All Questions Answered
March 1937 Flying Aces

March 1937 Flying Aces Table of Contents These pages from vintage modeling magazines like Flying Aces, Air Trails, American Modeler, American Aircraft Modeler, Young Men, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, R/C Modeler, captured the era. All copyrights acknowledged.

At first I was skipping over these over these "All Questions Answered" columns that appeared monthly in Flying Aces magazine, because I thought it was dumb to print responses to questions without also printing the questions that elicited them. After finally reading this one from the March 1937 issue, I realized that the questions can be inferred from the responses, and the information contained in the responses was stuff that required someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the aeronautical field and/or someone with access to scarce volumes of data. Although not explicitly attributed to him, I believe after reading much of Joe Archibald's work (including the misadventures of Lt. Phineas Pinkham and his "Happy Landings" column) that most, or maybe even all, of it was provided by him. Mr. Archibald was himself a World War I flying ace with a vast knowledge of airplane models, aeronautics, and aviation history.

All Questions Answered

This section of Flying Aces is at your service, F.A.C.'s. Send in your questions and requests for aero information, and we'll be glad to answer them here in the order they are received.

Dayton Kittredge, East London, Mass.: - No I did not invent the Darn machine gun for Kerry Keen. It is a modern French weapon. I do not know enough about the Northrop and the Vultee at-tack ships to make a true comparison. Sorry.

Henry Fassbender, Spearfish, South Dakota: - There are several versions of the British Miles "Hawk." The best of them is powered with the Gipsy Six racing engine and does 185 m.p.h. at 1,000 feet. It is a single seater.

Roscoe Anderson, Puyallup, Wash.: - I have no idea what the Spad, insignia you describe might be. I know of no squadron that used such a design. We are looking'into the matter of flying models of all well-known war time planes. We'll do our best for you.

David Cohen, Brooklyn: - New York University has a splendid course in aeronautical engineering. See the officials of the Guggenheim school there. I am not a doctor and I do not know the actual requirements concerning eyesight, etc., with reference to commercial licenses. See a Department of Commerce physician in your district.

"Joe Dokes," Stockport, Cheshire, England: - Your very humorous letter received concerning the Fairey Fantome. It is certainly an interesting story, and we wish you could give us the "low-down" on it. It would make a grand plot for a modern air story. Come on, now, give us the real yarn. We won't tell the Fairey company, for which you work.

Donald Bloodgood, Yuma, Arizona: - I'm afraid I can't explain why (or if) France and Great Britain seem to have faster pursuit ships than the United States. We cannot rely much on any figures given out, but I would not worry a great deal about it one way: or the other. American pursuit planes are built for a special purpose and for the general conditions faced here. The same goes for the planes used by other countries. Comparisons are only useless. Yes, there are several planes in the U. S. Air Service that come under the head of troop carriers or cargo ships.

Bill Prince, Rome, N. Y.: - Your request for a picture and plans of Kerry Keen's new Bullet have been cared for in November F. A. The Waco WHD top speed is 176. I do not know its cruising speed.

Robert Dixon, London, England: - Thanks for the clipping on "Taffy" Jones' article. Sorry, but we can't reprint it as it is a copyrighted article. We would like to, but we are unable to do so. Thanks for your long and interesting letter. We hope to write to you personally one of these days.

George Hecht, New York City: - The volume you speak of is not an authentic authority if it credits McCudden with 84 victories and Udet with only 27. There is no official list of British aces anywhere outside of the British Air Ministry. A book published in 1919 could not be correct in this matter, as the records were not completed until several years after the war. Thanks for your offer, nevertheless.

Harry Lucas, Toronto, Canada: - First off, you cannot mail letters from the United States with Canadian stamps on them, so I can't use your addressed envelope. Sorry, I have no record of any plane using the Ranger motor, as yet.

Walter G. Stone, Washington: - The Ace McCoy feature may be put out in pamphlet form later on, but at present we are too busy with new material to make it up. Unfortunately, full sets of back copies are not available.

M. Meilich, Bayonne, N. J.: - The Douglas in the picture you sent is the 02-H - an observation machine. Your Northrop appears to be the Northrop attack plane, but owing to the angle from which it is taken, it is hard for me to state for sure.

Edward Kiefer, Chicago: - I do not think we made such a mistake. The most recent photographs received from Germany on German military types do not show the Maltese Cross. We do have one photo that does, but that is an old model - at least eighteen months old, any rate.

Robert Kuhne, New York City: - I suggest that you write to the Ronald Press, 15 East 26th Street, New York City for their catalog on aircraft handbooks.

Robert Howell, Nebraska: - Flying Aces has been published since October 1928. There is no record of what pilot has the most flying hours, but there are several both here and abroad who have flown more than. 10,000 hours.

Donald Anderson, Odessa, Minn.: - The initials N.A.C.A. stand for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. I have no record of a Vultee bomber kit being put on sale. I know of no National Airways airline; but there is a National Parks Airways company which runs out of Salt Lake City to Great Falls, Montana, and through Yellowstone park during the summer season.

Henry Courcier, Jr., Wichita Falls, Texas: - Sorry, but I have nothing on the Sperry Messenger plane. I have something, however, on the Sperry Sportplane built late in 1918. It had a span of 27 ft.; height, 6 ft. 4 in.; used two 38 h.p. B.W.W. engines (whatever they were); had folding wings; and hit a top speed of 88 m.p.h. I wish you would give more information on the year, or approximate year, of the manufacture when asking about planes and motors. I spent hours looking up this Irwin, not knowing what year it was built or in what country. It appears that it's an American motor built in 1932 - a four-cylinder, two-stroke plant rated at 20 h.p. It had a compression ratio of 4.8 to 1 and weighed 59 pounds.

William E. Hoover, Washington, D. C.: - There is no authentic record of any wartime pilot ramming a Zeppelin at all. There used to be such stories in circulation, but they have never been verified.

Pat O'Reiley, New Haven: - The new Junkers airliners operated in Germany are now using Junkers Jumo Diesel engines. The DeHavilland 4 had a wingspan of 42 ft. 4 5/8 inches and a top speed of 120 m.p.h. 

Vincent Anderson, 1967 Oceanview Blvd., San Diego, Calif.: - So you want to get in touch with Ken Hammer, who once lived in Bemidji, Minn. Well, we hope you find him. Regarding the Pterodactyl, we have no record of any angle of incidence on the official pictures and material we get from the Westland firm. Are your plans from the Westland firm?

Raymond Wagner, New York City: - I have no record of the direction the Caudron C-460's Renault engine runs, but it is evident from the photo you mention that the prop must run clockwise. I note after an inspection of these engines that all Renault motors seem to turn in this manner, which is contrary to most engines in Europe.

James Lewis, New York City: - The fuel tanks of the China Clipper are set in the wings. These Clippers were developed by the Glenn L. Martin company. I know absolutely nothing about the scientific aspects of "red sky at night" or the color of the moon. And as it is impossible for a plane to go to the stratospheric heights you mention, why worry what might happen to a man sitting up there in an open cockpit plane? Jimmy Collins was born in Warren, Ohio, on April 25, 1904, and Baron von Richthofen was born on May 2, 1892 in Breslau.

John Flynn, Watertown, Mass.: - There was no Douglas DC-1. The first model of this series was known as the Douglas Airliner and came out in 1933. It had the same engines and the same general lines as the DC-2 but was 1 foot 1 1/2 inches shorter in length. It had a top speed of 210, whereas the DC-2 hit 213. The Airliner accommodated twelve; the DC-2 carried fourteen. There was little to identify one from the other at a glance, and as there are few Airliner models still in use, I can't advise you further on that point.

-By Arch Whitehouse.

Answers to Questions

1 - The first Wright aircraft motor was a redesigned Pope-Toledo motor car engine.

2 - The former King Edward of England was partial to the Airspeed Envoy.

3 - Lindbergh's Miles Mohawk is powered with an American Menasco engine.

4 - Finland uses the swastika in a light blue shade on a white circle background

5 - The Dedalo is listed as an aircraft and airship carrier in the Spanish Navy. It does not have a carrier deck but accommodates 25 seaplanes, two small airships, and two balloons.

6 - Kerry Keen the fiction character is supposed to be a ballistics expert.

7 - Major-General Goering, former leader of the Richthofen Circus is the present German Air Minister.

8 - Captain Mollison purchased the Bellanca racer from the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes Fund. It originally was the Irish Swoop entered by Capt. Fitzmaurice in the England-to-Australia race.

9 - Duralumin is a special aluminum alloy affording both strength and lightness, thus being suitable for aircraft manufacture.

10 - A barograph is an instrument which makes a permanent record in ink of the various altitudes attained by an aircraft in flight.

Posted June 3, 2023