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Aviation News - Here and There in the Air
May 1934 Flying Aces

May 1934 Flying Aces

Flying Aces May 1934 - Airplanes and Rockets3 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.

Flying Aces magazine featured a monthly "Aviation News" column that covered both model and full-size aviation happenings across the country and on foreign soil. This 1934 issue reported on the land-based "lighthouses" which were established throughout the land in order to guide airplanes from airport to airport. Not much in the way of radio direction finding was available at the time, and this method was more consistent and reliable than having farmers build bonfires in their fields for pilots to look for. "Dead reckoning" was still the order of the day back then. Compared to today where only in the most remote areas are lacking any manmade visual object to positive identification while navigating, real "seat of the pants" skill was required to fly cross-country routes without getting lost. Nowadays, GPS-linked and/or inertial navigation systems can flying an airplane from point A to point B without any assistance from a human. Also told was that "little Dorothy Hall" set a record flying a 5,000 mile trip with her mother, but never mentioned how old she was.

Aviation News - Here and There in the Air

In this department, Flying Aces presents some of the odds and ends of aviation - interesting facts about flyers and their foibles, news picked out of the sky here and there. We hope you like it.

Lighthouse Landings

Did you ever know that there were landlubber lighthouse-keepers? There are, and they're stretched from Mexico to Canada, from coast to coast.

These unsung heroes keep vigil throughout the long night so that pilots of the commercial air lines may "go straight" to their destinations,

Many of these lighthouse-keepers are snowed in during the winter months and cannot reach the outside until well after the end of May when the snow melts.

Each of these lighthouses marks an emergency landing field which has been established through the untiring efforts of our air chiefs in the Department of Commerce in Washington, D. C.

It is also to these men that pilots tip their hats in thanks, for they are the men who prepare, each and every day, valuable flying information, and tap out on their teletype machines news of the various planes as they fly over their lonely stations.

Birthday Greetings To

Roy W. Ammel, born Canby, Minn., April 17, 1897. Mr. Ammel began his flying career in the Illinois National Guard in 1916. He served as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army Air Service during the World War, being assigned to flying boat control, Panama Canal Zone. In 1919 he established an altitude record of 19,800 feet, and on November 9 and 10, 1931, he made the first non-stop flight from New York City to Panama, flying the distance of 3,189 miles in 24 hours and 31 minutes.

John E. Pratt; born Renasca, Ohio, April 24,1901. Mr. Pratt was co-pilot of Ross Hadley on a five months' tour of the world in November, 1930. On the 16,000-mile trip, no advance arrangements were made at any stop for gas, oil or accommodations.

Russell Ralph Benton, born Norman, Ill., April 10, 1896. Mr. Benton's association with aeronautics dates back to 1914, when he became interested in balloons and parachute jumping. He served in the U. S. Navy during the World War, after which he migrated to California and entered motion pictures as a stunt pilot. In 1925 he left motion pictures to establish the first commercial airport in the San Fernando Valley.

George O. Neville, born Cleveland, Ohio, April 24, 1891. Mr. Neville gained fame as an Arctic expedition flyer with Admiral Byrd. Commander Neville served as executive officer of the first Byrd Arctic Expedition to the North Pole and was relief pilot and second in command for Admiral Byrd on the New York to France flight of the airplane "America."

Randall Thomas Henderson, born Clarinda, Iowa, April 12, 1888. Randall Henderson, owner of the Calexico (Calif.) Chronicle, received his early aviation training at the adjutant's school of the aviation section of the Signal Reserve Corps at the Ohio State University. In 1919 he was discharged from the Army air service with R.M.A. rating. Mr. Henderson is active in aeronautical affairs and was largely instrumental in establishing the Calexico airport.

Tod Oviatt, born Akron, Ohio, April 11, 1902. Mr. Oviatt has been closely identified with the construction of airplanes for years. He has had charge of tests of many record-breaking airplanes, first of which was the famous monoplane, "Yankee Doodle."

A Record Trip

Think of it! Little Dorothy Hall flew, with her mother, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, to Seattle, Wash., a trip of 5000 miles, in 22 hours, over the United Air Line route.

We think this some sort of a record, and a check-up with the company proves this fact. They said that it was the longest air journey ever made by a child as young as Dorothy. She's starting young to break records.

Famous Firsts

The first man to recognize hydrogen as a distinct substance, thus establishing the "lighter than air" principle, was Henry Cavendish, English chemist and physicist (1731-1810).

The world's first military balloon observer was Captain J. M. J. Coutelle, He was a member of Napoleon's army and spotted for the French artillery at the battle of Fleurus in Belgium (1794).

The first woman to make a parachute drop from a balloon was Madame Garnerin, a French woman (1799).

The first attempt to cross the Atlantic was made by Donaldson, Ford and Lunt in the balloon "Graphic" from Brooklyn, N. Y. They landed at New Canaan, Conn. (1873).

The first men to make a complete circle in the air, in an electrically propelled airship, were Captains Renard and Krebs, of the French army (1884).

The first aeronautical trophy winner was Glenn Curtiss. His flight for the trophy was in the "June Bug" when he flew not only the prescribed distance of one kilometer, but a mile (1908).

The first airship purchased by the U. S. Government was named "Signal Corps 1" and cost $10,000 (1908).

The first aeronautical stowaway was William Ballantyne, a member of the original crew of the R-34. He and two other men were laid off as it was necessary to lighten the load in the trans-atlantic crossing. He stowed away on the flight to America (1919).

Short Flights

Radio stars with broadcasts scheduled in different cities are going in for flying in a big way. Among confirmed air travelers who are radio headliners are Amos 'n' Andy, Guy Lombardo, Graham McNamee, the Four Marx Brothers and George Burns and Gracie Allen .... So that he may more quickly reach his patients residing throughout Oklahoma, Teas, Arkansas and Louisiana, Dr. Fowler Border, Mangum, Oklahoma, utilizes a four-place aerial ambulance. Upon landing in a locality where there are no established airport facilities, Dr. Border's pilot turns loose the siren with which the plane is equipped, and soon people come from all directions in automobiles, on horseback and afoot, headed for the plane. The result is that a ride to town from the landing site is readily obtained. ยท ... Ten women in the United States hold licenses certifying they are qualified to repack and repair parachutes. There are 312 persons who hold licenses for this phase of aeronautical work, including the 10 feminine riggers ... Dr. R. E. Whitehead, of Indianapolis, Ind., is the newly appointed Medical Director of the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce. Dr. Whitehead holds a transport pilot's license, and has about 600 hours of flying to his credit. He also is a pilot in the Army Air Corps Reserve, and holds the rank of Captain.

Each gallon of gasoline used by Colonel Lindbergh on his 30,000-mile exploration flight was put through a secret and complicated process at Miami, before being distributed to various points for re-fueling. ... Retractable landing apparatus cuts down wind resistance and increases flying speed in some instances as much as 10 per cent. ... Jimmie Wedell, speed record breaker, is now building a plane that he claims will travel 450 miles an hour. Jimmie has his eye on the England-Australia race next fall, when the world's fastest planes will compete in an 11,000-mile air derby for a prize of $55,000. .... Some of the planes used during the World War had extremely high landing speeds. The British S.E.5 landed in excess of 70 miles an hour. ... The wings of a transport plane are built and tested to withstand more than six times the strain that could possibly be put upon them in flight. Five elephants could stand on a transport airplane wing at one time without damage to it.

 

 

Posted June 25, 2022

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