Flights & Flyers

Stultz Drunk. What many suspected when able Pilot Wilmer Stultz killed himself and two passengers (TIME, July 8), a coroner's inquest ascertained last week. He was drunk. War flyers condoned. Most of them drank to steady their nerves when flying was killing. Plane travelers condemned. For their safety they need total abstainers. Transport companies replied. Their pilots shall not drink.

New Rome Start. It was foggy last week at Old Orchard, Me., when Roger Q. Williams and his navigator, Lewis A. Yancey, took off for Rome in the Bellanca monoplane Pathfinder, their third start in six weeks. Heavily loaded (450 gal. of fuel), the plane barely missed an amusement pier, reached an altitude of 500 feet, soon disappeared. Townsfolk, watching the takeoff, noticed strange bell-shaped "trousers" over the Pathfinder's wheels. A mechanic explained: streamline aluminum cowling, sharp at the front, breaks the wind.

Girls Schooled. Twice-knighted* Cassity E. Mason, principal of Miss Mason's School at Tarrytown-on-Hudson', N. Y., last week announced flying as a new study for her girls next autumn. No other girls' school is known to offer such a course. Director of instruction will be Roland Harvey Spaulding,* Guggenheim professor of aeronautics at New York University and head of the Curtiss Flying Service ground school at that university. Proclaimed Miss Mason: "All pupils at all times will be accompanied by a chaperon."

Obstructions. The fence which the old Westbury Golf Club intends to put up to keep Roosevelt Field, L. I., flyers from scaring players and tearing up the turf (TIME, July 1), is to consist of steel towers 103 ft. high, 300 ft. apart, with steel wires connecting them, according to last week's plans.

At Rye, N. Y., inhabitants last week sought to prevent planes flying low and landing in their Long Island Sound harbor.

Spanish Flyers. Queen Victoria of Spain last week gave a formal luncheon to Commander Ramon Franco, Julio Ruiz de Alda, Eduardo Gonzales Gallarza. Spanish trans-atlantic aspirants, and their English rescuers (TIME, July 1, 8). A stayaway: Mechanic Sergeant Pedro Madariaga. Reason: Spanish court rules permit only members of the nobility or persons of high official rank to attend formal royal functions.

Black's Grandstand. To watch the 1,200-mi. air race around England for the King's Cup last week, air-touring Publisher Van Lear Black of Baltimore chartered a huge Imperial Airways plane as his "flying grandstand." Winner of the race was R. L. Atcherley, flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, with a Gloster-Grebe military fighter. A competitor was Lady Mary Bailey, trans-African adventuress (TIME, March 26, 1928, April 23, 1928).

More Gliders. Against Glider, Inc., Detroit's motorless plane manufacturer, last week developed a competitor, American Motorless Aviation Corp. President is Colonial Airways' president, Major General John F. O'Ryan.

Endurance Success. Cleveland's endurance flyers, Byron K. Newcomb and Roy L. Mitchell (TIME, July 8), kept their Stinson-Detroiter-Whirlwind flying far into last week, made a new record-- 174 hr. 59 sec. They made 24 refueling contacts, used 1,903 gal. of gasoline, 87 of oil. Only their own exhaustion brought them down. Motor and plane were in serviceable condition until joy-crazy Clevelanders ripped at them for souvenirs. Also joyous, Otto I. Liesy, vice-president of Stewart Aircraft Co., who financed the project, kissed the flyers--both hard-boiled Army men. Popular son-of-a-brewer, Backer Liesy is famed for bouncing parties at his suburban home.

Endurance Attempts. At Los Angeles, Leo Nomis and Maurice Morrison in a Cessna (TIME, July 8) had their motor fail, landed with a crash after 42 hr. 5 min. in the air. Another Los Angeles plane, the Buhl Angeleno, last week started up for the endurance record. Flyers were Loren W. Mendell, R. B. Reinhart.

*By King Alexander of Serbia, King Manuel of Montenegro.

*Not to be confused with Roland Harty Spaulding, New Hampshire manufacturer, onetime (1915-16) New Hampshire governor.