Dough-Icks

When she arrived in Manhattan last week, after a trip from Lake Constance, Switzerland, which has taken almost ten months, the monster Dornier flying boat DO-X (pronounced: dough-icks) stirred and surprised a city which had long ceased to be impatient for her arrival. The deep vehemence of her twelve 600-h. p. Curtiss Conqueror motors beat down like a whole squadron of ordinary planes, stilling the clamor of streets and avenues as she passed over. People, peering from windows and sidewalks were amazed at a hull which is three winged Pullman sleepers in capacity. The shadow of her huge wings flickered over the city's roofs surrounded by moving specks which were the shadows of accompanying planes. The DO-X settled, with hardly any splash, in New York Harbor, discharged 60 passengers, took the air again lor Glenn Curtiss Airport where she was to be inspected, overhauled.

Passengers were unanimously enthusiastic about their experiences. Among them was Mrs. Clara Adams, rich and inveterately aeronautical widow of a Tannersville, Pa., tanner. She had been the first paying woman passenger on the Graf. She flew to Rio de Janeiro for the trip back aboard the DO-X. Said experienced Mrs. Adams: "You could hardly tell you were flying. The noise of the motors did not intrude unless you opened the port holes. Vibration also was notably absent. The cabins were spacious and comfortable."

Lieut. Clarence H. ("Dutch") Schildhauer, U. S. Naval Reserve Corps, who had been guest pilot of the DO-X since she left Lake Constance, called attention to the need for a special type of personnel on large flying boats. "None but an experienced seaman can command," said he. "The question of piloting skill is no more important with large planes than with small, but the need for commanders with stamina and executive experience in a degree comparable to the present masters of ocean liners is of paramount importance. . . ." Commander of the DO-X on her arrival last week was 43-year-old Captain Fritz W. Hammer. He had been flying three years at the outbreak of the War. in which he fought in German navy planes, was several times wounded. In 1919 he helped found Scadta Airways, in Colombia and Venezuela, was its technical adviser till 1925. Capt. Hammer's engineering ability, combined with his familiarity with South American Airways, caused the Dornier company to select him for the DO-X's passenger-carrying trip up the South American coast via Porto Rico, Cuba and Miami.

At Curtiss Airport, thousands of sight seers marveled at the size of the DO-X (157 ft. 5 in. wingspread, 131 ft. 4 in. long), at her aluminum body, her interior arranged like that of a Pullman car with well-cushioned seats, which can be converted into berths, facing each other on both sides of a central aisle. Experts made allowances for the extraordinary series of delays and postponements which had made her long flight almost comically slothful. Engineering and operative problems, in creasing in proportion to the size of a plane, could only be solved in actual flight. Captain Hammer declared that the DO-X's crossing, which took more than six months longer than that of the Mayflower, had been far more useful than a quick and direct passage.

Future plans for the DO-X were some what vague. A tour of the Midwest was projected, also a trip home across the North Atlantic. Plans for selling or chartering the great ship for an unspecified price to a U. S. air transport company-were also rumored. Experts agreed that the DO-X would be of less value for long flights, when payload must be diminished to make room for fuel, than for commercial use over short, heavily traveled routes. In one test flight, the DO-X car ried 169 people. She can make 750-mile trips with a payload of 13,000 lb. at a cost of $4.27 per mile.

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