Novel Parachute Plane Is Built to Land in the Back Yard
FIRST cousin to the autogiro, a new circular-wing airplane recently tested in Chicago is so simple in operation that one who has never been off the ground can learn to fly it in thirty minutes, according to the inventor.
Instead of the conventional wing structure, the new plane has a huge saucer-like disc trussed above the fuselage. At the rear of the wing are two ailerons which enable the plane to land at low speeds.
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Looping the Loop in a Balloon
By 1st LIEUT. W. C. FARNUM
Air Corps, U. S. Army Aviation history records only one instance of a balloon looping the loop. Lieut, Farnum tells here the story of his aerial somersaults.
WATCHING an airplane loop the loop always reminds me of a morning 12 years ago when I was a flying cadet at Fort Omaha in the balloon service, waiting for my commission and instructing student officers in balloon observation. This particular morning I was to ascend 3,000 feet and instruct a student in observation. I checked the balloon and gave the order.
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Anyone Can Fly a Blimp
This first-hand account of a novice at the controls of an airship is so graphic and thrilling that you cannot fail to be delighted with it You will find it all the more interesting because, while airplanes have become commonplace, comparatively few have ridden these gas bags.
By ANDREW R. BOONE
SMITHY stuck his head out of the port window. “Give us a weigh-off,” he shouted, raising his voice to get it past the roar of the two engines.
The ground crew, stepping back from the car, slackened all ropes. Instantly the Volunteer began to rise from the Goodyear air dock. And as suddenly all hands grabbed the ropes and the rail running around the bottom of the car.
Across the field came one of the more distant crew members, a canvas bag, heavy with sand, clutched in each hand. Through the starboard door he swung them onto the floor of the car.
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TRAINING ARMY AIR FIGHTERS
A LARGE percentage of each year’s graduates of the West Point Military Academy enter the autumn class at the Air Corps Training Center, Randolph Field, Texas. This fact, and the further fact that the flying school is conducted along lines similar to the Military Academy, has caused this Air Corps school to be popularly termed “The West Point of the Air.”
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FLOATING AIRPORTS on LINK CONTINENTS
by BEN LINCOLN
FUNDS recently appropriated by the government have put the United States Department of Commerce, Aviation Branch, squarely behind the immediate development of a chain of five floating airports which will span the Atlantic for regular airways service.
This recently announced appropriation, amounting to $1,500,000 was negotiated by Eugene L. Vidal, Director of Aeronautics of the Department of Commerce, in behalf of Edward R. Armstrong, inventor of the seadrome, and completes a 16 year fight to gain recognition for a project which both Mr. Vidal, a competent and experienced airways operator, and Mr. Armstrong solidly believe in. As well, it will provide work for a great number of unemployed, as 80 per cent of the cost of such development projects goes to labor.
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Capt. Rickenbacker’s Airplane of the Future
By CAPT. EDDIE RICKENBACKER
America’s war-time ace of aces who is now prominently connected with Fokker Aircraft tells of the remarkable ships of tomorrow now being built, and predicts revolutionary developments in flying.
SEVEN years ago with a pilot, mechanic and a traveling companion, I began an air tour of the United States.
It was a visionary journey in a cabin plane, with my companion, a young newspaper friend, making his first air tour. We rode in the cabin of the plane, carried our luggage in the baggage compartment and caused no little commotion as we began our trip from a landing field near New York City.
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I had no idea that people were working on in-flight refueling this early.
FILLING STATIONS of the SKY
How Fuel Is Passed From One Plane to Another to Keep Record Shattering Endurance Flyers Aloft Hour After Hour Ever wonder how endurance flyers managed to take on fuel, oil and food when on their record-breaking jaunts? The special technique employed by their sky tank wagons is graphically explained in the drawings and photos on these pages.
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