At the time this goes to press Captain Robert Bartlett is so convinced of the feasibility of flying in the arctic regions that he plans to try to fly across the north pole in an aeroplane. During the summer months there are plenty of open spaces on which seaplanes can land in the arctic regions, and flying at 100 miles an hour, it would not take many hours to cross the ice-bound region of the pole itself.
Already on the plains of the West and Southwest this type of aeroplane has been found to be more serviceable than the horse in discovering the whereabouts of lost cattle or sheep, because of the range of vision it gives to the shepherd or cowboy and because of its speed and the short distance it covers in reaching its objective.
The big bombing bus type is being built primarily for companies or clubs intending to carry passengers from city to city or for cruises from the club-houses.
General Menoher, director of military aeronautics, has announced that the army will co-operate with the aero mail department in developing municipal aerodromes in thirty-two different cities in the United States, extending from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico.
Meantime the aircraft manufacturers are contemplating establishing a line of huge flying-boats between New York and Boston, carrying fifty people each way. The distance of two hundred miles could be covered in two hours, or less than half the time taken by train. Only four machines will be used at the beginning, one leaving Boston early in the morning and the other early in the afternoon. Two will leave New York at the same time. Four more will be kept in reserve, and as the traffic increases more will be added. The total investment will not require a million dollars, and the aero mail between the two cities has already set the pace for this passenger line.
The manufacturers also expect that every life-saving station along the entire coast of the United States and its possessions will be equipped with at least one seaplane with which to carry out a life-line to a ship wrecked on the beach or to rescue any one in distress within a hundred miles of the station, because these flying-boats can be launched in any kind of weather and can travel faster than anything that moves on the water.
The keenest aeronautic interest at the present time is centred in the aerial crossing of the Atlantic Ocean between America and Europe. Two possible routes are proposed for the flight. Both start from St. John’s, Newfoundland, but one stretches from there to Ireland and the other via the Azores to Portugal. The northern route is 1,860 miles from land to land, and the other 1,195 miles to the Flores, which is the nearest one of the Azores. From there to Ponta Delgada to Lisbon is 850 more. The southern route is preferable because the first leg is shortest from land to land. Also, less fog prevails in the south in all seasons of the year. Captain Laureati has already flown in a single-motored machine 920 miles without landing. The United States Naval F-5 flying-boat has flown 1,250 miles. Undoubtedly a flying-boat, equipped with four or more motors, could carry enough gasoline to cover the 1,200 miles on the Atlantic without stopping. Indeed, only half the number of motors need be running at one time if necessary, and since the large bimotored machines make a hundred miles an hour the flight could be negotiated within the twelve hours of day-light in the summer-time.
Just before the war broke out Mr. Glenn Curtiss, the inventor of the flying-boat, was building for Mr. Rodman Wanamaker the seaplane America with which Captain Porte was to try to fly across the Atlantic. The beginnings of hostilities terminated the project. The America, however, did cross the Atlantic, but in the hold of another boat, and it performed very good service in British waters chasing Hun submarines.
During the four years that have elapsed since the breaking out of the Great War the construction of aeronautic motors, aeroplanes, and the science of aviation have advanced at least a quarter of a century, so that if the proposition was feasible before the war it ought certainly to be very practicable to-day, as many authorities have testified. The Daily Mail prize of $50,000 is still beckoning to the adventurous spirit. The Martinsyde two-seater land-machine and the two-seater Sopwith have already established themselves at St. John’s, Newfoundland, to begin the flight to Ireland. The United States Navy NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4 have flown from Rockaway by the southern route to the Azores. Once the first flight is negotiated, the aircraft manufacturers are convinced there will be a greater demand for flying seaplanes than for ocean liners, for they feel sure that most of the people going to and coming from Europe would prefer to travel in that way, and in less than half the time now taken by the fastest ocean greyhounds.
