Show n HOW OCEANIC FLYING PROGRESSES Atlantie Flyers on onWay onWay onWay Trans Atlantic Giant Floating Airplane Bases Start Trans Way by Means l of Powerful Catapult Like Shot Out of oi Gun Oun d Dy fly WILLIAM C. C UTLEY commercial flying is here The tests T TRANSOCEANIC J and explorations which for several years have been going on to lay the foundations have been made with so much attendant publicity that the actual arrival of the fact itself is comparatively little known Regularly and on schedule the he Pan-American Pan Airways ships are now spanning the vast Pacific the South Atlantic I has subjected its expanses to transversal by airplane and it is expected that soon even the tempestuous North Atlantic will see regularly scheduled commercial flights between North America and Europe It ii is more than 17 years ean now since that mad tossed storm flight over the Atlantic by bt the two apt Capt John Alcock and end Arthur Whitten Brown It is more than ISO years ean since the first successful Journey b by air over the English Channel Yet the North Atlantic only recently re se- shows signs of giving up regularly regularly reg reg- to the flights of man with than than craft And it IsanI is anI only a few months month since the first successful trip of the great flying boats over the new air lanes lane in the Pacific Pac lo Passenger Runs Begin Only a week or two from the time that you read this thi the giant Clipper ships will begin carrying passengers gers gere on the Pacific run from San Francisco to China with stops here and there at Islands some of which are not even big enough to be a respectable dot on a map of the ocean Already the Clippers are carrying mall mail and baggage The comings and goings of the Clipper ships are no longer news and neither are those of the giant Zeppelin Zepelin Hindenburg which flies back and anil ani forth In all kinds of weather er es over the Atlantic The number of passengers passel she carries has ha been increasing t with every trip until today today today to to- day 70 pet persons sons are just a neat package package pack pack- age for be he her Behind the scenes of these flights is fa where most mont of the important work is conducted For the Pacific flights stations have havo been built bum and crews trained at Honolulu Midway Island Wake island Guam and Manila Even in these way the spots the early travelers on the transPacific trans trans- Pacific lines will find modern modem hotels hotels ho ho- and efficient organizations to take care of the comfort as well as the safety of their trips The trips of the Zeppelins between Germany and South America have literally been going on for years So regular is their performance they are as much taken for granted as street cars cara in a big city Big Dig airships however only cut about a day from the time of the fastest of the new ships which cross the Atlantic If speed is to be the big advantage of flying it is to than air than air craft that we must look Catapult New Development French and German airplanes have for some ome years yeara been carrying the mail mall across the South Atlantic In the hundreds of crossings that have bave been made only one or two ships have been lost Their swift planes take off oft from the water or orare orare orare are speeded on their way from anchored anchored an an- catapults The catapult is one of the most important developments in the flights across the Atlantic with which Germany has lately been ex ex- The device is used by mow e ew I w The Aeolus shown here Is one of the German planes launched from froma a mother ship by means of a catapult and which is engaged In the study of weather conditions along the proposed route of Trans Atlantic flights man ship is so powerful powerful powerful pow pow- erful that in a space of feet it starts these great flying boats from standing still to 80 or more miles an hour Next spring the Germans intend to try the catapult with even larger larg larg- er ships They will make 24 crossIngs crossIngs crossings cross- cross Ings to South America and return with ton 14 planes of the Dornier type which will take off from catapults cata rata The catapult is a scientific development development development devel devel- of the siege weapon from which it takes its name that was used in ancient times The one aboard the is feet overall It is mounted on the port portside portside portside side of the ship thip with the take-off take flush with the stern Even the mountainous waves of the North Atlantic do not put it out of commission commission commission com com- mission for the ship carries a great sheet of canvas which is spread out over rough waters to make them lie flat and permit operation This apron lies about a foot or two under under under un un- der the water and extends from the the stern stein of the ship about 40 feet When it is used the ship has to be AVAV M L tp fr 5 f. f f w w Ira 3 e a iii a ag 3 mm This amphibian will IU be Americas America's largest It will carry 3 32 33 passengers pas- pas and a crew of four and Is rapidly nearing Hearing completion in the Douglas Dourlas factory at Santa Monica Calif the two German ships which recently recently recently re re- re- re Inaugurated commercial flying fly fly- lug ing over th the North Atlantic Officials of American aviation companies were interested spectators spectators spectators tors at demonstrations of the German German German Ger Ger- man floating aerial base ships re re- One of them contains the most powerful catapult aboard ship Germany now has hu converted three freighters into catapult ships s and andis andis is 11 building another Each of the ships has a e. crew of ot CO 01 or more men They carry enough fuel and provisions to stay Itay out at atlea sea lea for several weeks Although the South Atlantic airlines air air- lines Unes ships carry as much as a. COO WO pounds of mall man on a single flight they do not yet carry passengers One of the reasons for tor this is 11 the catapult method of take takeoff It is fa not exactly comfortable for tor passengers gers gere to be shot sho into the theair air by this method actually the pilots of the ships would be right at home in therole the therole therole ball baU for fora role of human cannon a circus Besides this the upkeep of ot the ton mother ships Isan is isan isan an item that eats up any profits that might be expected from airships which can carry at most a small number of passengers Will Try Larger Larrer Ships The two new German planes Aeolus Aeolus Aeolus Aeo Aeo- lus and Zephyr are the two largest ever to be catapulted from a ship Fully loaded they weigh ten tons apiece The catapult of the Gert Ger- Ger Sp tr Y t moving forward at a speed of about two knots The Ingenious Germans are clever clev clev- clever er at picking up ships from choppy waves There is a great crane on the starboard side of the Schwaben Schwaben- land from which lines are dropped into the water The mechanism which controls these lines causes them to rise and fall in time Ume with the waves Air Propels Catapult Compressed air is the force which drives the great catapult The Krupp Kropp works which built the huge German cannon caMon of the World war constructed the cylinder which itself itself it it it- self looks not unlike a cannon It is 16 18 feet long mounted beneath the track of f the catapult and drives a piston 2 feet in m diameter Six steel cables are wound arnd arnda a drum which forms the end of the piston shaft These Thee extend beneath the toe cylinder to another drum at the this end there are far end From two more cables which extend upward upward upward up up- ward between the rails raUs of the cata rata catapult catapult to a sort of steel sled upon off offIs offis offis which the plane about to take is mounted The airplane is held in position by four hinged arms arm with braces like UkI cantilevers Two of these press against plates on the boat hull and the other two fit into slots forward on the hull and beneath the wing When the machine starts into matlon motion motion mo ma- tion these last two drop This Ibis leaves only the two in the rear to propel foot the airplane along the greased runway The pump which loads the air I compressor is powered by a Diesel motor Beneath the compressor is another compressed air tank which is charged to atmospheres Regulate Air Charge The charge In the air gun has hasto hasto hasto to be regulated for different winds and loads of different sizes The captain of the mother ship Alfred St r k V r 1 J Kottas Koltas turns the ship stern-first stern Into in into In In- to the the wind and puts the engines In to reverse so that the Schwaben Schwaben- land has some There are arc three instruments called caned anemometers which tell the crew when the wind is right for a take off One is located atop the after mast one is mounted on the stern and the third is located near the ship about to begin its flight The motor of the plane is running running running run run- ning of course and when the pilot pilo Is ready to depart he gives her herthe herthe herthe the gas and the engine starts to roar A light flashes on the nose of his plane Plane Full Load This is where the fireworks begin There is a great flash of flame and anda a cloud of smoke In the twinkling of an eye the plane is away dropping dropping drop drop- ping never a foot off the stern Trailing TrailIng Trail Trail- Ing behind are the hiss of escaping air and the smell of burning oil Transoceanic flying has passed out of the stunt stage It is not even very dangerous any more The treacherous North Atlantic has been flown three times in the last month twice by a radio crooner and his pilot and once by a woman By contrast the Alcock Brown flight of 17 years ago was one of the most colossal pieces of sheer luck imaginable They tossed about in the gale for hours often dipping nearly into the sea without navigation navigation navigation tion instruments or radio and crashed without being hurt upon their landing in Ireland The South Atlantic was flown the first time by Cabral and in 1922 Flying over the land of the polar regions four American army planes spanned the North Pacific and the North Atlantic two of them completed the flight and the other two were lost although there was no one killed The British dirigible dirigible ble R 34 crossed the North Atlantic the week before Alcock and Brown Drown turned the trick The Los Angeles dirigible built in Germany for the American army was flown here bere Commander John Rodgers flew 1700 1100 miles of ot the route from California to Hawaii In a plane and Commander Commander Commander Com Com- mander Franco of Spain piloted his than lighter craft across the stretches of the South Atlantic Invention of Cooled Air Engine It was the invention of the air air- cooled engine which took the largest largest larg larg- est share of danger out of ocean flying chiefly because it eliminated the necessity for carrying many extra extra ex ex- tra Ira pounds of water for cooling en en- gines gives Admiral Byrd used air air- cooled engines on his flight to the North Pole and back and Lindbergh used one on his historic flight Remaining aloft for 33 i hours and traveling miles mUes in one uneventful uneventful un un- eventful hop Lindbergh probably d did d more than anyone anone else to convince convince con con- vince the public that flying was a safe and coming thing Perhaps the I greatest importance of all the early flights was not the actual feats they accomplished but the public rela rela- I lions work they did for flying e 0 Western Union I |