Italian Claims Craft Would Go on Indefinitely After Leaving Earth’s Atmosphere.
By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
ROME. April 27.—An airplane which its inventor claims can fly to the moon has been designed by an engineer named Gussalli at Brescia. The principle involved is entirely different from that of the air propeller.
Gussalli’s machine will make use of exhaust gas exploded violently against the fans of a turbine revolving 16,000 times per minute. The reaction against this explosion is calculated to make the plane move independently of a propeller.
Oslo, Norway, March 28—(AP)—Preparations for the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar Flight in May are nearing the final stage. On a hill just outside Oslo a mooring mast nearly one hundred feet high has been erected for the airship “Norge,” in which the flight is to be made. The dirigible, constructed in Italy, is now being inspected by Captain Roald Amundsen, who arrived in Rome for that purpose last Friday, it will soon be brought from Rome to Oslo.
The auxiliary vessel “Hobby,” which was used in the Polar flight of 1925, has left Trondhjem for Svalbardi (the new Norwegian name for Spitzbergen), with equipment or the expedition, consisting of material for the mooring mast at King’s Bay and hydrogen for the airship. A hangar has already been completed at King’s Bay.
PARIS, Mar. 4—By the simple process of flying over Mount Everest, tallest mountain in the world, M. Callizo, daring French flier, hopes to accomplish what climbers have failed many times to do.
Numerous expeditions have fought their way through the lower recess the Himalayas only to be compelled to turn back when they were within striking distance of the top. The last such expedition ended tragically. Everest is still unconquered—the world’s last rebel.
Callizo holds the world’s altitude record of 39,586 feet, the mark Lieut. MacReady, of the United States army, recently endeavored to better in a test at Dayton, Ohio. Everest is 10,000 feet lower than this, being 29,140 feet above sea level. However, exploring the summit by air is not merely a matter of achieving altitude. That would be simple enough.
Regards $85,000,000 Program of Navy Conflicts With Peace Economy.
President Coolidge does not approve the five-year building program for the Naval Air Service, calling for an appropriation of $85,000,000, which has been reported out by the House naval affairs Committee.
The President considers this sum far too large to coincide with his ideas of a peace time expenditure for aircraft. He also thinks the amount exceeds what the Aircraft Board appointed by him to make recommendations for proper development had in mind.
Operating Base Already Established at Portland and Boston—Plan System of Relay Planes—Tech Professor Sees Big Increase in Commercial Flying During Coming Year
Boston, Jan. 19.—(AP)—Announcement that the leading cities of New England will be linked in a air route next summer was made today at a joint meeting of the Aero Club of New England and the Boston chapter of the National Aeronautic Association. Operating centers already have been established in Boston and Portland, Maine, it was said, and negotiations are under way for connections at Hartford, Conn.
HORTA, Azores—A strong “northeaster”, bringing stormy weather and vicious winds, whipped over these islands today while an apparently hopeless watch was kept for a man and woman who had challenged the Atlantic on a flight of 2,000 miles from Bermuda to the Azores.
Anxiety that had mounted during the hours in which Mrs. Beryl Hart and Lieut. William S. MacLaren were not heard from in their white seaplane Tradewind turned to a faint hope that they might have missed their mark, a small group of islands in the ocean, and continued to the safety of the European coast. But no word of their progress reached Paris, their ultimate destination, and ships east of the Azores had not reported sighting their plane.
By REAR-ADMIRAL E. L. COCHRANE, USN, Chief of the Bureau of Ships
By first punching the foe off balance and now smashing his last holds on the ocean, our aircraft carriers have proved modern speeders of Victory. Here “Buships” chief details how we’ve come from a mere seven to more than a hundred of these sky-sweepers.
December 7, 1941, the United States had on hand seven full-sized carriers, the Lexington, Saratoga, Ranger, Yorktown, Enterprise, Wasp, and the Hornet, also the small escort carrier, Long Island. Of these the Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, and Hornet have since been lost. For every one of those veterans lost, however, there has been built and are now at sea, nearly 30 replacements (including the escort carriers transferred to our allies).
In the two and a half years since Pearl Harbor, the number of carriers on hand (excluding the 38 transferred by lendlease to the British) has been increased to 90. totaling more than 1,400,000 tons. During this same period the combatant vessels of our Navy in all categories have more than tripled — going from 345 vessels, totaling 1,382,755 tons, to 1071 units, totaling 3,434,762 tons.
With the outbreak of war and following the heavy carrier losses in 1942. the desperate need for carrier strength in the Pacific and the growing demands for fighter transports pushed six vessels of the aircraft carrier program into top priority. With first call on the nation’s scarce materials and components, the inauguration of shift work, and the seven-day week, actual completions surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts.
Meagre Details of Rescue of Com. Rodgers and Crew of Four Lost for 11 Days in Pacific
Crippled Plane PN9-One Found Floating in Late Afternoon by Sub R-4—All Safe and Well—Hopped Off Aug 31 in Non-Stop Flight to Honolulu—Last Message Told of Exhausted Gas Supply—Ends Search of Great Array of Craft Over Wide Area of Pacific
Honolulu, Sept. 10—(By the Associated Press) Com. John Rodgers, commander of the missing naval seaplane PN-9 Number One, and his crew of four men, were found alive tonight 15 miles east of Kauai, by the submarine R-4.
Rodgers and his crew left San Francisco in an attempted non-stop flight to Honolulu on August 31. The following afternoon, 32 hours after his seaplane, the PN-9 Number One, hopped off, the plane and crew disappeared about 300 miles from its destination. Last messages from the PN-9 Number One stated that its gasoline supply was about exhausted and a forced landing was expected.
Giant Dirigible, Fighting Hurricane, Crashes to Earth, Breaking Into Four Pieces, on Trip That Would Have Brought It Here Today
BODIES OF CRAFT’S VICTIMS STREWN OVER 10-MILE COURSE
Commander Zachary Lansdowne Goes Down With His Ship and Is Found Dead—Several Are Missing and Two Are Injured.
By United Press
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio, Sept. 3.—Whirled through space, twisted and tossed by the winds until she broke into pieces, the giant naval dirigible Shenandoah hurled fourteen of her crew to their deaths early today near Ava., Ohio, and then fell, a total wreck.
Commander Zachary Lansdowne perished with his ship. In addition to the fourteen dead, two are injured and three of the crew are unaccounted for. The remainder of the crew of forty-two is safe.
Cover 2,546 Miles in Non-Stop Flight of 40 Hours, Still Up.
By the Associated Press.
CHARTRES, France, August 9.—The French aviators, Drouhin and Landry landed at the airdrome here at 2:42 o’clock this morning, after having covered 4,400 kilometers in 45 hours 11 minutes 59 seconds, creating a new world non-stop record both for duration and distance.
By the Associated Press.
ETAMPES, France, August B.—The French aviators Drouhin and Landry, at 10 o’clock tonight, became holders of the world’s record for a non-stop airplane flight, having covered a distance of 4,100 kilometers (2,546.1 miles).