8.9% Safer

If a man were to fly 10,000 miles annually in regularly scheduled U. S. transport planes, he might suffer a crackup in the 20th year; might be killed in the 106th. Were the same man to cover the same distance in random flights (sightseeing, joyhopping with friends, et al.) he must anticipate an accident every 7.4 years, prepare for death in the 37th. This according to the civil air accident report for July-December 1929, published last week by the aeronautics branch, Department of Commerce.

All civil aircraft flew 78,940,161 mi. in the six months, a gain of 25,000,000 mi. over the same period in 1928. There were 924 accidents, one for every 85,433 mi. In 1928 there was an accident every 78,308 mi. Scheduled transport planes suffered 15 fatal accidents in 15,940,161 mi. flown--one per 1,062,677 mi.

Conclusions: Flying over established routes is becoming much safer; "miscellaneous" operations more hazardous. Smaller proportion of accidents (55.75%) is blamable upon personnel,* more upon motor failures (18.9%) and structural failures (11.2%). Flying in general is 8.9% safer than a year ago.

Foreign Invasion

European governments large and small now recognize the need for adequate air corps in national defense. Many are virtually without modern equipment. Quick to perceive an outlet for the overproduced stock of 1929, Curtiss-Wright Exports Corp. has sent an invading team of expert flyers to demonstrate and sell to foreign armies Curtiss Falcon (observation), Curtiss Hawk (pursuit), Curtiss Fledgling (training), Curtiss Robin (cabin).

Headed by Lieut. James Harold Doolittle, resigned crack Army pilot (TIME, Feb. 3), the delegation will visit Greece, Turkey, the Balkan countries, Poland. Scandinavian countries and Switzerland.*

Well may the invaders be on their guard throughout the trip, for bitter competition of European builders has bred threats of attempted sabotage to the planes. Delicate is the position of Shell Petroleum Corp. which, ruled by a British-knighted Hollander, Sir Henri Wilhelm August Deterding, is supplying fuel for the invaders' planes.

Rentschler v. Keys (Cont.)

While men great in steel fought with stock proxies in Ohio, men great in air fought with stock proxies in Delaware. At Wilmington, representatives of United Aircraft & Transport Corp. tried and failed to wrest ownership of National Air Transport Inc. from the Curtiss-Keys interests. But where the Ohio battle ended conclusively, the Delaware affair was but a prelude to battle, the result a lull in hostilities but not in hostility.

United, of which Frederick Brant Rentschler is president and which, with backing from National City Bank (president: brother Gordon Sohn Rentschler), has been expanding ambitiously and profitably, had bid for control of NAT and. as some saw it, for supremacy of the indus- try. United sought to join NAT's New York-Chicago route with its own Boeing system (Chicago-San Francisco) in a transcontinental line, perhaps to be linked with future United-Zeppelin trans-Atlantic operations.

To NAT directors, dominated by able Clement Melville Keys, Rentschler & his colleagues made an offer to exchange one share of United for three and one-half of NAT stock. This offer was quickly, flatly rejected (TIME, April 14). To the Curtiss-Keys group, active as such in aviation since 1920, United Aircraft seemed a shade Napoleonic.* While denying any desire to command the industry, Curtiss-Keys, with 13 companies, backed by Banc-america Blair Corp., was recognized as the No. I group of U. S. aviation; United Aircraft as the contender.

Rebuffed, United canvassed individual NAT stockholders for their proxies to support its exchange offer. Bitterness was intensified when United obtained the holdings of certain of the NAT personnel. Quick to retaliate, Curtiss-Keys launched a counter-offensive for proxies.

The stockholders meeting was a warm event. United sent its Directors Joseph Ripley (National City Bank) and Frederick W. Jackson (lawyer), their pockets presumably stuffed with proxies with which to oust the NAT management. But no one save Messrs. Ripley and Jackson knew what portion of the 650,000 outstanding shares they held, for they voted only one qualifying share each.

Perhaps aware of their opponents' strength, the United men began by claiming a quorum was not represented in the meeting. NAT countered with the statement that its board had but recently amended the by-laws to reduce the quorum to one-third of the voting stock, which they held. Over the violent protest of United's delegates, the meeting proceeded and a strong Curtiss-Keys directorate was reinstalled with minor changes.

Bitter were the recriminations that followed. Said Board Chairman Howard E. Coffin of NAT: "Stockholders stood overwhelming by the present management and voted 521,000 shares for retention . . . despite the unfriendly efforts of United to gain control for its selfish interest."

Protested Aaron Finger, attorney for United: "There was no quorum. Legally the meeting did not take place. We will fight it in the courts."

Immediate plum of this great air fight: a Government airmail contract which United, having operated its group at a profit during the past hectic year (TIME, March 31), feels justified in trying to acquire, but which Curtiss-Keys, having been efficient managers, might ultimately retrieve.

New Ports

Philadelphia. Last week a white Federal elephant became a municipal godsend when the U. S. Shipping Board agreed to sell Hog Island, $53,000,000 Wartime shipyard site, for $3,000.000 to the city of Philadelphia, for development as an air-water-rail terminal. Of Hog Island's 946 acres, 307 will be used for an airport, 70 for a seaplane base, 569 for marine and rail facilities.

London. Few air terminals in the world can rival England's Croydon Airport, save for accessibility. Twelve miles from the centre of London, Croydon cannot be reached in less than 45 minutes, nearly one-third of the time required for the flight to Paris. Last week Parliament investigated a proposal by the Air Ministry to construct an elevated airdrome over Waterloo Railroad Station in the heart of the city. The drome would be 600 yards square, 300 feet above the ground, would cost about $25,000,000.

Diesel Rival

Aircraft engineers seek a motor which will burn cheap nonexplosive fuel oil and yet be light of weight. The Packard Diesel introduced at the Detroit All-American Aircraft Show has the first quality but weighs 2.26 Ibs. per horsepower (TIME. April 14). Last week in Hartford, Conn.. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. flew a stock Wasp 420 h. p. engine which, by direct fuel injection instead of carburetion, but with spark plugs instead of Diesel (compression) ignition, burns either gasoline or furnace oil. Its weight: 695 Ib. A Diesel of like power would weigh 949 Ib.

Flights & Flyers

Plane? Glider? From Cincinnati to Roosevelt Field, L. I. last week flew a tiny craft of 30-ft. wingspread, 700 Ibs. weight, hardly more than a glider. But in the nose of the ship was a two-cylinder engine whose 30 h. p. had driven it 520 mi. in 9 1/2 hours, at a total cost of $9.60, or $1.84-c- per mile. Pilot Stanley C. Huffman for Aeronautical Corp. of America (Cincinnati) delivered the little ship to Roosevelt Field officials who plan to demonstrate it in advanced gliding, elementary flying. The ship's trade name: "Aeronca."

Robot Squadron. From London last week issued exciting but sparse reports that a squadron of British bombers, radio-controlled from the ground, had flown 400 mi., from southern England to Scotland, and landed safely without aid of a human pilot. Electrical "robot" pilots automatically throttled the engines and "flattened out" the planes' glides into the airdrome of destination. Presumably present in each plane: a human pilot to take control if necessary.

Guest Pilot. On its maiden voyage from Germany to the U. S. the Graf Zeppelin carried Lieut. Commander Charles Emery Rosendahl, No. I man of the U. S. Navy's lighter-than-air school, as observing guest. When the giant Dornier seaplane DO-X takes off in July from Lake Constance, Switzerland to fly the Atlantic with 50 passengers, Lieut. Clarence Henry ("Dutch") Schildauer, U. S.N., master of hydro-aircraft, will enjoy a similar courtesy. Dornier officials last week cabled him an invitation to share the controls of the twelve-Curtiss-motored craft in its debut before its adopted U. S. parents, General Motors (TIME, Nov. 4).

Dead Weight. To Samuel B. Lambert. 35-year-old president of Lambert Aircraft Engine Corp. of Moline, Ill., flying to and from work was as commonplace as the average man's trolley ride. Last week he took off alone for the Detroit All-American Aircraft Show in a plane whose engine he had been testing at excess speed. The propeller snapped in half, tore the motor from its mounting. A second engine in the cabin which Mr. Lambert was taking to the show, bore the plane down like an anchor, plunged him to death.*

* Aviation insurance underwriters insst more than 90% of all aircraft accidents are avoidable, due to errors of flying crew or ground personnel.

*All these governments combined imported last year a scant $185,000 worth of U.S. aeronautical products.

*Publicly delcared President Rentschler: "The air between the coasts is not big enough to be divided. ... If the NAT line were to be paralled by a United line, one or the other might lose money.

*Many a pilot, after the engine has been wrenched from his plane in flight, has made a safe "deadstick" landing, as with a glider; but not with extraordinary weight aboard.

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