THE AERIAL NEMESIS OF SUBMARINES

HUNTING THE UNDERSEA PIRATES

This remarkable photograph depicts clearly the type of small dirigible now being used by the French and British in hunting German submarines. The gas bag is short and stubby when compared to the latest rigid types of Zeppelins, and as a result, great speed is not possible. The car is the same as that used on English battleplanes, modified to an extent which allows slightly greater carrying
capacity.

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Can You Live Under the Sea?

A whole new world awaits man under the seas. Not a dream any longer, it is coming closer every day.

BY FLOYD B. McKNIGHT

“SHALL we take the sub-train down to Sea City?” you ask.

“No,” your companion replies, “Let’s take the Aquascender. We’ve been using the sub-train all week!”

You follow the crowd of commuters into the pressurized transparent cabin, much as you would enter an elevator on the top floor of a skyscraper. The door is closed. The atmosphere becomes almost imperceptibly darker as the stewardess turns on the light-conditioners to accustom your eyes to what is coming. A soft hissing sound informs you that the breath-conditioners are also on.

Yes, the light in space around you is controlled, and so is the air you breathe. So accurate are the controls when the motors begin to purr and the actual descent begins, that you do not even notice the change.

People used to swell up at the joints and die trying to do what you are doing now. Thanks to science, you are enjoying the thrill of vertical descent to the ocean floor in perfect comfort.

Fish, large and small, silver and blue and gold, plain and striped, with weird designs, saw-toothed or hatchet-faced or just everyday fish, swim up to the transparent walls of the Aquascender shaft. You glimpse phosphorescent creatures rippling electrically among watery weeds and ferns, flowers delicately white and yellow and red, and rocks and grottos, strangely shapen, overgrown with sea-moss, coral and vines.

Then, faintly visible, rising from below, you see the transparent, watery spires of Sea City in all its enchanted reality! It is built of the same substance as your Aquascender car and the shaft through which it has made its descent—a new, transparent plastic, stronger than metal, made to withstand the terrific underwater pressures. These are the “Buildings That Breathe” as they are known in the world of earth and air above.

The Aquascender comes to a gentle stop. You step out into streets that also breathe within the transparent tunnels that enclose them. All the undersea structures, harder and more solid than those of the earth above, literally “breathe.” They use compressed air lungs, just as your Aquascender uses. All are regulated, floor by floor, to harmonize your bodily organism with actual conditions of undersea living, working, playing, venturing.

Through it all you remain dry as powder —that is, provided you want to. You can also don your own fins, artificial lungs and water-weights and go out among the “workers in the field,” swimming about like veritable mermen and mermaids, drilling for oil, cultivating agar, kelp and strange mosses in lush undersea gardens, photographing the treasure of a sunken ship or of a submerged Atlantis!

Does this picture of a possibly not-too-distant future seem fantastic? Do you think it is impossible? If so, it is because you do not realize how far undersea science has gone toward this very development right now! The picture is not only possible. Much of it is a thing of the present—not the future!

The vision of almost unlimited periods of submersion has now become a fact, with the actual development of an apparatus which manufactures oxygen from purified sea water. The Navy has awarded a $150,000 contract to a company to build the device for use in submarines. With a continuous supply of freshened air, and fuel from an atomic pile, submarines will be able to remain submerged for two years at a time without having to surface at regular intervals to revive the atmosphere and charge batteries. The adaptation of these principles to other structures surely removes the aura of fantasy from the possibility of a city under the sea!

Until fairly recently it was thought that the bottom limit for safe “skin diving” was thirty-five feet and that a diver going farther might come up with a terrible case of “the bends.” The cause was the rapidly increasing pressure of the water with increasing depth. Nineteenth-century British Admiralty researches placed the increased water pressure with each foot of descent at .44-pound per square inch. No human organism could stand it.

In about 1850 a man who went down 120 feet came up with bleeding nose, terrific pains in head and body and swelling at the joints. The bent-over posture of the sufferers caused pier builders to name the ailment after the designation which certain fashionable women of the period gave to a peculiar drooping movement which they affected—the “Grecian bend.”

Investigators found that increasing pressures at greater depths caused proportionately greater quantities of nitrogen in the inhaled air to dissolve in the bloodstream. Nitrogen thus “occluded” in the blood was harmless as long as the diver stayed down. The damage started with his reascent. A quick return lessened the pressure so fast that the compressed nitrogen expanded and foamed like soda water in the blood. Bubbles blocked off the smaller capillaries and forced them to burst. If large bubbles lodged in the valves of the heart, it stopped beating and death ensued.

The remedy proved to be gradual reascent. Returning from a 100-foot dive, the diver paused for a half-hour at 80 feet, then for a certain time at another level, and so on. The nitrogen in his blood thus was given time to become decompressed and gradually escape. Statisticians computed elaborate “decompression tables.” The diver had but to consult his chart to calculate how many hours he should take to reascend from a dive which required only a few minutes. The deepest descent ever made was that of William Beebe and Otis Barton in Bermuda waters in August, 1934. Beebe’s famous “Bathysphere,” a spherical structure of thick steel, with windows of quartz, whose coefficient of expansion is almost identical to that of steel, went down 3,028 feet and despite the terrific pressures at that level returned intact to the upper world.

From 670 feet downward, plant life was no more, and an important door to the upper world was closed, though he was constantly giving descriptions and instructions by telephone to his co-workers above. Here the fish were often powerful, colorful, sometimes of giant proportions and often highly luminous. Some of them bore lights like traffic signals on special tentacles protruding from their bodies. At 1,680 feet one of these luminous fish suddenly “exploded” in the inky water right outside the quartz window of the Bathysphere. Later there were other “explosions,” all with blinding flashes of light, and only after repeated experiences of this phenomenon did he learn that a flame-throwing shrimp was defending itself by literally pouring a stream of flame out of its body to drive away some terrible-toothed marauders of the deep in one of nature’s wars deep-hidden from the eye of the upper world. The teeth of some fish a half-mile down were shiningly phosphorescent, with black interspaces between the teeth and bodies that seemed now like transparent veils or again deep black like the water itself.

As such information is garnered by the courageous scientists who go down to the depths and report what they have seen, the big question mark in our knowledge of the ocean is gradually being reduced.

In experiments at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Max Gene Nohl, Captain John Craig and others built their own laboratory pressure chamber and lived in it to test on their own bodies the possibility of breathing new atmospheres containing inert gases other than nitrogen. An oxygen-helium atmosphere was found best because helium did not “occlude” in the blood.

Further research showed that the effects of carbon dioxide, which can accumulate disastrously in the lungs at depths of 200 feet and lower, are surmountable by proper pressurizing. Thus we have learned to avoid the so-called “rapture of the deep” from which less experienced divers have suffered —an intense and intoxicating dizziness which may cause the diver to ignore danger by going down still farther after his attack or even losing his breathing and other mechanical equipment and plunging to death.

Some undersea men have advocated the fish’s breathing method for man—the inhalation of oxygen directly through the water by means of artificial gills. But the human organism cannot endure straight oxygen, and the technical problem of blending it with an inert gas such as helium has not yet been mastered. The “Aqualung” used by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his French associates embodies regulation of the flow of compressed air in ratio to depth and exterior pressure. Along with whatever breathing contraption the “skin diver” may take down with him, he may use such mechanical aids as weights to offset natural buoyancy and flippers on the feet.

The problems of underwater communication are rapidly being solved. It has been found that a throaty speech sometimes aids communication under water because it sets up bone vibrations. Bone oscillators, transceivers, tank microphones and helmet telephones have been used effectively.

Television, too, has been successfully applied to undersea communication. A surface monitor screen can give a constant picture of the scene being photographed below. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, in association with Siebe, Gorman and Company, Ltd., has used this principle in England. A Marconi image orthicon camera is equipped with remote controls to govern focus and lens aperture. A water indicator warns of any moisture in the camera’s pressure casing and all cameras and equipment are pressurized to protect them from being shattered by the strong pressures. A compass and an inclinometer are a part of this TV equipment, and infrared lighting has been suggested to overcome the difficulty of photography in muddy waters.

The United States Navy’s Ordnance Laboratory has used highspeed photography to study the effects of underwater explosions two miles down. With explosion detonation, camera “shooting,” flash and aperture control automatically synchronized to milliseconds, the photographers took pictures at a rate of 20,000 frames per second, giving the Navy needed information at nominal cost in contrast to the $500,000 that construction of a tank adequate for the experi- ment would have otherwise required.

Modern science and industry have launched a joint endeavor to conquer the sea, as they have the land and air. Actual undersea conditions are produced in laboratories, such as the 125-gallon duplicate of the ocean bottom in a downtown New York skyscraper. Here, Western Union engineers have artificially created the black, freezing, high-pressure depths nearly two miles down in the North Atlantic within a five-ton tank with four-inch-thick steel walls. The operation of delicate undersea cable amplifiers for installation on the ocean bottom may now be carefully tested under “actual” conditions far from the ocean.

With such developments already thought out and used, what obstacles remain to the construction of man’s undersea city? Certainly, none that cannot be overcome! For years, industry has produced reinforced plastics that are stronger than metal. It has manufactured synthetic substances with other needed properties almost at will. A few more steps, at most, will produce the desirable building materials for the city.

Perhaps at deep levels the structures will be portable, movement being easier there because of the greater buoyancy of the water.

The shark problem is less menacing than some hair-raising accounts suggest. Man is by no means ignorant of shark behavior. The presence of blood in the water makes the shark ferocious. Otherwise, unless the creature is exceedingly hungry or has been hurt by a man, it will not attack him.

The known repulsion of sharks by the presence of a dead shark in the water led to an interesting discovery in World War II. Aviators over the Pacific were far more fearful of sharks than of drowning, and it was found that the dead shark developed in its. body a substance which the living shark did not possess. Dow Chemical Company researches produced this substance synthetically, so that it might be dumped from planes into the shark-infested waters whenever a plane went down.

Thus man’s knowledge has gone far toward conquering this last remaining frontier of the physical world. And why should he bother? Well, on the materialistic side there is untold wealth! With Near Eastern oil threatened, the exploits of drillers operating clumsily from ships off California and Texas have gained attention, and undersea science will make possible actual drilling on the sea bottom. Commercial values are there. They gained official recognition when President Dwight D. Eisenhower granted, and both houses of Congress passed bills confirming, states rights to all mineral resources in the tidelands areas and perhaps further out to sea when the law is further defined. Thus, the states affected have gained mineral rights to a ‘”sea” of wealth. It is estimated that full scale oil well operations on these underwater “tidelands” can eventually produce about 200,000 barrels of petroleum, as well as 600 to 800 million cubic feet of natural gas, each day. During the course of these activities, the discovery of new major oil and gas fields will continue to offer fresh sources.

In certain deep ocean areas lies the primordial ooze, an eight- to ten-foot film thought to contain the makings of plastic materials. Portions of it are radioactive. Samples already entrapped prove that this layer is a rich source of oil. It is now believed that nearly half of the oil remaining in the earth is still stored in large pools beneath the oceans, within ancient coral or shell reefs and in “traps” under the sea floor.

Many minerals of the undersea are known. Manganese, so essential in our industrial civilization, is present in thick crusts on the rocky summits of submarine mountains. Only one such sea mount in the central Pacific is estimated to contain fifty million tons, ten times the present annual world production. The rising standard of living throughout the world may well exhaust our present sources of iron within the next hundred years. Magnesium extracted from the sea, the likely substitute, offers a source of supply sufficient for over ten million years.

Gold deposits run out to sea, often for considerable distances. A cathode ray tube, showing radar reflections in terms of brilliance, might easily locate them. It is estimated that if the quantity of gold in sea water were all extracted and distributed equally, each man, woman and child in the world would receive an amount worth about $4,000.00. (Before taxes.) The famous German chemist Fritz Haber was the first to draw practical conclusions from the fact that sea water is an inexhaustible source of gold. He was charged with this task by the German government during World War I, and succeeded in working out an extraction method, but was not given the opportunity to perfect it and make it economical. After the war ended no further funds were available for the project.

The fact that gold is highly diluted in sea water does not mean extraction can’t pay. There is a plant called horsetail which has the property of accumulating gold by selective absorption. These plants might be raised on “plantations,” and the gold extracted from them.

Coal companies, too, have tunneled out from land to mine under the water, and have also drilled directly from the sea bottom. Incidentally, a better-burning coal results from sinking it so that it may absorb salt, as anyone knows who has observed the effects of “bunkering” it beneath water-level on a steamship.

Ambergris, malodorous carrier base for delicate and expensive perfumes, originates in the stomach and intestines of the sperm whale.

With new access to the medicinal oils of the livers of the cod and whale will come a new scientific understanding of the plankton, those near-microscopic creatures which absorb sunlight on the surface of the water, then are eaten by these big fish which in turn give sunlight and vitamins to man through cod and other fish-liver oils.

Varying temperatures of the water at different levels can produce the power for man’s undersea activities, and the most forward-looking explorers of the deep envision manufacturing their own power supply below the surface.

Long ago Simon Lake espoused underwater freight to save energy and expense, because he saw the economic value of loss of weight of heavy objects during transportation.

Strategically, supersonic signal stations could be built well out from shore, and a photoelectric fence could help warn of enemies and keep them out. One fantastic but not impossible dream of earlier undersea enthusiasts was the diversion of the warm Gulf Stream where it meets the cold Labrador Current at the Grand Bank, east of Newfoundland. Engineers believed that at this point it would not be too difficult to direct these currents and change the climates of continents, so that palm trees might line Fifth Avenue!

The triumph of undersea science is not one primarily of new gadgets and devices, although these are important, but of recognition of a set of laws apparently different from the natural laws which govern life on land.

“Drop” an object undersea and it rises instead of falls. The force of gravity becomes the force of levity—the more so the deeper one goes, and very rapidly more so. The scientist is learning to use these phenomena to advantage—and in many respects his job is an easy one. Underwater lighting, for example, is much simpler than dry-land lighting because the heat generated by a burning electric bulb in an ordinary air medium is tremendous, whereas water cools the bulb so that a 1,000-watt bulb under the sea need be no larger than a 60-watt bulb on land.

Man has conquered practically the final obstacles standing in the way of his new adventure. Arthur Carpenter, a member of the board of governors of the Explorers’ Club, in collaboration with a group of explorers, scientists and engineers, has created an actual undersea station in which ten or a dozen men can go down to depths of 100 feet or more and live there even for several weeks at a time if they so desire.

Another explorer, J. E. Williamson, has stayed overnight in his underwater sphere anchored on the seafloor off the Bahamas. His sphere, six feet in diameter, is even recognized as an undersea post office of the British Government as long as he keeps it there!

Within the next few years, the undersea will become more than an overnight lark, a post office for tourist parties or a place for a casual dive or photographic trick. That is because the scientist, the technologist and the engineer have taken over. Yesterday, the “city under the sea” belonged to the researcher and adventurer.

Tomorrow it will belong to you and me!

————

“The only other place comparable to these marvelous nether regions, must surely be naked space itself, out far beyond atmosphere, between the stars, where sunlight has no grip upon the dust and rubbish of planetary air, where the blackness of space, the shining planets, comets, suns, and stars must really be closely akin to the world of life as it appears to the eyes of an awed human being in the open ocean a half mile down.”
-William Beebe

Propeller-Drive CAR has VANE Control

CARRYING the development of air driven automobiles a step farther, Emil Sohn, a Berlin aviation engineer, has invented a motor car that secures high flexibility of control from power of an airplane motor and twin propellers located in the rear, in the position of the rumble seat.

The propellers are mounted horizontally, the windstream being directed by means of adjustable vanes like the blades of a steam turbine. The powerful windstream tends to push the car forward at a tremendous speed when the vanes are set for “forward,” that is, slanting toward the rear. To go in reverse, the vanes are slanted forward, so that wind-stream pushes the car backward.

Chief among the advantages offered by this method of propulsion are: utmost economy; the ability to climb steep mountain grades; smooth passage over roughest of roads; and the elimination of all danger of skidding on wet or icy streets, due to downward pressure on wheels exerted by upward windstream.

Balbo Plans Daring Non-Stop World Flight

THE first actual world flight of 25,000 miles in two days without a landing is said to be under consideration by Gen. Italo Balbo.

Four seaplanes, designed for flying eight miles above the earth, would accomplish the feat by refueling in four dirigibles, spaced at 6,250-mile intervals. One dirigible would be stationed near the Amazon river, another in the Polynesian islands, and the third near China.

The planes would make each lap in ten hours and be drawn aboard the ships by a suspended hook and hoist, such as is used on U. S. Macon. During each rest period, ships would continue the flight.

Aquaplanes Carry TENNIS to Sea

IT JUST had to come! With a mile-long waiting line at the public tennis courts of most cities, the devotees of the sport just had to find some place to play; and as a net across the pavement might interfere with traffic to a certain extent there was no place left except the wide-open spaces of lake, river, ocean, or what kind of water have you in your neighborhood?

Aquaplane tennis, which started in the South last winter and rapidly obtained a foothold at the northern resorts during the summer, requires three speed boats, two aquaplanes, four bathing beauties and a lot of water. If the service is rotten you can always go swimming. It’s a great racket even if it is all wet!

New Motorized Office and Hotel For Traveling Executive

A COMPLETE executive office and comfortable living quarters have been combined into a single motor bus body by Fred D. Martin, an executive of a linen supply firm in the Southwest. He uses the vehicle to visit the branches of the company in which he is interested, thus being able to conduct routine business while en route.

Inside the vehicle are four comfortable, deeply upholstered chairs, a light folding desk, which likewise serves as a dining table; bath, cook-stove, fans and other office and hotel conveniences.

At night the chairs are folded down to make two comfortable beds. Curtains sliding on rods running lengthwise the car are pulled into place when the beds are used, providing two compartments, with an aisle between. An office desk permits Mr. Martin to work while on the road.

Airplanes May Replace Cannon in Laying Telegraph Wire

CANNON have been used for many years to send a line or rope across an impassable barrier. Harpoons with ropes attached are shot into whales. The Life Saving Stations use cannon to send lines from shore to ships stranded in low water. However, in both of these cases the distance to the target has always been comparatively short and thus the effectiveness of the cannon for this purpose has been limited.

A few years ago there came an occasion when a ship was stranded in low water but too far out for the cannon line to reach it for the establishment of a breeches buoy. A plane was called into service to carry, if possible, a line from shore to ship. There was much doubt expressed as to whether or not it could be done. However, everything functioned perfectly and the plane dropped one end of its line on the beach and carried the other end out to the ship caught on the reef.

Quite recently the cannon has been used for quite a different purpose. In certain heavily timbered areas it has been found to be almost impossible to lay telegraph and telephone wires. Out in California one of the power companies conceived the idea of using a small cannon to carry the wire across impassable areas. A slug about a foot long was constructed so that the rope could be attached to one end. This slug fitted snugly into the cannon. The rope was coiled and placed in a container. Great care was exercised so that the rope would not tangle when it started uncoiling with its tremendous speed as the slug shot through the air. The opening in the container was directed toward the target.

The gun was aimed so that the slug dropped within a few feet of its target. In this way a wire or cable was laid in a few minutes as compared to many hours with the old method of man power. Now that the cannon has proved itself capable along this line of work it is not too much to expect that the airplane will be called upon to help carry the load. The airplane can lay its cable over absolutely impassable areas and across inaccessible points. Mountains, timbered areas, rivers and deserts are all the same to the airplane dropping its wire so that when the ground crew strings the wire to the poles the job is completed.

Cast-off Shoes Make Tires for “Rough Rider” Bicycle
IF YOU don’t know what to do with your old shoes, here’s a suggestion—make bike wheels out of them. No less a unique stunt has been performed by Marie Glory, a well-known Parisian bicycling enthusiast, as the photo at left shows. The regular wheel has been dispensed with altogether, and the “shoe wheel” substituted.

Each shoe is fitted over a form, which is in turn attached to the ends of a spoke, of which there are six on each wheel. Although these bike wheels are the last word in novelty, it cannot be said that they are the last word in comfortable riding. The inventor, however, enjoys the sport.

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Diving Two Miles in an “Egg-Laying” Bombing Plane

THRILLS are commonplace for William H. McAvoy, test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at Langley Field, Va.

But “Daredevil Bill” probably will not forget in a hurry the events of the other day when he was called upon to test the sensational single-motored bombing plane just developed by Glenn L. Martin.

After a graceful takeoff from the Naval Air Station near Washington, D. C, McAvoy climbed to an altitude of about 11,000 feet. Whereupon things began to happen. First the ship suddenly nosed over and dived straight down for more than a mile while Bill felt a terrific tug at his safety belt, meantime realizing fully that slung under the plane was a 1,000 pound dummy bomb, thereby freighting the ship so heavily that at any moment one of the wings might tear off.

Which was exactly what did happen. Socko! Just before the dramatic dive ended, the lower right wing caved in completely, the outer covering ripped off and the metal ribs began whipping back and forth into the wind.

Not a whit dismayed, McAvoy took a firm grip on the controls, got the ship in hand just in time to save the entire wing from collapsing, and landed safely.

What the government experts have been striving for in their tests with the “egg-laying” plane is to develop a ship strong enough to make a 10,000 foot power dive while carrying a 1,000 pound combat bomb. So that, following McAvoy’s first experimental flight, the wings on the new plane were made far more durable.

A few days later McAvoy once more took the ship up, carrying the regulation 1,000 pound bomb. This was the first time in history that a plane had withstood the terrific beating of carrying a 1,000 pound bomb straight down from the skies for nearly two miles, at more than four miles a minute, and then, still carrying that bomb, climbing up again from the dive with ease, without damage to the airplane.

In actual warfare, of course, the ship wouldn’t have to carry the bomb through the pull-up. But the pilot must know that in case the bomb fails to release, his plane is strong enough to come out of the dive still freighted with its half-ton weight.

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THE MI URBASPORT TRI-MAGNUM: HOME-BUILT EXCITEMENT

By Robert Q. Riley and Dave L. Carey

WITH almost a decade of safety-and energy-conscious cars under our belts, we Americans have learned to accept the econobox theory of automotive engineering. What used to be one of our greatest pleasures—the car—has become a mundane, utilitarian device for economically carrying people and things from place to place.

Conserving fuel is fine. But having fun while doing it is even better.

It’s possible for a car to be fuel efficient and downright exciting. To prove that point, we’ve produced the latest in the MI series of Urba cars, the UrbaSport Tri-Magnum. Tri-Magnum is a direct descendant of the popular three-wheeler, UrbaSport Trimuter, which was featured in MI exactly three years ago. And just like the Trimuter, you build the Tri-Magnum yourself using Mi’s plans. The Tri-Magnum can be built for far less than any store-bought performance car— about $2,000—in your garage.

The name Trimuter came from the fact that the car was a three-wheeled commuter car. It was powered by a 16-hp industrial engine which gave it a top speed of 60 mph and mileage of about 50 mpg. Our new Tri-Magnum, on the other hand, is more like the high-powered magnum pistol, since it can get from 0 to 60 mph in 9.5 seconds and 0 to 100 mph in just over 20 seconds! What gets it there is the 81-hp, 76 Kawasaki KZ900 motorcycle plugged into the rear. And if that’s not hot enough for you, you can use the later-model l,100cc Kawasaki. In fact, any bike from 400cc on up will work. Just choose the one that best meets your personal performance and fuel-economy needs.

The marriage of a motorcycle to the chassis of a three-wheel car is a natural union. There are plenty of used bikes around at a reasonable price (we paid $800 for our ‘76 KZ900); by removing the front-fork and wheel assembly of one of them, you end up with an integral, lightweight power train. It’s also a power train that, pound for pound, is as efficient and powerful as anything made anywhere. We used the plentiful and lightweight VW Beetle front-suspension assembly at the Tri-Magnum’s other end. Ours cost $150 at a local wrecking yard. The motorcycle and the VW front suspension are tied together with a simple steel framework to complete the chassis, which includes the steering, suspension, brakes, power train and all. This package is covered with a sleek, aerodynamic fiberglass body. The result is an all-weather, fully enclosed vehicle that combines the economy of a motorcycle with the safety and stability of an automobile. And the increased weight is nicely offset by the improved aerodynamics.

The styling of Tri-Magnum is both functional and in character with its aggressive performance. Aerodynamics, the cooling requirements of the air-cooled motorcycle engine, accessibility to the cockpit and engine compartment, ease of construction and safety considerations are all integrated into the design. The impact-absorbing foam-filled front bumper, which ties into the frame with a massive steel U-member, is designed to spill air onto the body. Body lines flow smoothly from front to rear where they are sharply broken around the taillight nacelles to create a clean separation point. The rear-facing duct on top of the engine cover and the two shark-gill side louvers are designed to draw hot air out from the engine compartment while cool air is ducted into it from underneath. A small fan mounted just ahead of the engine keeps it cool while idling.

The lift-up canopy, though exotic, is simple, functional and strong. It leaves the main body area integral for maximum strength and, when open, it presents an entirely open cockpit so you don’t have to duck under a low roofline when getting in and out.

The canopy has an internal, laminated steel framework that runs around its perimeter and down the windshield posts. Gaps between the fiberglass canopy and the steel framework are filled with fiberglass to form a solid fiberglass/steel laminate. This fiberglass/steel composite is stronger than either of the materials individually.

Nitrogen cylinders from a Toyota hatchback counterbalance the weight of the canopy so it opens easily; it stays open by itself. The steering wheel moves forward and out of the way, so you simply step in and slither down into the comfortable, form-fitting, space-capsule- style seat. There’s room for two people, side by side. When you’re in, the steering wheel returns and locks in place; then a gentle tug on the nearest nitrogen cylinder lowers the canopy, which latches if you let go of it just before it closes. Inside, the view is panoramic. The windshield begins at the top of your head and extends forward to within a few inches of your feet. The side windows cover even more distance, wrapping around the sides from the base of the windshield to the rear cockpit wall. To improve aerodynamics, all windows are mounted flush with the exterior skin.

The interior has a definite jet-fighter feel to it. The elements are exotic in both look and feel, but they’re not designed for aesthetics alone. They are the natural result of the blending of motorcycle components and systems with the steering and seating of an automobile. For instance, the stick shifter, which looks as though it might have been removed from the nearest F-15 and bolted in place, is nothing more than a cutoff end of the motorcycle handlebar which has been fitted with the stock motorcycle handlebar-mounted switch assemblies and clutch lever. This control stick places all the controls within easy reach at a single location. It also saves money (because there are no extra parts to purchase) and simplifies construction.

Another cost-saving feature is the instrument cluster. The original motorcycle instrument cluster is mounted on a perch atop the steering column. The only new parts required are extra long cables for the tachometer and speedometer, plus a speedometer step-up gearbox and adapter so the speedometer can be driven from the standard VW connection at the left front wheel. Amidst all this there is one new gauge: a cylinder-head temperature gauge mounted on a perch just forward of the stick shifter. The perch also carries the fan switch, fan-on indicator light and the manual choke.

Driving the Tri-Magnum is similar to, yet different from, driving a car and a bike all at the same time. First of all, with the canopy closed there’s a totally encapsulated feeling. The thickly padded, form-fitting seat holds you securely in place. No sliding around or slouching with this design. The throttle and brake pedals are on the floor and the stick shifter/control column is comfortably at your side. The first step is turning on the key switch which lights up the oil-pressure indicator, near the bottom of a vertical light bar between the speedo and tach. The next step is to find Neutral so you can start the engine without having to hold in the clutch lever. The shift lever is spring-loaded to a neutral position. It pivots forward or backward about 1-1/2 inches off center to change gears. To switch to the next lower gear, move the shifter forward then release it to its neutral position. Each time you do this it downshifts one gear. To upshift, pull back on the shifter and release it. After a few pumps of the lever, the neutral-indicator light, a green light at the top of the light bar, comes on.

Pressing the shifter-mounted starter button brings the engine to life with a muffled, mellow purr from the rear. Throttle response is instant. Although the travel of the throttle pedal is a good 4 inches, just a slight movement of it sends the rpms soaring—at least that’s the way it sounds. A glance at the tach shows that these little taps on the throttle are revving the engine to a mere 3,500 rpm. The KZ900 develops its peak horsepower at 8,500 rpm and it’s redlined at 9,000. So what sounds like high rpm is just above idle for this engine. This is something that takes getting used to. If you shift gears according to how you expect the engine to sound, you’ll be lugging it.

Neutral is located between First and Second gears, so to start out, grab the shifter and the clutch lever, squeeze, then push the lever forward. Tri-Magnum lurches as it drops into First. The engine has very little low-rpm torque, so it needs more revs than feel normal as pressure is released on the clutch lever—at least until you get used to the sensitive clutch. Our first few tries either stalled the engine or laid a 20-foot patch of rubber as Tri- Magnum screamed out of the hole. (A lot more fun than stalling the engine.) It takes a few attempts to get the hang of coordinating the throttle and the clutch as you take off from a stop. But if you don’t want to fool around, just floor the throttle and let go of the clutch. The rear tire becomes its own clutch as it spins merrily along for the first 50 feet or so. Shifting gears is easy from there on out. During acceleration all shifts are up, so it’s second nature to squeeze the clutch lever as you grab and pull the shifter. You can do it almost more quickly than you can think it.

Acceleration is so tremendous that until Tri-Magnum hits 20 or 25 mph under full throttle, the rear wheel spins because the engine can produce more power than the single rear wheel can transfer to the ground. Once things get planted, however, the force nails you to the rear wall and keeps you there until you get out of the throttle. It takes only one jerk on the shifter, up to Second, to send Tri-Magnum flying past 50 mph. With each full-throttle shift the rear end floats a bit until it gets fully planted; not badly—just enough to tell you that the rear wheel is going faster than the car.

Although we didn’t try hard cornering at 90 mph, we did slow it down a bit for some sliding turns just to see what happened. Tri-Magnum basically understeers, which is what it’s designed to do. The center of gravity is located low and close to the front wheels in order to provide a large margin of safety against rollover. The trade-off in gaining rollover protection is inherent under-steer, which means Tri-Magnum acts pretty much like your basic Chevy when pushed to the max.

Directional stability is another benefit gained by placing the center of gravity up front. Tri-Magnum stubbornly resists swapping ends no matter how it’s treated. A locked-wheel, sliding stop from 50 mph produces a straight-ahead line of travel with the rear end floating first a little to one side, then a little to the other. Even full-power turns with the rear wheel spinning wildly across the pavement produce nothing more than a little sideways float at the rear.

Corners are taken flat with almost no body roll. This thanks to the stiff stabilizer bar on the VW front end. In our case it’s a necessary item because all the roll stiffness of a three-wheeler must come from the two side-by-side wheels.

Three-wheelers are considered motorcycles by the government, therefore they are required only to meet the legal requirements of a motorcycle. In effect, this means that just about anything with three wheels can be licensed for the streets. A three-wheeler does not have to meet any of the safety requirements of a car. It doesn’t even have to be equipped with bumpers or a windshield, and it can be licensed with only one headlight and one taillight. Our ideas are a little different where safety is concerned. Consequently, we’ve given proper attention to many design features not required by law.

First of all, we think that other drivers should be able to tell where the corners of the car lay, so we’ve designed Tri-Magnum with two headlights and two taillights. We’ve installed a foam-filled front bumper (a design proven to have extremely high impact-absorbing capabilities in safety studies) and tied it into the frame with a large steel supporting structure that is fiberglassed into the body for increased rigidity. The canopy is steel reinforced throughout. Side intrusion protection is increased by leaving the body unbroken by side-door openings. The bulkhead that forms the rear of the cockpit is built up with foam around the perimeter to a thickness of 3 inches, then fiberglassed over. This creates a built-in roll bar and adds even further to the capabilities of the body to withstand a side impact at the passenger compartment. A bump at the rear would be absorbed first by the foam-filled body and then by the wheel located at the rear of the car. Loads transferred to the motorcycle are stopped by the tripod structure that secures the motorcycle at the front. Potential whiplash is eliminated by the thickly padded rear wall of the cockpit which extends upward to the roof, completely protecting the occupants. Finally, there is no dash, so you can’t bump your knees.

Of course, the biggest safety feature is the ability to avoid a collision. Tri-Magnum has plenty of extra power to get you out of a tight situation, and it’s highly maneuver-able with virtually no unusual handling characteristics.

We estimate the cost of building Tri-Magnum at about $2,000, plus the cost of the motorcycle. The motorcycle is not altered except for removing the front-fork and wheel assembly and welding on two small brackets at the lower front of the frame. (Although we can’t imagine why anyone would want to do it, the motorcycle can later be removed from the Tri-Magnum, refitted with accessories and put back on its two wheels.) The cost of a used bike ranges from about $400 for a smaller and older machine, up to about $2,000 for a nearly new, late-model high-powered version. As mentioned earlier, we paid $800 for our 76 KZ900, which had only 17,000 miles on the odometer. It had a couple of broken lights, a dented fuel tank and a broken clutch cable, but was otherwise in excellent condition. The price was about right for what we got and we sold the fork and wheel assembly for $150 to recoup some of the cost.

You can assemble the chassis in about two weekends. It involves cutting and welding steel tubing. The body is basically a fiberglassing project. Figure on about 300 hours, start to finish. The plans, which take you through the whole project, step by step, with photos and drawings, are designed with the assumption that you have never fiber-glassed before, so illustrations and instructions are complete and detailed. The plans also describe the technique for establishing the shape and contour of body panels, so if you want to experiment with styling changes you’ll know how to get the results you’re after. And the result most of us are after is an attractive, personalized vehicle that delivers the mileage and performance we want at a price we can afford.

ROBERT Q. RILEY and DAVE L. CAREY together form Quincy-Lynn, the Arizona-based company that works with MI to develop and produce all the cars in the Urba series.

London to Build Mid-City Air Port

WITH the rapid growth of airplane transportation, the air port of the future may be moved up into the center of the city where it will be easily accessible. A bold step in this direction has been taken by Charles Clever, a London architect, who has constructed a model for a proposed airport to be located in the heart of London. The landing field consists of four runways arranged in the form of a giant wheel, the entire structure being supported by the buildings over which it is erected, as illustrated.

Outboard Motor Powers Bicycle
AT a recent automobile show an outboard motor was shown as a power plant for a bicycle. The motor is attached to the handlebars and delivers its power to the front wheel through a friction drive which operates directly on the tire.

Inventor Makes Propeller-Driven Tricycle

A THREE-WHEELED vehicle constructed of airplane parts and powered by a two-cylinder motor and small propeller has been designed by John Dacy, a young inventor of Zion City, Ill.

The rear part of the machine consists of an airplane landing gear on which is mounted the motor and propeller. In front of this is the pilot’s seat, suspended from a frame of steel tubing. The lone front wheel is connected by chain and wire to the steering apparatus.

The propeller develops tremendous pushing power and gives the machine such high speed that its owner has no fear of traffic officers.

Garage ‘Without WALLS for Car Parking

A TYPE of garage built on entirely new lines has been designed and patented by Samuel Eliot, a real estate operator and building manager of Boston, Mass. Known as a “cage garage,” it is an open-air parking space stepped up three or four stories, with no side-walls or windows, no heat, no elevators or electric lighting. It has a low stud of eight feet, staggered floors and a twenty per cent pitch double ramp that takes up the space of only two cars. The construction is of reinforced concrete, and the inventor says that such buildings can be constructed at the low cost of ten cents a cubic foot, and can accommodate as many as 800 cars easily.

It is estimated that such garages will be able to earn five times the amount earned by the more expensive types of public garages. The cars are run up the ramps under their own power and parked as on an ordinary open lot, with room to run them out when wanted. The buildings are strictly fireproof and are easier of access to fire apparatus than the expensive enclosed public garages.

A company is being formed to build these garages throughout the country. The plan is to lease ground space near the business districts of large cities.

“Mystery Plane” flaps Self to Pieces in Trial Flight

Built with flapping wings and bird-like body, this “American Eagle” plane collapsed before its inventor could get the novel machine off the ground!

THE mystery attached to the so-called “mystery airplane” built by James A. Crane of Ellsworth, Maine, seems to be— “Why doesn’t it fly?” Built with flapping wings designed to lift it straight up into the air, the strange plane collapsed a few minutes after its motor was started up. The inventor, however, was undaunted. He expects to rebuild his plane, which he calls the “American Eagle,” substituting metal wings for the wooden ones which the first test proved to be too flimsy. The cranking arrangement by which the wings were flapped is clearly shown in the above photographs.

Whistling Beacons Mark Airfield for Blind Landings

HIGH pitched whistles to designate boundaries of an airport make it possible for a pilot to make a blind landing, recent experiments have shown.

The newly designed whistles, called sonic marker beacons, send out fan shaped beams of sound by means of which the aviator can determine definitely the length of the airfield. The pilot, guided to the airport by a radio beacon, selects an altitude of 2,000 feet and within 500 feet of the boundary line picks up the beacon sound with special listening equipment.

Sound dies away 500 feet inside each end of the field, indicating its length.

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OUR GIRLS ARE FLYING NOW

By Louise Goddard

AVIATION chatter—it’s everywhere! Spot landings. Solo flights. Aerodynamics. Ground school. Taxiing. Gliders rapidly multiplying. And above it all trills the feminine voice.

If anyone doubts this, he has but to keep an ear open in places where young women gather: the luncheon halls of big office buildings, club verandas during the Saturday night dances, classrooms of high schools and colleges. It is not difficult to learn which way the thought goes. Up!

For everywhere women are becoming air-minded and they intend to fly!

Hardly a daily newspaper rolls from the presses without head-lining some feat clocked off by women aviators. Amelia Earhart establishes a new speed record for women. Billie Brown sets a new mark for women parachute jumpers. Elinor Smith and Bobbie Trout make a thrilling contribution to aeronautics.

At the moment, there are two hundred and three licensed women pilots in the United States. Before this magazine is on the news stands, others will be added. Before another year is gone, there will be scores more.

Flying classes for women have been organized by the local women in such cities as Houston, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. A woman flyer on a tour of the South tells of landing in a stubblefield to find herself soon surrounded by farm girls and women who wanted to know how they might go about learning to fly.

Meanwhile, the new fever for “gliding” has struck the girls as well as the boys of the country. For years the Germans have been perfecting themselves in this wonderful art of motorless flying. Finally, the movement has struck America with a bang. It is more than a craze. It is an expression of the air-mindedness of our young people, feminine as well as masculine. From the day that Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh took up a glider successfully and was the first to win a woman’s glider license, girls the country over have recognized that here is both a desirable new sport for them and a means of preparation for the more ambitious occupation of flying a powered airplane.

And so the feminine youth of today answers the call to become an active part of the world’s most glamorous, romantic, and fastest-growing industry.

But while youth beats a path to the flying fields, the older generation, fearful for all activity outside the element it understands, is asking questions.

IS AVIATION safe for our girls? Is there any future in it for them? Are the women of today, who, after all, are not so many years removed from the creature of wasp waistline that swooned at the sight of a balloon ascension, physically fit to fly?

To learn the answer to some of the questions these level-headed elders are asking, I called on Roland H. Spaulding, Specialist in Aeronautical Education for New York University and the Daniel Guggenheim Fund Committee on Elementary and Secondary Aeronautical Education. Under his direction, an aviation ground school for women was opened at New York University, September 10, 1929.

This was the first of its kind in the world and he also has the distinction of organizing the first course in aviation ever placed in an exclusive girls’ school in this country. Twice a week he lectures to the sub-debs at Mason Junior College and School for Girls, at Tarrytown-on-Hudson, N. Y.

I found Mr. Spaulding in his office at the Washington Square Branch of the University a half hour before class time.

“Is flying safe? What types of women have joined your classes? Is there a future for women in aviation? Are the women who apply for admission to your classes as fit to fly as the men?”

He held up a protesting hand. Then good-naturedly: “One question at a time, please.”

“Is aviation safe? You ask that question, first, because anything new is under suspicion—bath tubs were, trains, automobiles. You ask it, second, because the hazards and fatalities in aviation have received emphasis in the blazing headlines of newspapers, while the thousands of uneventful hours in the air have gone unheralded. You read of some crack-up by a student pilot, but did you read of the twelve hundred actual flying hours flown in one month by students at a prominent field without a single accident?

“Here are a few figures furnished by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce that may interest you. Last year 52,934 Americans flew 10,472,024 miles over regular scheduled air lines and only twenty-two met death. And this mileage figure does not include the flying done by privately owned or chartered planes or in aerial service. Further, ninety per cent, of all accidents occurred during stunt flying, sightseeing, and independent flying by unlicensed pilots.

“Yes, flying is safe if one observes a few bits of sane advice. If one is to fly as a passenger, fly only in a licensed plane, with a licensed pilot, over established airways between two established airports. Short passenger hops away from first-class fields in a licensed plane controlled by a licensed pilot are also safe. If one is learning to fly—study only with schools recognized by the Department of Commerce. Beware of shyster schools that promise to teach you to fly quickly and cheaply. Lindbergh and other well-known flyers have issued warning against these quacks. Congress has recently passed the Bingham Bill which will force the shyster schools out, inasmuch as it gives the Department of Commerce the authority to rate civilian flying schools. Women are to be warned particularly against these shysters, because, usually knowing little about things mechanical, they are more easily ‘taken in’ than men.”

He hesitated, and I was about to remind him of my second question, when he interrupted me.

“You want to know what types of women have joined the aviation classes here. The same types who are going in for aviation everywhere: those who want jobs as commercial flyers; those who want positions in the business end of the industry; and, last, women of means and leisure who regard flying as wholesome sport and a real adventure.

“Personally, I believe the opportunities for women as commercial pilots are not numerous at present. However, the prospects in the business end of the industry are very bright. A woman may sell planes, accessories, or flying instructions; she may become an airport hostess, editor of an aviation magazine, publicity writer or photographer for a flying field, lecturer before women’s clubs, or secretary to aviation executives.

“I I AM particularly keen to see more women take up flying as a means of recreation, an outlet for energy, a builder of bodily and mental health.”

He stopped and smiled.

“And that brings me to your last question: Are women fit to fly?

“That query is put to me daily in connection with women in aviation. My answer is yes, a woman who can pass the physical examination required by the Department of Commerce has the same chance to become a good pilot as a man.

And women pass that examination every day.

“However, it has been my observation that it requires a little longer for a woman to learn to operate a plane than a man. I believe this is explained by the fact that she has played fewer athletic games and indulged in fewer sports as a child than boys. For this reason, her muscular coordination and her judgment of speed and distance are somewhat inferior to a man’s. If, on the other hand, a woman has had athletic training, played games, and gone in for sports, she shows the same aptitude as a man in handling a plane.

“Losing one*s head, becoming panicky in emergencies, is no more feminine than masculine, in spite of popular belief. I have seen women steady, stable, superb in emergencies. I have also seen them ‘go to pieces.’ Yet, for every case of stability or instability in women, I can recall the same number for both classifications in men.

AND right here, I might say that while aviation does not need ‘nervous people,’ neither does it need stolidity. Flying a plane calls for a high degree of sensibility. A good pilot is a person well sensitized, who registers acutely, responds quickly and accurately.

“When a woman enrolls for ground work here at the University, we encourage her to take the physical examination immediately, rather than wait until she is ready for flying instruction. We do this so she may be warned in advance of any physical deficiency. Often this deficiency may be overcome. If not—then the student should in all fairness know she is unfit to ‘take the air.’ “I believe that flying is a splendid builder both of health and constructive mental attitude.

“The check-up made in the course of the physical examination required by the Department of Commerce stresses in a student’s mind the desirability for physical fitness and health. If a woman fails to pass the examination and the deficiency is one she may conquer, she usually goes out and does so. As a result, health is benefited. Once accepted, once having experienced the incomparable thrill of soaring in the clouds, she keeps constantly alert about her health. She does not want to lose what she has gained.

“As for promoting splendid mental attitude, I believe flying has no rival. I have seen women of slight confidence, showing tendencies toward timidity and reluctance to meet situations, change almost miraculously after their first solo flight. They have proved to themselves that they can face and master situations. They have felt the thrill of about the only pioneering feat left for Americans today. A new confidence is born, timidity vanishes. I have often wished that poor Timid-Soul, that mouse-like creature of the comic strips, could take up aviation. It would change his whole outlook and add materially to his happiness.”

The recent achievement of Amy Johnson, twenty-seven-year-old English girl, is a complete vindication of woman’s place in aviation, and certainly justifies Mr. Spaulding’s faith in their courage and ability. It is doubly impressive coming, as it did, close upon the flight of the sixty-four-year-old Duchess of Bedford, who created a new record for elapsed flying time on her trip from London to Capetown and return in twenty days, and a new record for flying between London and Karachi, India.

About a month after receiving her license, Miss Johnson conceived the idea of flying to Australia, but could interest no one in the venture, with the exception of Sir Charles Wakefield, noted gasolene magnate, who supplied the gas for the trip.

For eleven days she broke the record, arriving at Rangoon two days ahead of the time made by Bert Hinkler in 1928. A slight mishap in landing caused a three days’ delay and spoiled her chance of setting a new record.

When she arrived at Timor, she landed twenty miles south of the regular airdome, and for a time it was feared that she was lost. From Timor she took up the most dangerous stretch of her trip—5000 miles over the shark-infested sea—and on the nineteenth day reached her objective—Port Darwin, Australia.

In recognition of this feat, the King, on the Birthday List of his 65th birthday, bestowed upon her the title of Commander of the British Empire, which virtually corresponds to knighthood for a man.

Miss Johnson used a de Haviland Gypsy Moth plane, which is the outstanding light sports plane of the British Empire.

Mr. Spaulding then invited me to visit the classroom used for ground school. It is a hall of huge dimensions accommodating several small planes, models, and devices used in instruction.

After the class, I chatted with several of the women students while they donned cover-alls preparatory to posing for a newspaper photographer. I learned that there were artists among them, secretaries, brokers’ clerks, saleswomen, women lawyers, and teachers. They were all of a high type, alert, trim, vital.

Some of them take flying lessons along with their ground work, they told me, as they find that the practise with the theory clarifies the whole subject for them.

One woman demonstrated for me a model which the University has installed to teach the theory of flight. Sitting in a full-size cockpit which is placed in front of a small wind tunnel, she operated the controls. A model airplane, fixed on a spindle, responded to the controls exactly as in real flying. She took the plane into ground loops, made it stall, spin. The model did not complete these revolutions but suggested them so vividly that the effect of a false move was sufficiently realistic to give the student a start.

My next call was at the office of Dr. Ermin L. Ray, official Medical Examiner, Aeronautics Branch, United States Department of Commerce, who has examined hundreds of men and many women to determine if they are fit to fly.

I was permitted to glance over the form supplied by the Department which covers a complete physical check-up. It included tests for eyes—color-blindness, diseases, acuity of vision, etc.; tests for diseased conditions of ears, nose and throat: for organic troubles with particular attention to the lungs, heart, and kidneys. Tests were included for reflexes, motor disturbances, and equilibrium, as well as the nervous system in general.

“Are the women you have examined on the whole as fit to fly as the men?” I asked him.

“Yes,” was his prompt answer. “I have found as high a degree of physical fitness in women as I have in men. There is probably no fundamental physical difference between men and women which should make one a better flyer than the other. The best pilots are always the motor types: those types who easily translate thought into action and perform finely coordinated acts with skill. But you find motor types among women as well as among men.

“Here is an observation that may be of interest. The best types of women I have examined have been athletic, keen about sports, who included physical culture in their daily lives.”

RECALLING a certain flying field manager’s remarks about women aviators, I put this question to Doctor Ray: “Why has it been said that a woman over thirty requires more time to learn to fly than a younger woman, or a man of thirty?”

“Perhaps it is because women mature more quickly than men. Habit formation after a certain age usually becomes a slower process. Unless women have formed habits in muscular coordination before thirty, they will be slow in attaining them later. Men have the advantage here. They have usually formed such habits young. Also, because their maturity comes about more slowly, they are more pliable material at thirty than a woman, more adjustable.”

I asked him next: “What percentage of your applicants for flying permits is women?”

“At present, less than five per cent., but I believe that figure will increase steadily. Women have been slow to take up aviation because it offers them just now less in a business way than it does men. By that I mean that their chances for jobs as pilots are not so numerous. Also, there has been the prejudice against a woman doing anything venturesome or new. But women are becoming more and more air-minded and I believe more of them will apply for permits as time goes on.”

When I mentioned the fact that one of the nation’s largest air transport companies has asked the Department of Commerce to have its pilots examined each month. Doctor Ray replied: “This is a splendid move. Imperfect pilots make imperfect planes. Flying requires more of a person than anything I know of. Controlling an airplane demands continued and concentrated effort and an ability to resist fatigue. A pilot must have mental alertness, keen eyesight, and good muscular control. He must be able to stand sudden changes in atmospheric pressure, recover quickly from loss of balance, and respond instantly to stimuli. Regular periodical physical inventories insure continued good health and efficiency among flyers. If all pilots would undergo more frequent examinations there might be fewer ’cause unknown’ accidents, and ‘crack-ups, pilot’s fault.’”

“What physical deficiency is most common in the women you have examined?” I asked him.

“Deficiency in vision,” he answered promptly. “I find it equally among men and women, although less than half normal vision is acceptable and is safe for flying.”

With my head full of these interesting generalizations, I next decided to call on a number of young feminine flyers who constitute what the elders term “our youth that is rushing into aviation.”

I purposely went to new flyers instead of to Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols, Phoebe Omlie, or other women who have established themselves in the field, for the “slant” of these recent recruits indicates the real attitude of American women toward aviation.

Frances Harrell, I chose first, because she represents that classification of women who go into aviation to make a living as a pilot.

Miss Harrell is a Texan. While working as credit manager for a large furniture store in Houston, she received a sufficiently ample legacy to cover the purchase-price of a ticket to New York and flight lessons at a recognized field. Having become an able pilot, she was one of the first women to be employed by a large flying organization to do jobs of ferrying— transporting planes from one part of the country to the other. She has her eye on the transport license, the coveted goal of all serious aviators, and will stand an examination soon.

“Is there a future in aviation for women?” I asked her.

“Certainly,” she answered spiritedly. “My first reason for taking up flying was because I loved it. But my second was a practical one: I believed there were splendid opportunities in it for women. If a girl is a quick thinker, well-balanced emotionally, and willing to work hard, aviation offers her a better future than anything I know of. In spite of much that is being said to the contrary, I believe women may qualify not only for jobs in the business end of the industry, but as pilots as well, both commercial and transport.”

“Is there any reason why a woman should make a less capable pilot than a man?” I asked her.

She seemed genuinely astonished at the question.

“Emphatically not. The important physical requirements for becoming a good pilot are a woman’s as well as a man’s. The eyesight is the same, the muscular control, and as for nerves being exclusively feminine, that is one of the myths that should exit along with Santa Claus and the storks.”

I HE following day I walked into the show room of a large flying company to chat with Fay Gill is. She was my representative in class Number Two: women who find flying a stepping-stone to positions in the business end of the industry.

Slim, bright-eyed, Miss Gillis is in her very early twenties. She flys like a veteran, I was told by a seasoned pilot, and also has keen business ability. This combination was responsible for her appointment as the first woman member in the sales department of the organization with which she learned to fly. Incidentally, she has designed a flying suit for women which was exhibited at the recent aviation show held at the Hotel Plaza, New York.

“There certainly is a future in aviation for women,” she told me. “My job here is a partial proof of it. Of course, there is now some prejudice against women as commercial and transport pilots. Many people have pointed out that women do not become locomotive engineers or deep sea navigators and seem to believe this is evidence that they will not pilot transport planes. I disagree with them and feel the comparison is in no sense parallel. Women undoubtedly have a future as pilots. But in the meantime, the business end of the industry offers fascinating opportunities. I wish I could reach every girl who is sunk in a routine job and tell her how she may increase her zest in living and create a great future for herself at the same time.”

I brought out my stock question: “Are women fit to fly?”

SHE laughed brightly at the inquiry— but then Fay Gillis would, for she is the physical culture girl gone into aviation. In fact, she planned to teach calisthenics in public schools when the lure of the clouds overcame her. She excels at many sports: soccer, volley and basket-ball, and baseball. She bowls, swims, and runs.

“A woman in condition makes as good a pilot as a man in condition. There is no difference. I find flying less of a strain than driving a car. I experience no tenseness in an airplane, no nervousness. I have no traffic to think of. The women I know who have gone into aviation are fine types and the question as to limitation because of their sex is never raised.”

While I chatted with Miss Gillis, my eyes inevitably picked out that tiny gold caterpillar pin crinkled on her blouse. She did not tell me but I learned later that she is the second woman to qualify for membership in the Caterpillar Club—to qualify meaning to save one’s life by emergency parachute jumps. While flying in an experimental plane, she and a test pilot ’schuted to safety when the machine was blown to pieces.

Fay Gillis was born in Minneapolis and attended Michigan State College.

As a representative in class Number Three—women of means, who, while not having to earn a living, go into aviation for sport—I sought the opinion of Betty Huyler Gillies, daughter of the late Frank De Klyn Huyler, president of the Huyler Candy Company.

Mrs. Gillies, I found, while belonging to the group usually described by the words “of wealth,” certainly does not go in for leisure. Like Amelia Earhart, she graduated from Ogontz’ School at Rydal, Pa., and has managed to keep interested and busy since. She thought she would like nursing, but gave up her starched bonnet after having read an article by Miss Earhart on women in aviation.

“Pint-size,” and barely voting age, Mrs. Gillies has already her limited commercial license. She flew to the Cleveland Air Races last August and then to Chicago. Recently she won a spot landing contest in competition with twenty men at Camden, N. J.

“I see no reason why a woman can’t become as good a pilot as a man if the doctor passes her. You often hear women say that you can fly a good airplane with your fingertips. Women seem to realize this truth keenly because they are highly sensitized, imaginative, and register sensation instantaneously.”

So—Miss New York, Miss Tulsa, or Miss Bisbee, with the questions of safety, future and fitness answered, if you really want to learn to fly, here is what you must undergo to reach your goal: Ground school such as the one described above at New York University.

Flight school. A typical schedule which leads to a private pilot’s license follows, though if you are very clever, you may progress even faster than it indicates.

FIRST Hour—Rear cockpit. Pilot instructor in front cockpit. Test flight. Control of elevator and ailerons. Level flight, teaching student how to hold ship on point on the horizon. Ground instruction in signals. Use of parachute. Demonstration of effect of controls.

Second Hour—Rear cockpit. Stick and rudder control. Straight and level flying. Straight and normal climb.

Third Hour—Rear cockpit (instructor in front cockpit). Observing instruments showing air speed, temperature, oil pressure, tachometer, banks and turns; glides to the landing field.

Fourth Hour—Rear cockpit. Gliding approaches. Landing and taking off, taxiing, etc.

Fifth Hour—Instructor in front cockpit.

Sixth Hour—Figure eight, spiral flight.

Seventh Hour—Practise on recovery from tail spins, loop, vertical banks, cutting throttle, steep turns.

Eighth Hour—Emergency landings. Routine of inspection of plane and engine.

Ninth Hour—General review and check for solo.

Tenth and Eleventh Hours—Solo flight.

Twelfth Hour—Inspection tests called check flights.

Thirteenth to Seventeenth Hours—Solo flight.

Eighteenth Hour—Air brakes, side slipping and check on technique, fishtail landings, spot landings.

Nineteenth Hour—Solo flight. Check on Department of Commerce requirements.

Twentieth Hour—Test private pilot’s license.

As I put the finishing touches on this story which tells what women may do and have done in aviation, a plane hums overhead.

I quit my typewriter. That droning calls me to the window more urgently than does the clang of fire engines, or the raucous jollity of a circus parade, or glittering demonstration for royalty.

That gray dot up there glides, soars, sings to me. It stands for adventure, opportunity, freedom, health.

I look. I listen. I thrill!

For I too am young, and I want to fly!

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ARE YOU FIT TO FLY?

1. Must I be 18 years old before I can get a private pilot’s license?

2. To get a license, must I pass a test in navigation and meteorology?

3. I’m over 80 years old but healthy, am I eligible for a private pilot’s license?

4. If the doc discovers I’m color blind, will I be refused a license?

5. I’m totally deaf; can I get my “ticket” in spite of my affliction?

6. My eyes need corrective lenses; even if I wear eyeglasses, can I fly?

7. Can any licensed medical doctor give me my CAA medical examination?

8. I have a bad heart; does this disqualify me from a pilot’s license?

9. I never finished school; will this keep me from getting my license?

10. I’m not a United States citizen; can I get a license to fly here?

Answers to questions on page 59

1—NO: The rules were 18 years of age minimum, but have been changed to 17 years for power-plane pilots, 14 years for glider pilots.

2—NO: The test is simpler, containing no problems in navigation, meterology, plane servicing, engine operation, etc.—just the necessary contact flight rules.

3—YES: There is no age limit—only the rule that your health must assure you of no incapacitating breakdown during flight.

4—YES: Color becomes important only in commercial and military flight. Waivers may be obtained under such conditions.

5—NO: The whispered voice must be heard at three feet. Waiver for partial deafness is possible, however; many old time flyers are partially deaf.

6—YES: Glasses are quite permissible. If eyes are . too poor, waiver can be had to restrict your flying appropriately.

7—YES: Any licensed physician can now give you your flight phyiscal.

8—YES: Any disease or weakness that can suddenly incapacitate you while flying will disqualify you from eligibility.

9—NO: As long as you can read and speak English. If you cannot do this, you can still get a license with appropriate operation limitations.

10—YES: As long as you are in sympathy with the objectives of the U.S. and are a trustworthy citizen of a friendly nation which is not under domination of an enemy nation, you are eligible for a U.S. pilot’s license.

SOMETHING NEW on WHEELS

THERE’S more than one way of getting there, in fact, almost every day brings us something new in the way of transportation. Here we have a child’s two-passenger electric lighted foot power car, the storage battery under the hood supply the juice.

The Pedaluxe, which recently made its appearance in Europe, is a three-wheeled foot power affair with a detachable side car.

Double-decked auto transport trailers that can carry six automobiles are now being made by a Detroit company. Cars occupying the upper tier are loaded first and raised to a riding position one at a time on an elevated track powered by the motor truck. Although the truck and trailer is sixty feet in length, it is able to negotiate even short turns without interfering with traffic.

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New Uses for Old Fords Contest!

MODERN MECHANICS will pay $10 for acceptable photos of every odd use to which old model T Fords have been put. The queer machines shown below are made from old “Tin Lizzies.”

UP IN Minnesota where the water is sky blue many sportsmen sojourn during the summer. These same sportsmen use motorboats and demand clear, weedless lakes from their hotel and resort keepers. Further, so as to vex these resort operators, weeds have a habit of growing very thickly in certain lakes. One hotel keeper solved the problem with a weed cutter made from an old Ford. The machine is in daily use during the summertime near Melrose. Minn.

The drawing gives a very clear idea of how pontoons are made from old oil barrels, fastened together with carriage bolts to a long substantial plank, and how the old Ford roadster body is mounted on the “chassis.”

The steering arrangement is particularly novel. The wheels which drive the boat are paddle wheels made from the rolling members of an old cultivator to which oak paddles are fastened by means of a series of strap iron angles. When the pilot of this queer cornfield schooner wishes to swing his craft to port or starboard he brakes the opposite wheel. This speeds up the other through the differential, and the craft laboriously makes its change of course.

EVEN an old Ford engine is plenty good enough for use as a rat exterminator. Maybe the motor has a bad piston slap, loose connecting rod, and badly worn bearings, but these little imperfections won’t effect its efficiency a bit when it comes to poisoning prairie dogs, gophers, or other pests which annually cost the farmers of the country millions of dollars through their depredations.

Every automobile owner knows that carbon monoxide is one of the products of combustion in a gasoline engine, and he knows that it is a deadly poison. Carbon monoxide has taken the lives of many unwary motorists who ran their engines in an unventilated garage. An Iowa farmer, con- Below, and driven from an eccentric welded to the propeller shaft is an extended cutter taken from an old mowing machine. This is supposed to wrestle the bulrushes into submission and clear a channel.

Cosidering these facts, wondered why he couldn’t use his old Ford to exterminate a large family of field rats which was making severe inroads into his crops.

He secured a length of rubber tubing, threw a shovel into the back seat of his car, and drove out to his field. It was easy enough discovering the entrance to the animals’ burrows, and a simple task to attach one end of the tubing to the exhaust pipe of his car. The other end he inserted in the tunnel leading to the animal’s under ground home. A shovelful of earth packed the tube into the opening so that it was air tight. Then he started his engine, let it run for a minute or two, and the deed was done.

ON THE banks of the Mississippi at Wabasha, Minn., George McGinty has constructed an odd craft in which he cruises the length of the Mississippi River. The three elements which he used in building the odd craft, which is a most ingenious shallow draft twin screw boat, are: one Ford automobile intact, one old sailboat hull, and one summer cottage. Mounted like the pilot house of an old river stern wheeler, is the cab of a Ford light delivery truck. Behind this is the house which covers the living quarters of the eccentric McGinty, who whiles away his time puttering up and down the river with a self built radio control which he is fitting to his novel houseboat home.

The drawing shows the mechanical ingenuity of the use to which the old Ford power plant was put. The cab of the truck forms the pilot house of this odd craft. By simply stripping off the axle and the front wheels and the rear wheels and by mounting the chassis with the differential left on to drive twin screws, as shown in the drawing, the power plant of the boat was complete. The house was installed over the power plant, the deck covered in around this, and with the addition of bunks the queer craft was ready for the deep.

There is a rudder in the center between the two propellers, which are driven off the end of the Ford rear axle from bevel gears installed in place of the regular Ford wheels.

McGinty’s whole boat cost but $173.40. The old Ford was picked up in the second hand man’s yard, and like many another faithful old Ford car when a little useful work had been done on it, was ready for another million miles. The sailboat hull had lain in a boatbuilder’s yard at the foot of Lake Pepin for many years, and with a coat of well tempered tar was made waterproof.

Keep your eye on the D-500 . . . IT’S A REAL BOMB!

These days, more and more of you guys who know and love cars are “talking up” the fabulous Dodge D-500. And no wonder! This D-500 is a real bomb!

In official NASCAR acceleration tests at Daytona Beach, the Dodge D-500 licked all cars—regardless of size, price or horsepower.

This D-500 gets out of the chute like a jackrabbit. Hugs the road like a dirt track special. Hits the turns without any squeal. Handles like a gem.

Though it performs like an expensive custom job, this D-500 is actually the slickest-looking production car to come up Main Street. Under the hood is a 260 hp. mill rarin’ to go (with big 12-inch center-plane brakes to stop it)!

You can buy a D-500 at any Dodge dealership in the country in any body style you like. (Costs only slightly more than $100.00 over standard models.) And it needs only regular Dodge service to keep it in razor-sharp condition.

So get behind the wheel and drive a D-500 today. See your Dodge dealer.

Dodge D-500

AMERICA’S ACCELERATION CHAMPION

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Training Divers to Fight Undersea Perils

USING a special dry-land pressure tank, Navy officials have perfected a method of training deep-sea divers to combat perils hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the sea.

YOUNG men who wish to become deep-sea divers can learn the fine points of the profession without getting any closer to the ocean than Washington, D. C, thanks to scientists who have developed a system of pressure-tank training which enables divers to stand on the bottom of a tank twelve feet deep and experience exactly the same pressure and temperature conditions that obtain in the ocean at depths of 200 to 300 feet. Deep-sea diving is a profession which demands a sturdy body, a steady nerve and clear judgment, but for young men who wish to choose a life work which holds forth promise of adventure, diving offers thrills second to none.

At Washington navy yard, a diving school whose personnel includes 25 enlisted men and 6 officers is now in session. Tyros are converted into skilled divers in the short period of six months. Furthermore, these newly trained divers understand thoroughly the perils that they must encounter under the surface sooner or later, and they are taught just how to protect themselves when danger threatens.

The green divers of the U. S. Navy descend to depths of 150 to 200 feet or more in a tank only 12 feet high and 8 feet in diameter, containing some 8,000 gallons of water. By the use of compressed air, underwater conditions are simulated in this tank. Beginners master diving secrets in the tank without danger to life and limb such as they would experience if “learning their trade” in salt water. Such menaces as the octopus, deep-sea monsters and other marine menaces are eliminated from this training school program.

One former impediment was the extreme difficulty of breathing satisfactorily for long intervals at points far below the surface. Experiments with the diving chamber have resulted in the perfection of new combinations of synthetic atmosphere. Helium gas has been introduced most successfully in these mixtures. As a result, Chief Gunner W. F. Loughman has made a successful descent to a point 306 feet below the ocean surface—and remained there 20 minutes. In another test, this same diver performed important salvage work on a sunken ship at a depth of 265 feet.

In the experimental tank at Washington, one expert diver working under simulated sea conditions has attained a depth of 355 feet and has remained there for one-half a minute. This is the deepest dive ever made. The pressure to which this daring diver was exposed was stupendous—sufficient to crush to atoms some of the strongest buildings built by man.

An additional atmosphere of pressure equivalent to 14.7 pounds per square inch developed in the diving tank by compressed air control exerts similar pressure on the diver as though he had descended another 33 feet. In raising the trainees to the surface of the tank after their experimental dives, care is exercised in gradually decreasing the pressure as where this is done hurriedly, caisson sickness is liable to develop.

If you are familiar with the precarious occupation of the professional diver, you have, unquestionably, heard about men who have suffered from “bends” or caisson sickness. The extreme pressures of deep sea diving, if reduced abruptly, leave bubbles of nitrogen in the blood vessels, tissues and body fluids. If these bubbles penetrate to the spinal cord or brain, death or paralysis generally results. The associates of the deep sea divers are extremely cautious in raising their mates from the vicinity of the ocean floor after deep descents.

However, when the sea is rough and the waves are “bumpy,” there is a liability that the diver may suffer severe ear injury or total loss of hearing. Helium gas is particularly important in such “decompression” for it is inert and absorbs the nitrogen bubbles readily.

Science has perfected the efficient decompression chamber known popularly as the “iron doctor” among the diving fraternity. This is a large cylinder of iron and steel with two compartments and various control doors and gauges in which the divers who suffer caisson sickness are treated in order to eliminate the nitrogen bubbles from their systems. Pressure is artificially applied within the tank to simulate the gradually diminishing pressure of a slow ascent to the surface.

During the era not so long ago when 200 foot dives were championship feats, the mill-run of divers customarily suffered nausea attacks in one dive out of ten. The provision of better equipment, the use of helium gas in the airlines and similar precautions have reduced this record to one case of illness in 50 dives. The experimental research and standardized training for naval divers fostered by Uncle Sam promises to further curtail this form of diving illness. Potentially, it may even be stamped permanently from the deep sea diving picture.

The U. S. Navy will train 62 men and officers annually for deep diving and subsequently will station them at strategic points along the coast. They will be ready constantly for emergency calls—to aid in the salvage of sunken ships and submarines and the succor of those endangered in such wrecks. They will also be available for routine underwater service at naval stations and in the repair and maintenance of our national fleet. Special boats used by these divers will be equipped with the all-important decompression chambers and other demonstrated accessories of comparable utility. The use of synthetic atmosphere in this decompression chamber reduces the treatment period from one-fourth to one-third over the time required where ordinary air is used. Furthermore, the use of helium gas in the diving airlines has practically doubled the time in which the divers can remain at work in the salt sea at perilous depths.

Whenever a group of naval divers are commissioned to aid in the salvage of a sunken ship, each man aspires to find and bring to the surface the signal bell of the waterlogged craft. It is the badge of honor —the coveted prize which proves the superiority of its discoverer over his mates. The rivalry is friendly and results in submarine sport and byplay which lends spice to arduous and hazardous labor at the bottom of the sea.

The diver must be expert in various repair activities such as the adjustment of marine machinery, electric torch work and related tasks. Even though skilled highly in such work, his efforts are hampered when buried under a blanket of salt water 150 to 200 feet deep so that his efficiency is only one-sixth of what it would be on land. The U. S. Navy through its remarkable instruction courses seeks to make the average diver more proficient than formerly and to educate him so that he will be qualified to make good in every emergency.

Five compressors whose individual capacity ranges from 50 to 75 cubic feet of air per minute are installed at the Washington Navy Yard.

Midget Dirigible Tests Novel AIRSHIP GIRDERS

BUILT as a test ship to try out new features of airship design, the baby blimp Puritan embodies many new ideas in construction which will be used on giant Zeppelins of the future. The Puritan, photographs of which are shown above, is the first dirigible constructed by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio.

Duraluminum girders with circular openings instead of the usual triangular ones are used in the Puritan. The new design gives great strength with extreme lightness. A vertical rudder on top of the bag, and oppositely geared propellers, give the midget airship greater stability than is usually found in craft of this type.

Pullman Cars Go Modernistic

COMFORTABLE modernistic furniture and indirect lighting for night reading purposes are features of the new steel and aluminum alloy Pullman observation cars. A buffet containing a broiler, coffee urn, and a refrigerator is also featured.

An observation parlor seating six persons is located at the rear round-end of the car, and a lounge seating 20 persons on sofas and seats occupies the remaining car space.

First Rocket Glider Launched Successfully in Actual Tests

THAT the ground crews hitherto needed for glider flying may soon be dispensed with in many cases was proved recently by William G. Swan, who before a crowd of 2000 persons succeeded in launching a glider by rocket power.

The glider was equipped with two sets of rockets—six to a set— carrying a pushing velocity of fifty pounds each, the ignition apparatus being controlled from the pilot’s seat. Despite a strong wind the craft took off at 35 miles an hour and attained a height-of 200 feet. No attempt was made at continuous flight, the rockets being used as a launching medium only.

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Prizes for Home-Built Baby Autos!

IT’S a safe bet to say that at one time or another practically every man in America has built himself a home-made vehicle embodying his own ideas in automotive construction. Maybe it was only a pushmobile made to imitate his favorite car; maybe, as he grew older, he turned out a race car job, or put a racing body on a chassis powered by a motorcycle engine. The longing for a means of mechanical transportation is universal. That’s why Modern Mechanics and Inventions is announcing a big new prize contest in which cash awards of $200 will be distributed among the builders of the most pleasing home-made autos. If you’ve already built a home-made car, all you have to do is take a snapshot of it and send it in, under the rules of the contest. If you haven’t built your car yet, start in at once— you have until August first to complete the job and submit your entry, and the suggested plans appearing on these pages will help you get started.

Prizes as announced in the box on this page will be awarded on a basis of originality of design and workmanship. Cars must be powered with gasoline motors of not more than four cylinders. Autos should not be too elaborate—they should make use of cheap or scrap materials so that other mechanics who might wish to duplicate the design can do so without great cost. When your car is built, send in a snapshot, together with a description of its construction, an estimate of cost and of the speed it develops, to the Auto Contest Editor, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, Minneapolis, Minn.

Now to give you a few pointers on how to build an ingenious, low cost baby car. The drawing on page 104, and on the cover of this magazine, illustrates an aero racer which makes use of the principles employed on some of the fastest airplanes. The body of the car is streamlined, the twin cylinder motorcycle engine mounted at the rear, turning the left rear wheel by a chain drive. Air wheels of the type employed on planes are used; these have the advantage of coming with brakes in the hub. They are practical for small cars, too—on another page of this magazine is an exclusive story announcing successful trials of this type of tires for use on trucks and buses. Soon they will be commonplace on passenger cars. The front axle is streamlined with a fairing and fixed to pivot in its center. Other suggested details of construction are given in the drawing. No dimensions are included, since it is intended to serve simply as an idea which you can modify or adapt in any way you see fit.

The drawing on page 105 shows another small car with a one-lung motorcycle engine, employing a different type of drive, a belt being used. This enables you to make use of an old style motorcycle engine in which the belt drive was popular. The wheels are motorcycle type, the front ones with brakes in hub. The left rear wheel requires the addition of a flanged pulley to accommodate the drive belt.

Steering gear consists of a wheel, a drum or bobbin, and a few feet of stranded steel cable. Four pulleys guide the cable from the drum to the front axle, as shown, so that the wheel winds and unwinds the cable around the drum and thus rotates the front axle on its central pivot.

Springing of the car is simple, an ordinary motorcycle spring being used for the front axle, and the rear one making use of airplane shock cord. The body frame follows airplane practice; it is really a fuselage. It can be covered with fabric, doped, or a plywood finish can be used.

Most motorcycle motors are equipped with kick starters, and with a little ingenuity you can arrange the starter so that it operates from a pedal in the cockpit.

These suggestions will no doubt bring a score of others to your mind—so get busy and send in your entry! Remember, it has until August first to reach us. There’s no reason why that $100 prize, or one of the smaller ones, shouldn’t go to you. In judging the winners, the car which shows the best results from the minimum of expense will rake in the prize money. Get going!

CANDY TRUCK IS BUNGALOW ON WHEELS

A PERFECT reproduction of a bungalow, complete with porch, window boxes, tile roof and gables, has been mounted on a truck body by a Chicago candy manufacturer to serve the double purpose of delivery and advertising. Both truck and bungalow are finished in white enamel with the tiles of the roof in red, presenting a striking appearance as the novel machine drives through the city streets. The bungalow windows are fitted with glass and they open and close precisely as they do in a real house. Green potted plants on either end of the running boards lend an added touch of color to the bungalow truck.

Parachute Jumper Gives Imitation of a Flying Squirrel

IN a startling imitation of a flying squirrel, Rex G. Finney, parachute juniper of the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, demonstrated his stunt of becoming a human glider before the public recently with great success.

A triangular piece of sail cloth sewn between the legs of his flying suit acts upon the air in the same manner as the membranes of the flying squirrel, enabling him to perform thrilling glides and stalls while in the air.

As he jumps from the plane, Finney stretches his legs apart, and the wind, acting upon the web between his outstretched legs in much the same manner as it acts. upon the elevators of a plane, enables him to glide a steep angle. By doubling his knees he is thrown into a climbing stall.

Novel ‘Land Yacht’ Carries Retired Naval Officer to Work

“YOU can take a sailor away from the sea but you can’t take the sea away from a sailor,” runs an old adage, long known among seafaring men. Such seems to be the case with W. H. Slater, a retired naval officer of Kent, England, who has constructed a novel land yacht with which to travel the five miles to and from his job, which is that of lighting wharf lamps along the riverside. Mr. Slater’s novel land yacht is made from an old truck chassis, and is powered by canvas sails, as shown in the photo at the right. Traveling over the rails of a former colliery, the yacht develops a speed between ten and twenty-five miles per hour, depending upon the winds. Although such a vehicle does not heave and roll like a ship in rough seas, it undoubtedly brings back memories to an old sailor as he shifts his sails to take advantage of every puff of wind, to say nothing of the wear and tear it saves on his legs. In a dead calm, of course, the yacht won’t travel.

Cross U.S. In 48 Hours On Proposed Road

An artist’s drawing of the proposed coast-to-coast super highway on which automobiles may travel at speeds of 100 miles an hour, making the trip between New York and California in forty-eight hours. Road builders are now working on plans for a four-lane highway with all grade crossings eliminated. The super roadway will be elevated through towns with ramps furnishing access to the main road through a central lane. Night travel is expected to be fully as safe at high speeds as day touring. Parapet walls two feet in height and made of opal glass bricks are intended to flank the black-surfaced roadway. Imbedded in the walls and spaced about twenty feet apart, as shown in insert, the engineers intend to put lights whose hoods will direct the light on the pavement below the eye level of the automobile driver.