110 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



for aerial map-making by means of aerial 

 photography, for exploration, and for 

 rapid transit of passengers and freight. 



An aerial mail service has already been 

 outlined tentatively in Europe by both the 

 Entente Allies and the enemy govern- 

 ments. France and England have had 

 committees at work for nearly 12 months 

 on plans for utilizing their air fleets and 

 air personnel after the war ; Bavaria has 

 proposed an aerial traffic service for cen- 

 tral Europe, and Prussia is said to be per- 

 fecting arrangements for a peace-time 

 Hamburg-to-Constantinople mail and pas- 

 senger service. 



How extensive may prove this after- 

 the-war aviation service may be surmised 

 from the fact that already airplanes have 

 been perfected which are capable of 

 carrying aloft 25 passengers ; other ma- 

 chines have developed a speed of 150 

 miles an hour, while the record non-stop 

 flight to date is 1,004 miles, only 191 miles 

 short of the longest water gap in the 

 America-to-Europe air course, by way of 

 the Azores from Newfoundland. That 

 transatlantic flight is a certainty of the 

 next few months, no reasonable person 

 doubts. 



British authorities have expressed the 

 belief that it will soon be possible to go 

 from London to Paris and return in one 

 day, or from London to Bagdad in a day 

 and a half ; to New York in two days, 

 and to Ceylon in two and three-quarter 

 days. Air routes to India, with air cur- 

 rents and possible landing stages are even 

 now being mapped. 



Every obstacle of nature has been over- 

 come by the airman — deserts, seas, and 

 mountains. The attainment of an alti- 

 tude of four miles is now almost com- 

 monplace, and the Alps have been con- 

 quered on numerous occasions. 



AIDING THE: GOVERNMENT IN TRAINING 

 FLYERS 



That America is not waiting supinely 

 for peace to be declared before she makes 

 her preliminary preparations and experi- 

 ments for the age of the airplane is in- 

 dicated in the establishment recently of 

 a well-marked air route from Dayton, 

 Ohio, to Rantoul, 111., as an aid to the 

 training of aviators. 



This work has been carried forward 

 under the direction of Carl G. Fisher^ of 

 Indianapolis, chairman of the Mapping 



Committee appointed by the National Ad- 

 visory Committee on Aeronautics. 



The initial program for a marked route 

 consisted of serial numbers painted in 

 large white figures on barn roofs, with 

 an arrow pointing the direction where a 

 clear field of the proper area for safe 

 landing might be found, in the event an 

 emergency landing was necessary. 



With the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 

 as a central point, landing field numbers 

 from 1 to 72 were painted on barn roofs 

 between the speedway and Dayton, at an 

 average distance of about two miles 

 apart. From the speedway to Rantoul 

 the field numbers ranged from 1 to 28; 

 size used, 6 to 10 feet long by 24 to 36 

 inches wide. The distance between the 

 fields on this end of the route averaged 

 about four miles. 



This campaign required the services of 

 two men and a specially equipped motor 

 truck and consumed two and one-half 

 months' time. To complete the number- 

 ing, in gallons of paint and 50 gallons 

 of oil were used. 



Following the landing field or daylight 

 route marking scheme, the second phase 

 of the work was to afford assistance in 

 furthering the difficult training in night 

 flying. A patriotic spirit and the desire 

 to assist the government prompted the 

 citizens, town authorities, and civic or- 

 ganizations of the various municipalities 

 selected for signal stations to purchase, 

 erect, and provide for the maintenance 

 of signal lighting equipment at Dayton 

 and Eaton, Ohio, and at Fairfield and 

 Wright flying fields near Dayton ; Rich- 

 mond, Cambridge City, Knightstown, 

 Greenfield, Cumberland, Fort Harrison, 

 Indianapolis, Indianapolis Motor Speed- 

 way landing field, Brownsburg, James- 

 town, Crawfordsville, Waynetown, Veed- 

 ersburg, and Covington, Indiana ; Dan- 

 ville and Champaign, Illinois, the last- 

 named city being only ten miles south of 

 the government training field at Rantoul, 

 Illinois. 



Signal equipment consists of four- or 

 six-light projectors with red or green 

 lenses, equipped with lamps of 200-watt 

 capacity. The projectors are mounted on 

 an angle-iron frame four feet square, 

 standing three feet high. Each unit has 

 an automatic flasher system attached. 

 On the four-light frames the projectors 



