Posted inAviation Engineering Maritime & Naval History Travelers' Tales

“Sea Flea” Begins Its Hop to Spain Preliminary to Trip Across Atlantic

Illustration of the Sea Flea from popular Mechanics magazine 1928, captioned "It Won't Sink If It Lands on Water: the "Sea Flea" for Transatlantic Flights"

By the Associated Press.

MARSEILLE, France, May 13.

M. de Gasenko, French aviator, accompanied by Mechanician Bion, left Marseille at 9 o’clock this morning in his water glider, the Sea Flea, for Barcelona, Spain, and Oran, Algeria. The weather was unfavorable but the apparatus worked satisfactorily.

If the voyage is successful, de Gasenko will continue to Dakar, West Africa, and then across the South Atlantic to Buenos Aires. The aviators hoped to arrive at Barcelona within two hours and to reach Oran this evening.

Posted inDaily News

Intellectual Scum

Sixty thousand copies of the May edition of the American Mercury, the monthly magazine edited by H. L. Mencken, were destroyed early Saturday morning on the order of the editor because they contained an article entitled “Sex and the Co-Ed,” purporting to be an expose of collegiate undergraduate life, it was learned this week.

This number of copies had been run from the presses of the Hudson Craftsman, Camden, N. J., which prints the magazine, when a man, reported to be Mencken himself, rushed into the pressroom and ordered the machine stopped.

Posted inAviation Biographical Black History Daily News

Daring Colored Girl Aviator Meets Death In Jacksonville

Bessie Coleman standing on the wing of her biplane.

Jacksonville, Fla. May 1—Miss Bessie Coleman, the daring and accomplished colored aviatrix, was instantly killed when losing control of her plane, it turned over two thousand feet in the air. and she, together with D. W. Wills, white, her publicity director, were dashed to death, while making a practice flight preparatory to an exhibition she was to hold here Saturday under the auspices of the Negro Welfare League of this city.

Posted inDaily News Labor & Unions

London Dazed By Big Strike; Hikes To Work

LONDON —The largest city in the world awoke today to find itself as helpless as any little roadside hamlet.

Confident yesterday that there would be an 11th hour settlement of the general strike, London seemed really amazed today to find its transportation facilities at a standstill.

starting at 4 and 5 a. m., workers of all ages and walks of life began trudging toward their daily tasks in the city.

Posted inDaily News Labor & Unions Maritime & Naval History

British Strike May Affect Big Tourist Service On Atlantic

New York, May 3.—(AP)—Disruption of what promises to be a record trans-Atlantic tourist service may result if the general strike in England, scheduled to go into effect at midnight, extends through the month of May, shipping line officials and representatives of British seamen said here tonight.

Estimates of the number of tourists going to Europe this summer based on advance bookings, reach as high as a half million persons.

Bookings have been so heavy that several of the larger lines are already sailing ships on an average of one a day.

Posted inAviation Daily News Engineering

Airplane Able To Fly To Moon, Says Inventor

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.

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History

Norseman Sails for America in 40-Foot Vessel Patterned After Viking’s Boat

Viking Replica of Leif Ericson ship, August 12, 1926 (Source: Naval History and Heritage Command)

BY BJORN BUNKHOLDT.

By cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.

OSLO. April 27.—A new viking voyage across the Atlantic has been started by Capt. Folgeroe of Sandnessjoen, who, after careful studies, built a viking ship, which is a copy in every respect of the viking ships of old—from beautiful curved stern and stem to exquisitely carved dragons’ heads alongside. The ship is 40 feet long and 13 feet wide.

Capt. Kolgeroe’s aim is “to fly the colors of Norway at the Philadelphia exposition.” The hearty send-off he was given shows that he is backed by the entire nation, although economic conditions prevented official representation of Norway at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial.

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History Transportation

British Syndicate To Acquire Control Of White Star Line

New York April 23.—(AP)—The famous White Star fleet of trans-Atlantic liners, including one of the world’s largest ships, the Majestic, probably will pass to the control of British interests, who have submitted an offer for the line to the International Mercantile Marine corporation. The transaction, it is understood. will involve approximately $35,000,000 and will eventually place the White Star ships under the operation of the Cunard Line, although the Furness-Withy interests also were reported to be bidders.

Directors of the Marine Corporation considered the offer today, but J. H. Thomas, vice president, announced after the meeting that there were no developments which called for comment.