Fokker's Predictions

His poor English did not prevent Anthony H. G. Fokker, famous Dutch constructor (TIME, Dec. 31) from making an impression in a speech before the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. One airplane for every 1,000 people in Cleveland, and the airplane a commonplace taxicab between cities was his forecast for the immediate future.

Paris to New York

The De Monge Aircraft Co. (Paris) is building a new type of airplane for a flight next Spring direct to New York--mainly to advertise the progress of French aviation. Technical reports speak of a number of interesting features. The wing tapers from root to tip and has no external bracing. At its center it is seven feet deep, and contains within its cantilever structure the engines, the fuel tanks and the pilot's cockpit. Once the machine has left the ground, the landing gear itself disappears within the wing. In flight nothing will be seen but a vast wing; air resistance and fuel consumption will thus be reduced to an absolute minimum. The design may mark the culmination of many years' work to reduce the airplane to its simplest and most economical embodiment.

New Bomber

The Army's experimental station at McCook Field, Dayton, will soon test a new bomber built by G. Elias &; Bros. of Buffalo. Equipped with two 700-horse-power motors, the new plane will carry a deadly destructive load of 6,900 pounds of bombs--enough to wreck a city. Yet with this enormous load the plane will reach a height of 13,500 feet, and at lower altitudes be able to fly with one of its motors completely out of commission. With a wing area of 1,500 square feet, a span of nearly 100 feet, it will be second in size only to the great Barling Bomber.

Larsen Wins

John M. Larsen, importer of the famous Junker all-metal airplanes, collected $170,000 following a fire at his hangars at Central Park, L. I. He now has won his second suit against the Globe and Rutgers Fire Insurance Co. and the Commercial Union Assurance Co. The underwriters sought to recover their money on the basis of a confession of arson and conspiracy by Larsen's mechanic. But the confession extracted by detectives employed by a personal enemy of Larsen's, under threats of the application of the Mann Act, failed to impress the jury. The case aroused much interest in aircraft circles, involving as it did the reputation of a man prominent in the industry.