90 Miracles Ahead! 



of five separate and detachable cargo containers. Each con- 

 tainer would hold one thousand pounds of freight, and any or 

 all of them could be lifted from the plane by hoists and new 

 ones put in place for a trip to another city. 



In mid- 1 943 work was proceeding on the much-publicized 

 Kaiser-Hughes H-Ki Flying Boat. This giant all-plywood 

 ship of 400,000 pounds gross weight will have eight engines, 

 a fuel capacity of 8,000 gallons, 120,000 pounds cargo capac- 

 ity, and a cruising speed of 174 miles per hour. 



In designing cargo planes of the future, aeronautical engi- 

 neers will be guided by this rule: the larger the plane the 

 greater the percentage of pay load for the same proportion 

 of horsepower. The load capacity of small planes is only about 

 25 per cent, while the load capacity of giant planes may run 

 to 40 per cent. 



Glider "Freight Trains" 



The use of cargo gliders towed by "locomotive planes" is 

 expected to double an airplane's transport capacity, sharply 

 reduce freight and express rates, and cut the time needed to 

 load and unload cargo. 



Grover Loening, consulting engineer of the Grumman Air- 

 craft Corporation and a recipient of a Distinguished Service 

 Award for the design and completion of the Loening two- 

 seater fighter plane, contends that the use of the glider and 

 the glider train "is probably the most significant development 

 of all the recent items that have led to more and more effi- 

 cient load-carrying on aircraft. 



"Gliders are the freight trains of the air," he adds. "They 

 give a versatility in the picking up and delivery of cargoes 

 and passengers. We can visualize a locomotive plane leaving 

 La Guardia Field towing a train of six gliders in the very near 

 future. By the use of the glider system of carrying loads, 



