupe right away, though Sev. eral may challenge 1t.
 Aviation enthusiasts suggest that you should not look at your 1o46 flivver plane as you do at your motor car - as something that will be worn down for turn. in in two or three years at most. Except as you feel forced to keep up with the Joneses, your plane might well last . lifetime barring accident.
 The American Press survey of country editors indicated that 70 per cent consider safety the prime factor in the anticipated popular. ity of personal planes. This the manufacturers are stresSing heavily. The Ercoupe people claim that 1t is all but impossible to hurt your. self in one of their machines. The Piper Cubs have been dernonstrat. ing, in front line observation flights, their versatility and safety, as have others less publiciSed in military use.
 EASY TO OPERATE
 Ease of operation, operating cost and landing facility, each is rated as c prime consideration by 39 per cent of the editors. These, too are featured by manufacturers.
 The Ercoupe has . 76 horse- power engine that travels 22 miles on gallon of gasoline. Does your car do that? The Taylor BC.l2, now in limited production, has only 6 66.horSe. power engine; the LuS. combe Silvaire is stepping up it's power from 76 to e6 horsepower, which is the same as the Culver two- placer due for production in Feb. ruary. The Stinson Voyager will have . i26-horsepower plant, the Reliance Crusair from i26 to l66 horsepower, but the Beechcraft IT will have at least 40o horsepow. CT.
 Cruising speeds range between the Taylor's 96 miles an hour and the Cr,iisair,s i4S miles an hour, with no (Ercoupe and Lus- combe) Q popular speed. But the Cruisair, ct ~ miles an hour. lands almost as slowly as the Luscombe ct 42.
 It has long been popular to talk of aviation as the industry that, after this war, would abe sorb unemployment as motor car manufacture did after World War I. The industry socked by Nippon's surrender with cancellations that threaten its stability, Is trying to make that wish come true.
 At its peak the industry eTn. ployed i,0e3 900 persons and made, in lo44, ei0,3S9 millions worth of planes and parts. The best estimates suggest that in the near future the best 1t can hope for will be some 0l0,00O workers, direct and indirect, and indirect. and on output of ei,- 270 millions . year.
 I. If even this volume is attained, the personal plane, selling at around 42,500 eventually. will be- come the industry's backbone. in the opinion of Civu Aeronautics Administrator T. ?. wright. So you can count upon the II1aT1u- 9acturers to do their utmost to