Show 12 HOURS TO CROSS CK h wf 1 THE ATLANTIC A A great flying boats blaze trails for regular commercial hops perhaps soon to follow weather man triumphs by WILLIAM C UTLEY 0 commonplace have become the gassings pas sings of the S SO great flying boats blazing the trail for a transatlantic trans atlantic air mail and passenger service that their arrivals and departures now rate only 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 apay be not unduly optimistic in anticipating regularly sched wed fed service over toughest sea route before the end and of next year t the consistent absence of incident in these experimental crossings is not due to a phenomenal string of good luck nor to a long series of coincidences it is a direct tribute to the 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 fact that the track is invisible does not alter the th 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 bui but weather conditions prohibit its being followed exactly in most cases the great circle course over the atlantic includes a nonstop non stop flight 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 they have transported more than SUM sufficient clent fuel supplies to take care of errors in navigation or unexpected and sudden weather conditions which were not likely to be accounted for by their aerial weather map if it is possible to fly the atlantic without leaving anything to chance that is what they have done preparing for the first trip across the pan american meteorologists reviewed 50 years of weather records over the atlantic from these they drew average for seasons for months and even for days meager firsthand first hand reports were forthcoming from weather stations at port washington N Y shediac new brunswick botwood Bot wood newfoundland found land reykjavik iceland foynes ireland and southampton england these formed the basis for an estimation of upper air conditions con dit ions how crews get bearings for transatlantic trans atlantic flight communications pan american 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 V 0 O I 1 tr n W y y A 1 1 JW S fe A i the photograph shows the caledonia one ot great britaina Brit ains oceanic flying boats although the weather there is tar 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 the course which follows the best flying g fyer er as forecast by the weather bureau crews are willing even anxious to fly a much longer distance than the great circle course 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 cambria both have four engi engines fies apiece they have been carrying large crews each member a specialist in some phase of flying such as navigation or communications enable the crews to take bearings on themselves from shore stations or from ships they meet en route when a plane calls for or bearings the task requires plenty of dexterity and operation cooperation co from the shore stations and the crew to get them 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 cons t ant stream of signals these are p picked icken up by the shore station the direction from which they are coming is determined from the movement nt of the receiving stations antenna the shore station then sends out a bearing in the same way the ship gets bearings from one or more stations the spot t upon which the ship is flying is the spot at which all the bearings cross on july 6 1937 two flights were completed the caledonia left foynes and landed at botwood 15 hours and 3 minutes later the clipper III made the crossing from west to east 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 one of the most successful weather charts ever prepared 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 ot of the clipper clipp er described his trip as an uneventful one and indeed a small one compared with some ot of those to which he was accustomed above the pacific he reported flying almost the entire 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 caledonia fought an 18 mile headwind the entire distance making the whole flight through thick clouds and occasional rain at 1000 feet the two ships passed each other I 1 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 of the caledonia was able to tell skipper gray what kind of weather awaited him on the last halt half of 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 matter to determine the ground speeds or in this case it might basea speeds computing comparative speeds the caledonia taking a course south of the great circle traveled 2020 miles computed from elapsed time tor for the flight the ground speed would be miles an hour for the trip adding to this the headwind of 18 13 miles an hour it is seen that the average air speed would be miles an hour the clipper ill III flew 1995 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 maintaining her calculated best air speed of miles an hour while the clipper III was able to throttle back saving fuel and wear and tear on its engines while be CROSS WEIGHT OF PLANE nil TANK AUTOMATIC ADJUSTING 2234 22 34 TONS U US 5 CARRY OF FUSELAGE 68 FT 6 IN registry y GALLON FOUR WING LENGTH EACH alil GIVE A TOP FIXED ANTENNA ha MP H CONTROLS K REDUCE jl ssi E 01 1 ING 1 SUN CARRY GALLONS kit EACH A fa GLARE yiv FLAP ACTS AS N NS ss INV I 1 MOORING 1 r at AIRBRAKE R BRAKE VS A PONTOON BL 1 ic MASTERS t 9 C 73 t TAKING SUN S 1 1 FROM observation REAR DUCT sr S hs akst it J HATCH 00 RADIO OO auw OFFICE instruments CLOIE CONTROL TWE f SPARE V sk ayta ay tJ sj ain callea r EQUIPMENT ROOM y jarr vt extinguishers OPERATION OIL KC cna FOR ENGINES LEEP NAV AT c tyl F drw 0 RADIO 1 orfice OF I 1 CE FUEL RUBER LIFE QUARTERS lUA ERS Elss ANTENNA RAFT WITH CYL CYLINDERS WO NTO instrument 1 CM CARRY PONTO CO B SECURE S V compartment i GALLONS IONS OF RATIONS I 1 IN ANY CA L E IF OFF WATCH TWO CLOSED w ON SURFACE SUR FACE BOMBS AND compartment compartments CRUISING RANGE AT 1 1635 MILES PER HOUR 35 OTHER EQUIPMENT CAN KEEP AFLOAT THE AN of N the drawing is a self explanatory cross section of the ran pan american clipper in iff americas entry in the race to establish a transatlantic trans atlantic airline ing favored by a strong tall tailwind wind it is apparent from the flights completed this summer that the route from newfoundland to ireland will be ideal for transatlantic trans atlantic flying during the warmer months but the north atlantic winter is a humdinger and only time 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 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 ton new york to london by way of shediac and botwood is miles by way of the azores and bermuda it is miles one of the most important considerations erat ions in planning transatlantic trans atlantic air service is the carrying capacity of the planes 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 be increased pounds safely enough Q western newspaper union 7 W i 4 la L a kite xiv 7 w W V 6 A the Nord meer north sea german catapult flying fly ins ship about to take off |