Arrived: D-1422

Arrived: D-1422

In Manhattan's Customs House last week a large blond man in a blue suit and yachting cap stepped up to the chief clerk of the Collector of the Port, asked for a ship's manifest form. A moment later Capt. Wolfgang von Gronau took oath as master of the flying boat 0-1422, then bobbing at her moorings in the East River after a flight from northern Germany (TIME, Sept. 1). He registered too for his crew of three students from the Deutsches Verkehrs Fliegerschule (German commercial flying school of which he is chief): Eduard Zimmer, copilot; Franz Hack, mechanic; Fritz Albrecht, radioman.

In marked contrast to its unostentatious departure from the Isle of Sylt was the flying boat's spectacular arrival (from Halifax, N. S.) at New York. In mid-afternoon the great tandem-motored Dornier-Wal flew out of the northeast and over Manhattan's crowded Battery, twice circled the Statue of Liberty. Capt. von Gronau picked out one of the escort of police planes, followed it down to a landing in the midst of harbor traffic, deftly hurdled a menacing piece of driftwood, brought up within a stone's throw of the Battery seawall. The four men, in their five-year-old plane (which had already served the late Roald Amundsen in the Arctic and Capt. Frank Courtney in the Atlantic) had flown 4,670 mi. in 47 flying hours--nine days elapsed time.

Said Capt. von Gronau in the New York Times: "I had planned this flight [via Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Canada] for two years, but I did not tell Zimmer and Franz and Fritz until we reached Iceland because I did not wish the authorities to find out. . . . They would have stopped me because of the risk and other things, and so I just went. One must have some daring if one is to live one's dreams."

The plane and its crew flew on to Chicago for the national air races (see p. 47). With them as interpreter went their homeland friend, Fraulein Hertha Seelemann-Mirow, a pilot of the aviation department of the Hamburg-American Line. The return to Germany will be by steamer.

In Germany, meanwhile, the Transportation Ministry chose to smile upon the achievement "which will enhance German prestige throughout the world." It was learned that von Gronau actually had cabled from Iceland for permission to fly on westward. This request was immediately followed by a message saying he had taken off. At the captain's home in Warnemunde, headquarters of the school, Frau von Gronau, unable to snatch a moment's rest, despairingly ordered the telephone disconnected.

Question Mark

At Le Bourget airfield near Paris, the crimson Breguet sesquiplane Question Mark, weighted down by 1,350 gal. of fuel, roared down a runway, pulled itself off the ground and over a line of trees, vanished in the haze to the northwest. It was the start of the second attempt by Capt. Dieudonne Coste,* No. i airman of France, and Maurice Jacques Bellonte to fly nonstop to New York.

The venture appeared to be blessed with the fairest prospects. Every conceivable precaution had been taken. Twice in the past several weeks a take-off had been postponed at the last moment because weather conditions were not perfect. On this occasion even ultra-conservative Dr. James H. Kimball, U. S. meteorologist at Manhattan and famed authority on Atlantic flying weather, "expressed elation'' over the well-timed departure of the Question Mark.

The plane, equipped with a new 645-h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine, is the same with which Coste & Bellonte broke the world's distance record last September, flying 4,877 mi. from Paris to Tsitsihar, Manchuria. In July of last year they reached the Azores on their way to America, prudently turned back to a safe landing in Paris when they saw how headwinds had cut their fuel supply.

The course laid out by Capt. Coste, via southwestern England and southern Ireland, was estimated at 3,875 mi., or between 40 and 50 hrs. of flight. Fuel was estimated sufficient for 56 hrs.

Besides the distinction of being the first to fly direct from Paris to New York, Coste and Bellonte aspired toward another and lucrative goal. They had signed contracts agreeing to try for the $25,000 prize offered for the first Paris-New York-Dallas, Tex. flight. By the terms of their agreement, they must limit their visit in New York to 72 hrs., fly direct to Dallas.

Postal Plums

Airmen have long and eagerly waited to know which transport operators would get the contracts for flying mail over the two new transcontinental routes,* first step in Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown's "remodelled airmail map." One new route will run from New York City via Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City (or via Tulsa), Amarillo, Albuquerque, to Los Angeles. The other will run from Atlanta via Birmingham, Dallas, Ft. Worth, El Paso, points in New Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles.

Last week the bids were opened but the situation remained muddy. For the first route there were two bidders: Western Air Express and T. A. T.-Maddux, jointly; and the new, hastily formed United Avigation Corp. of Pittsburgh. The Western AirT. A. T. bid was for 97 1/4% of the maximum rate allowed by the Watres Air Mail Bill/- (TIME, April 28; May 5). United Avigation offered to take it for 64%.

United Avigation, formed one week before the bids were due, is a merger of Pittsburgh Airways, United States Airways and Ohio Air Transport--all comparatively small concerns. Southwest Air Fast Express was originally mentioned in the combination, but not when bids were opened.

According to terms laid down by the Postmaster General, United Avigation was not qualified to bid because none of its member companies had completed six months of night flying over a 250 mi. route. Its officers declared last week they will contest the legality of that provision, charging it unfairly limited the bidders to a "favored" few.

For the southern route there was but one bidder: jointly, Robertson Aircraft Corp. (an indirect subsidiary of Aviation Corp.) and Southwest Air Fast Express, asking 100% of the maximum rate. Disgruntled operators made capital of this strange bed-fellowship of bitter competitors in the Southwest, pointed out that S. A. F. E. had until recently been among the most vocal in threatening court redress against the night-flying clause. By aligning with Robertson, which meets that qualification, S. A. F. E. became an accredited bidder.

If called upon to reply to cries of discrimination (which have even touched upon the position of Herbert Hoover Jr. as chief engineer of Western Air Express) Postmaster General Brown can cite the policy that motivated the Watres Bill: the protection of equities of pioneer operators, the encouragement of lines which have proven worth and ability.

Plane Every Hour

The route between New York, Philadelphia & Washington has been called "the most traveled stretch of territory in the world."** Yet sporadic efforts to operate airlines have not succeeded. Some reasons: high fares, inaccessibility of airports, infrequency of schedule, excellent rail facilities.

Last week a newly formed company, New York, Philadelphia & Washington Airway Corp., borrowed railroad tactics, began service with ten planes a day leaving New York and Washington "every hour on the hour," stopping at Philadelphia en route. Fares: equal to railroad-plus-pullman for the round trip; slightly higher for one way. (At New York 75-c- bus fare is added.)

Of the handicaps that beset passenger airlines, no men are more aware than the brothers Nicholas S. and C. Townsend Ludington of Philadelphia, president and board chairman of N. Y., P. & W. They have put $1,000,000 into the company, will offer no stock to the public, are prepared to maintain operation at a loss for five years. Brother Townsend, 35, learned aviation in the Navy after leaving Yale. In 1926 he started the Ludington Philadelphia Flying Service. Last year with Brother Nicholas, 25, he organized Central Airport at Camden, N. J. just across the Delaware from Philadelphia. Townsend was vice president and chairman of the technical committee of N. A. T., is now a director in North American Aviation, Inc., Aviation Corp., Federal Aviation Corp.

The Ludingtons have an entente with the Pennsylvania Railroad for the handling of airline tickets, and use of the Manhattan Penn Station for busses. While many existing lines admittedly cannot operate profitably at 7-c- per mi., the Ludingtons base their hopes entirely upon low operating costs. Their equipment is the new Stinson ten-passenger transport, powered by three Lycoming 215-h. p. motors. Its cost, $24,000, is less than half that of higher-powered Fords and Fokkers. Economies throughout the system even reach the point of using aviation gasoline for taking off and landing, ordinary automobile gas for cruising.

Within the month three other services have entered the same field. Eastern Air Transport, operator of the New York-Atlanta mail route, now carries passengers once a day between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Richmond. New York Airways, subsidiary of Aviation Corp. of the Americas, gives daily service to Atlantic City, weekly to Washington. Eastern Air Express announces a two-plane-per-day service between New York and Washington.

Eielson College

Reluctantly (because of his company's role of employer) President Frederic Gallup Coburn of Aviation Corp. last week addressed the aviation industry, invited it to contribute to a memorial to Carl Ben Eielson, Avco's Alaska manager who crashed to death while flying to the aid of a fur ship icebound in the Arctic (TIME, Nov. 25 et seq.). The memorial: a building on the campus of the Alaska Agricultural School and College of Mines at Fairbanks, to be known as Col. Carl Ben Eielson School of Aeronautical Engineering. The memorial movement was started by Dorman H. Baker Post No. n, American Legion, Fairbanks, whose flag Eielson carried on his 1928 flight with Sir George Hubert Wilkins from Point Barrow over the top of the world to Dodmansoya (Dead Man's) Island, Spitsbergen.

Chicago's Carnival

Spectators at the National Air Races in Chicago last week--and seasoned pilots, too--shuddered first, then laughed to see a plane start down the runway with its left wingtip kicking up a trail of dust. The plane rose a few feet, dragged the other wing, bounced its tail up and down, continued to careen around the field mak-ing every error of the most awkward novice pilot. But it did not crash. A motorcycle policeman gave chase, twice fell from his mount in trying to overtake the galloping craft. At length the show was over, the "novice" revealed to the convulsed spectators as Lieut. Richard L. Atcherly of the British Schneider Trophy Team, come to Chicago for the aerobatics. His joke stole the show for the day, if not for the week.

Other incidents of the week:

Lieut. John Perry de Shazo of the 5th Fighting Squadron from the Lexington had just finished third in a 50-mi. race against 16 of his mates. Flashing across the finish line, he did a half-roll as a triumphant nourish. His plane was caught in the propeller wash of the ship ahead, was dashed to the ground, killing Lieut, de Shazo. A wing struck and killed one Louis Weinert, spectator.

Georg B. Fernic, Rumanian designer, of Staten Island, N. Y., was demonstrating his tandem-wing, "spin-proof, stall-proof" plane. For no apparent reason the plane nosed straight down from 50 ft. in landing, bashed the top of another plane on the ground, killed Inventor Fernic.

Major John A. Macready, famed for the first nonstop flight across the U. S., was flying at 180 m.p.h. in the lead of a 25-mi. race when an aileron pulled off. Macready pulled his plane into a steep zoom to check its speed before the inevitable crash. His injuries were not fatal.

The races Were made more exciting than in previous years by starting the planes abreast, with the blast of a cannon. (Formerly the competing ships were despatched in succession to race against time.) But despite this innovation, aerobatics continued to have a stronger hold than racing on public fancy. The arrival of Lieut. Alford J. Williams in his Curtiss Hawk regained for the U. S. some of the i laurels taken by the foreign visitors. His i newest trick he called "crossing the T"-- ', an outside loop, a normal loop, topped oft with a half-loop and half-roll.

A dark horse among the racers was "Benny" Howard, a St. Louis airmail ! pilot, who won four first prizes and one | third prize in his homemade monoplane, j powered with a 100-h.p. Cirrus engine.

Climax of the whole show was the Thompson Trophy Race--first revival of free-for-all speed racing since the days of the Pulitzer races. Because at the last moment his plane developed motor trouble, Capt. Hawks did not enter. Seven started, four finished. At the end of the 15th lap Capt. Arthur H. Page, Marine flying a rebuilt Curtiss-Hawk Navy plane with a stepped-up motor, was leading by almost a lap (five miles). Suddenly, while travelling 200 m. p. h., his motor went dead. To avoid crashing into spectators he swerved his plane, crashed. Capt. Page lived but a few hours.

Winner of the $5,000 prize money was Charles W. ("Speed") Holman of Minneapolis, flying a Wasp-powered Laird. His speed: 201 m.p. h.

Curtiss-in-China

That Curtiss-Wright Corp. has a hand in China's airmail, all the industry knows. Also is it known that the U. S. company's contractual agreements ran afoul of Chinese politics last winter. Last week details of the smoothing-out process were brought to light.

Early in 1929 China Airways Federal was incorporated, an indirect subsidiary of North American Aviation Inc., affiliate of potent Curtiss-Key group. In China was formed China National Airways, with Minister of Railways Sun Fo as president, to negotiate with the U. S. concern. A month later contracts were signed for C. A. F. to carry mail between Shanghai & Hankow, Nanking & Peking, Hankow & Canton. Operation was begun six months later but obstacles arose on every side. Then it became apparent that China Airways Federal had been dealing with the wrong men. Their difficulties were taken before the Supreme Court which ruled that jurisdiction over airmail lay not with Sun Fo but with the Ministry of Communications, headed by silent, able, progressive Wang Pei-chun. Mr. Wang, meanwhile, had quietly gone ahead and imported Stinson planes, started his own company, Shanghai-Chengtu Airways, under auspices of his own department, competing on the Shanghai-Hankow line.

Sun Fo retired in confusion, was replaced by Minister Wang as president of China National Airways.

Their position more delicate than ever, China Airways Federal approached the task of making peace with Minister Wang, r,ent as emissaries two new directors, Max S. Polin and Minard Hamilton. The result was a new company, a partnership between the Curtiss interests and the Chinese Government (with the latter in control) embracing all three of the existing organizations. Under Minister Wang service has progressed, is expanding.

* Frequently spelled Costes. Capt. Coste told newsmen last week that he was not certain which is correct, that in writing it he "just makes a wiggle at the end." It is properly pronounced as a monosyllable.

* In addition to the present line from New-York to Chicago, Salt Lake City & San Francisco.

/- The Watres bill sets the maximum rate to operators at $1.25 per mi. In practice the operators will receive about 40^ per mi. flown for mail space of 25 cu. ft.; 75^' for mail space of 47 cu. ft.

**Estimated, 96,000 persons travel weekly between New York & Philadelphia; 79,000 between New York & Washington.

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