412 : The Atlantic 



greatly increased and die ability of the aircraft to seek routes in 

 higher altitudes has also increased their ability to deal with adverse 

 weather conditions. The air lines from America to Europe are now 

 almost entirely operating from New York to the Bridsh Isles or 

 some other nearby north European port and population center. 

 They are, thus, closely following the lanes across the Atlantic that 

 were laid out first by the captains of the Yankee whalers, then by 

 the New York packets, then by the Yankee clippers and that were 

 finally stabilized as accepted international lines of travel following 

 the original suggestion of Matthew Fontaine Maury. 



The reasons are exactly the same. New York, London and Paris 

 are still the great centers of population of the modern Western World 

 and the operators of transport services by sea and by air are both 

 anxious to make their arrivals and departures as close to these cities 

 as is practicably possible. The surface vessels have long since traced 

 out and followed great circle courses from a point off the Grand 

 Banks to the Channel ports. 



Theoretically the airplanes are free to fly a little longer and a little 

 closer to ideal great-circle courses. In practice weather conditions fre- 

 quently make a deviation from such courses either necessary or de- 

 sirable and in any event, the pattern of intercontinental travel by air 

 now looks startlingly like the pattern of intercontinental travel by 

 way of the sea. Admittedly the future may bring changes but at the 

 present time there is a rather amusing parallel as anyone can observe 

 for themselves by looking at a reliable series of maps showing world 

 transport systems. 



Transatlantic air travel is an established aspect of modern living. 

 These international services are steadily improving with respect to 

 safety, reliability and volume of service. Short of a catastrophic war 

 it is difficult to see what condition might arise that would prevent 

 their continued growth. The other conspicuous features of air travel 

 are luxury services, speed, a certain amount of flexibility and along 

 with these factors a natural ability to meet emergency situations. 



The ferrying of supplies to China over the "Hump" during the 

 last war, the air lift to Berlin, the supply of materials to Korea and 

 the return of the wounded from Korea to the United States are all 

 examples of the extraordinary services that can be performed by air- 

 craft in emergencies. Naturally, such services are possible only through 

 extraordinary efforts of organization, extraordinary devotion of indi- 

 viduals to the enterprise and extraordinarily high costs. In warfare 

 the huge costs of delivering troops, equipment and supplies by air may 



