No Lake Landings?

In New Jersey recently one Frank A. Morgan made routine application to the State Board of Commerce & Navigation for permission to operate an amphibian service between Lake Hopatcong, popular resort, and New York. Last week leaders of the aviation industry, no less than Mr. Morgan, were astounded, then indignant to learn that permission was refused; moreover, that aircraft "will not be permitted to land on any New Jersey inland waters."

Unprecedented, this ruling whipped up a squall of protest. The Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce called in William Patterson MacCracken Jr., chairman of its legal committee, demanded a hearing before the board. There was talk of a test case in court. Manufacturers--particularly of seaplanes and amphibians--were incredulous. Their whole appeal to the private flyer, upon whom they depend for much of their business, is based on the inducement of flying between city and vacation camp where lakes furnish easy, safe landing places without cost. Such lakes abound in New Jersey.

J. Spencer Smith, president of the Board of Commerce & Navigation, stated his case: inland lakes are constantly used by small boats. Aircraft taking off and alighting endanger the lives of the boaters. The ban does not extend to rivers.

Cautious Clarence Marshall Young, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, withheld his opinion while he began a careful study of the case. Said he solemnly: "If the disadvantages in allowing seaplanes to navigate . . . are so serious and numerous as to offset the possible benefits which might accrue to the state of New Jersey, then the action possibly is both wise and justified."

Apparently New Jersey air traffic law gives the state full control of navigation on lakes totally within its boundaries, whether public or private.

Avco's Affairs

No one expected Aviation Corp. to show a profit for the first half of this year. The only question was, "how great will be the loss?" Last week appeared the answer: $3,236,317.95; loss for 1929 (Avco was organized March 1929): $1,443,822.

Of the new loss, $1,095,813.11 was described as "extraordinary charge-offs and provision for special losses, including adjustments relating in part to prior periods." President Frederic Gallup Coburn included therein the losses (by current lower prices) in value of unsold Fairchild planes & engines; of "ventures . . . which do not now seem to promise profitable operation" (possibly Cuban flying service, various flying schools). Aviation Corp., with its $19,000,000 cash resources, could well afford the "house cleaning" of items that would otherwise hang over to clutter up future balance sheets, and mitigate the good showing anticipated from benefits of the Watres airmail bill (TIME, April 28; May 5).

On the heels of Avco's semi-annual statement came announcement by Post- master General Walter Folger Brown that the contract for the new southern transcontinental airmail route was awarded to the sole bidder--Aviation Corp. (through its subsidiary, Robertson Aircraft Corp.) bidding jointly with Southwest Air Fast Express (TIME, Sept. 8).

Even that plum tasted slightly tart to Aviation Corp. officials, whose mouths had been watering in anticipation of "100% of the maximum rate" for which they had bid. While the Watres bill authorizes payment up to $1.25 per mi. flown by the contractor, the Postmaster General established a scale of 75-c- per mi. for mail space of 47 cu. ft. (about 400 Ib. of mail) and 40-c- for space of 25 cu. ft. (about 225 Ib. of mail). Aviation Corp expected Postmaster General Brown to contract for the larger load. Instead, he took only the 40-c- space to start with.

Operation of the route, from Atlanta to Los Angeles, will be started within 30 days. Until lighting of the airway is completed, transcontinental mail must be held overnight at Dallas. President Coburn last week gave no credence to a report that a merger involving Robertson Aircraft and S. A. F. E. might follow the awarding of the contract. But the rumor persisted.

Fortnight ago appeared the six-month statement of Curtiss-Wright Corp. showing loss of $5,560,410.11. As in the case of Avco, about one-third of the sum was accounted for by extraordinary charges for development engineering, inventory adjustments, etc.: $2,031,307.55. Board Chairman Richard F. Hoyt was optimistic.

Plane-Every-Hour

On Labor Day, New York, Philadelphia & Washington Airways established "plane every hour" service (TIME, Sept. 8). Last week--the third week of operation--the company carried 1,202 passengers, an average of 172 per day (among them: Chilean Ambassador Don Carlos Davila, Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, a baby wildcat, presidents of seven corporations, two infants in arms). Proudly, officials of the company compared that with the latest available average of all air lines operating across the English Channel-- 118 per day. Traffic for the week was 65% of capacity.

Of the 140 scheduled flights, six were canceled because of weather. Of flights begun, all were completed save on one day when a line squall arose and five ships, simultaneously in the air, made safe emergency landings. Passengers were placed on trains, their fares refunded.

Flying Wings

The term "flying wing", connoting the ideal aircraft with head-resistance reduced to absolute minimum, has been loosely used to describe all manner of low-wing monoplanes and effectively streamlined craft. Last week at Boiling Field (Washington, D. C.) was flown a ship nearly approaching the ideal, an Army experimental observation plane built by Anthony Herman Gerhard Fokker. Twin Curtiss Conqueror engines, 600 h. p. with small chemical-cooled radiators, are mounted inside the single thick tapered wing on either side the fuselage. In flight the landing gear can be retracted into the belly of the fuselage, like a bird's legs.*

The plane, which carries a crew of three (pilot, photographer, radioman) is capable of 150 m. p. h. with normal load of 2,443 Ib.--faster than any U. S. military planes except small pursuit craft. Machine guns are mounted fore & aft. It is primarily designed for long-range reconnaissance and photographic work. But at the Fokker plant in Teterboro, N. J. a plane nearly identical was being completed with the utmost secrecy. Reporter Bruce Gould of the New York Evening Post, who inadvertently happened upon it while on another mission, reported it to be "[a] pursuit-bomber . . . long nosed . . . rakish . . . bristling with armament;" its two bulging engines giving it a "frightful deep-sea monster expression."

Flights & Flyers

Reliability. The 30 planes in the sixth annual National Air Tour finished half of their 4,848-mi. trip last week at Great Falls, Mont. There, canny U. S. Customs agents, aware that the last stopping place had been in Canada, aware of the lusty thirsts of flying men, swarmed over the planes. From Capt. Frank Monroe Hawks, tour official who had proudly led the flyers into his native state, they took six bottles of liquor and $30 in fines. From the cushion in George Haldeman's Bellanca Pacemaker they extracted a half-case of beer. In short order the agents collected a washtub full of liquor, while late arrivals, grasping the situation at sight, hurled bottles right & left before their planes could be searched. Among 18 flyers competing for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy, the Ford tri-motor piloted by Lieut. Harry Russell led by 1,763 points. Second was the Waco of John Livingston, last year's winner, to whom a second and third victory would give permanent possession of the trophy.

"Purple Pansies." At 3 a. m. one day last week at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, Pilot Ruth Blaney Alexander joked with reporters before starting on a one-stop speed flight to New York. Said she, "If I crack up, send me purple pansies; I like them best"--and took off into the swirling fog from the Pacific. A few minutes later she was dead. Her Barling monoplane Agua Caliente plowed into a hillside four miles north of the airport. Investigators searching the aviatrix' room found a note to (and revealing that she had been married three months ago to) Robert A. Elliott, Naval Reserve pilot. Excerpt: "If I have preceded you, do not grieve for me, but be content. Finish your work down here and make me proud of you. . . . And when you come I will welcome you. . . ." Other investigators at Irving, Kan., found that Ruth Alexander, 24, had been married twice before. Her second husband's divorce suit was still pending. Miss Alexander made an unofficial women's altitude record of 26,000 ft. for light planes last July, last month flew nonstop from Vancouver, B. C. to Agua Caliente (Mexico).

*Designer Vincent J. Burnelli at Keyport, N. J. has long been working on a "flying wing" for heavy commercial transport. Germany's four-motored Junkers 6-38 is sometimes called a "flying wing."

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