456 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 5 



REGULARITY AND SAFETY 



These are the principal conditions for a commercial undertaking. 

 They are conditioned by the ground facilities. The experience of 

 terrestrial aviation has clearly shown that its development is closely 

 connected with that of the organization of airports. 



If the transcontinental lines in the United States have had such 

 a brilliant success, it is due to the some 1,600 airports, veritable service 

 stations, which line all the aerial routes. And if these routes stop 

 short at the shores of the oceans, it is for no other reason than that 

 the ground facilities stop at the same places. 



The effort which must be made to provide these ground facili- 

 ties is still considerable. I call upon the qualified organizations and 

 upon all those interested in this question for the diplomatic and 

 financial solutions of the problem here considered, for I will show you 

 shortly that it has been solved technically. I may add that it is 

 necessary to hasten, for competition is already appearing between 

 Zeppelins and steamships. 



I was recently in New York at the same time as Dr. Eckener, who 

 announced in public lectures a Zeppelin service for the month of 

 June following to make the crossing from Europe to North America 

 in 48 hours, as he had already joined South America to the Old 

 World. These Zeppelins could carry about a hundred passengers and 

 several tons of freight. I have heard it said, moreover, that America, 

 not wishing to be outdistanced, is constructing two Zeppelins for the 

 same purpose. Certainly these Zeppelins can never obtain the speed 

 of airplanes, but this does not mean that they will not some day rival 

 them from the point of view of regularity, of safety, and even of 

 economy. 



HISTORICAL 



Let us speak a little of the history of the question. Going back 

 to 1927 — in that year I submitted to M. Bokanowski, then head of 

 the Ministry of Public Transport, to which aviation was attached, 

 the result of my work in the form of a memoir. On the subject of 

 the route the conclusion was definite: It is absolutely necessary to 

 pass to the south of the bad-weather zone, a line which we now 

 know so well, thanks to the remarkable work of our two meteorolo- 

 gists, MM. Wehrle and Viant. French aviation owes them the high- 

 est recognition for the exact advice which they have always furnished 

 to our military pilots and to those of my firm in particular, realizing 

 that a good part of their success is due to the devoted collaboration 

 of these two men of science. 



On the subject of equipment, I proposed very special airplanes, 

 which I will describe to you shortly. 



