Show 12 HOURS TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC great flying boats blaze trails for regular b commercial hops I perhaps soon scion to follow weather man triumphs bross WEIGHT OF PLANE AUTOMATIC ADJUSTING 2231 22 31 TONS LENGTH US CARRY propellers PROPEL LORS OF FUSELAGE 68 ate I 1 N REGISTRY 5 FOUR lid EACH HP HORNETS gar A TOP spee D 0 Ls FIXED ANTENNA 19 1 mp H ES REDUCE 00 gia SUN 11 UBLE GLARE D RUDDER CARRY F I 1 C EACH P AS I 1 FLAP ACTS AS FIN EA TC AIRBRAKE A I 1 at F af r S MASTER f V N IRVA T 0 ro MR E A P MA tr C H A 1 OFF loal FARE EQ phi ENT OPERATION WAS ROOM extinguishers FOR ENGINES SLEEPING FUEL aois agader LIFE OFFICE ANTENNA transmittal TRAN RAFT WITH CYLINDERS V ENT CARAY col to compartment S PLANE 9 FLATE IT CALLONS OF RAT HT EXTRA UEL LATERAL SIG DRIP OFF a TWO CLOSED ON SURFACE BOMBS AND compartments CRUISING RANGE PER OTHER EQUIPMENT CAN AN OF FEET IS SHIP AFLOAT i n J J pl n ak wa M kp A z 4 the drain dr aning is adelf a self explanatory cross section of the pan american clipper III americas entry in the race to establish a transatlantic trans atlantic airline the photograph shows the caledonia one of great britaina Brit ains oceanic flying boats by WILLIAM C UTLEY 0 commonplace have become the gassings pas sings of the S SO gr great eat flying boats blazing the trail for a transatlantic trans atlantic air air mail and passenger service that their arrivals and depa departures now rate on only ay a short paragraph buried on an inside page but the very fact that these operations have ceased to be news is in itself news for it indicates that we may be not unduly optimistic in anticipating regularly scheduled service over toughest sea route before the end of next year the consistent absence of incident in these experimental crossings is not due to a phenomenal string of 0 good luck nor to a ion long series serie S of coincidences it is a direct tribute to the mete meteorologist the weather man for it is he who maps out the course the craft shall follow commercial flights over land are made along regularly charted airways these are marked by radio beams and beacon markers whose signals provide a path or a number of paths from which there is no deviation except under extraordinary conditions radio provides a track through the sky the tact fact that the track is invisible does not alter the fact that it is there but for spanning the atlantic ocean there is no definite radio marked airlane there is a great circle course which is the shortest distance between landing points but weather conditions pro prohibit abit its being followed exactly in most cases the great circle course over the atlantic includes a nonstop non stop night of some 2000 miles As far as distance is concerned this is not as long a hop as the pacific flight from san francisco to hawaii which is 2400 miles leave nothing to chance the clipper ships on the pacific route fly by weather maps too and although the weather there is far less turbulent than over the north atlantic the clippers in two years of flying have followed the pacific great circle course only three times they have flown down the course which follows the best flying weather as forecast by the weather bureau crews are willing even anxious to fly a much longer distance than the great circle couise if the longer flight will insure favorable winds pleasanter plea santer weather and speedier flying the ships most important in the present pioneering are the pan american clipper III and the british caledonia the latter is now supplemented by a sister ship the can baia both bolh have four engines apiece they have been carrying large crews each member a specialist in some phase of flying such as navigation or communications cat ions they have transported more than fuel supplies to take care of errors in navigation or unexpected and sudden weather conditions which were not likely to be accounted tor for by their aerial weather map it if it is possible to fly the atlantic without leaving anything to chance that is what they have done preparing tor for the first trip across the pan american meteorologists reviewed 50 years of weather records over the Athin atlantic tic from these they drew average for seasons for months and even tor for days meager firsthand first hand h ind reports forthcoming from weather stations at port washington N Y Slie shediac diac new brunswick bolwood botwood Bo Bot lwood wood newfoundland found land reykjavik iceland foynes Jr ireland aland and southampton england these formed the basis for an estimation of upper air conditions dit ions llo sCrews crews get bearings for transatlantic trans fians atlantic flight communications pan Ameri american cn has two stations one at port washington and one at shediac from which long distance bearings can be made the british air ministry has stations at botwood and southampton and the irish free state has one at foynes on each of the great flying boats there is a smaller station these enable the crews to take bearings bearing s on themselves from shore stations or from ships they meet en route when a plane calls for bearings the task requires plenty of dexterity and operation cooperation co from the shore stations and the crew to get them nick back in time to do any good these systems usually work in the following manner the radio on the flying boat sends out a constant stream of signals these are picked up by the shore station the direction from which they are coming is determined from the movement of the receiving stati stations cias antenna the shore station then sends out a bearing in the same way vay the ship gets bearings from one or mor more e stations the spot upon which the ship is flying is the spot at which all the bearings cross it was indeed a triumph tor for commercial aviation that in the f first night flight the weather and communications plans worked out as well as or better than expected on july 6 1937 two flights were completed the caledonia left foynes arid and landed at botwood 13 hours and 3 minutes later the clipper ill III made the crossing from west to east cast in 12 hours and 40 minutes an uneventful journey almost every prediction the mete made came true where their maps had said there would be wind and rain the pilots found wind and rain patches of fog were in the sky where they were on the map it was said by the experts that this was vas one of the most successful weather charts ever prepared tor for a great flying venture radio communications worked out beautifully too interesting were the different altitudes at which the two ships flew capt H E gray commander of the clipper described his trip as an uneventful one and indeed a small one compared with some of those to which he was accustomed above the pacific ho he reported flying almost the entile distance at feet with the clouds below them and the sun shining brightly nearly all the way after daybreak he had the advantage of a 25 mile tailwind the tha caledonia fou an all 18 13 mile headwind the entire distance making the chule flight through thick clouds and occasional rain at 1000 feet the two ships passed each other when they were 67 miles apart all the way over the ocean they were in constant communication with each other this was of great benefit for the skipper ot of the C caledonia a le donia was able to tell skipper gray what kind of weather awaited him on the last half of 0 his journey and vice versa there is actually no direct communication muni cation from ship to ship however any more than the crew of one ship has ever actually seen the other crossing the atlantic the british and american flying radio stations operate on different frequencies quen cies so that all inter ship communication muni cation must be accomplished with relays through the shore stations the difference in the flying times of the two ships may be put down to the prevailing westerly winds it is a simple matzer matter to determine the ground speeds or in this case it might be sea speeds the caledonia taking a course south of the great circle traveled 2020 miles computed from elapsed time for the flight the ground speed would be miles an hour for the trip adding to this the headwind of 18 miles an hour it is seen that the average air speed would be miles an hour computing comparative speeds the clipper III flew 1995 1993 miles in an amount of time which would set its surface speed at miles an hour however in computing the airspeed 25 miles an hour must be subtracted tor for the tailwind giving the ship an air speed of miles an hour it may be seen that the caledonia was maintain maintaining in her calculated best air speed of N miles an hour while the clipper III was able to throttle back saving fuel and wear and tear on its engines while favored by ja a tailwind it is apparent from the flights completed this summer that the route from newfoundland to ireland will vill be ideal tor for transatlantic trans atlantic flying during the warmer months but the north atlantic winter is a humdinger din er and only time lime will tell what freezing temperatures and ice will do to the big ships it will probably be necessary to install de icing equipment on all the planes in in regular service there are alternate routes which may be more feasible in the winter and these will be tested in the months to come the most likely is that from new york to bermuda the azores and thence to southampton new york to london by way of shediac and botwood is 3 17 miles by way of the azores and bermuda it is miles one of the most important considerations erat ions in planning transatlantic trans atlantic C air service is the carrying capacity of the planes pianos although the caledonia is allowed to load pounds its empty weight is pounds and it requires pounds of fuel and oil thus only 1000 pounds remain for crew mail and passengers it is believed however that the maximum load may tic increased pounds safely enough considerably more payload might be carried if the ships did not need such heavy engines tor for the purpose of getting them into the air the germans have been experimenting with flying boats which are given a boast on their way by means of catapults and have been successful with ith ships up to 00 pounds there are three of 0 this type now being used or under construction st by t them ern 0 newspaper lidua |