THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



113 



are set, two lamps directed east and two 

 west. Six-light signals read two east, 

 two west, one north, and one south. East 

 and west lights are trained ten degrees 

 off the direct course. All projectors on 

 both the four- and six-light units are set 

 twelve degrees above the horizontal. 



For indicating the direct flying route 

 from the Dayton flying fields to the Ran- 

 toul field, lights flash on and off at about 

 six-second intervals. To assist the pilot 

 to check his location, the station at the 

 end of the first fifty miles west of Dayton 

 flashes green and red alternately. The 

 completion of the second fifty-mile leg is 

 indicated by the rapid flashing signal for 

 the Indianapolis Motor Speedway land- 

 ing field. Continuing west, the third 

 checking signal consists of six green 

 lights flashing on and off, indicating 

 Crawfordsville, Indiana. Again, at Dan- 

 ville, Illinois, the light flashes red and 

 white at six-second intervals. All other 

 units which indicate to the pilot or his 

 observer that they are following the di- 

 rect course employ red lights flashing on 

 and off at the regular stated intervals. 



Drifting with the air currents and 

 unconsciously leaving the direct flying 

 course will be corrected by a system of 

 side marking lights. At about twenty 

 miles north and south of the air route 

 and located approximately twenty miles 

 east to west, two fixed lights are to be 

 stationed. Those on the south will use 

 red and point directly north, while the 

 lamps north carry green lenses and are 

 directed due south ; hence, should the air- 

 plane drift from the course, the pilot 

 would be reasonably sure to detect either 

 the stationary red or green lights and cor- 

 rect his direction until the flashing signals 

 telegraph the welcome news, " Straight 

 ahead." Lamps used for side markers 

 are of the same type of projectors and 

 are to be purchased, installed, and main- 

 tained by the towns where stationed with- 

 out cost to the government. 



On clear nights the radius of all lights 

 will be from eight to ten miles. 



FOUR TRANSCONTINENTAL AIRWAYS 



The details of this Dayton-Rantoul 

 route present in a general way the nature 

 of the task which the aviation sign-post 

 pioneers will undertake in mapping and 



marking the four transcontinental air- 

 ways, proposed by the Aero Club of 

 America and known as the Woodrow 

 Wilson, the Langley, the Wright Broth- 

 ers, and the Bell & Chanute routes. 



The last of these routes, extending 

 from Boston, Mass., to Seattle, Wash., 

 via Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Erie. 

 Buffalo, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Minne- 

 apolis, Bismarck, and Great Falls, will be 

 a richly deserved memorial to Octave 

 Chanute, the pioneer aeronautic engineer, 

 and Alexander Graham Bell, whose name 

 is more frequently associated with other 

 great gifts to humanity, but who in an 

 unspectacular way was a potent factor in 

 advancing man's mastery of the air. 



It was the financial support and per- 

 sonal encouragement of the inventor 

 of the telephone which largely enabled 

 Samuel P. Langley to continue his ex- 

 periments with heavier - than - air ma- 

 chines — experiments which were of in- 

 estimable value to Orville and Wilbur 

 Wright, who finally achieved success. 



Alexander Graham Bell's support was 

 given at a time when the foremost physi- 

 cist of Great Britain, Lord Kelvin (Sir 

 William Thompson), the foremost as- 

 tronomer of America, Simon Newcomb, 

 and the foremost business genius of this 

 age, Andrew Carnegie, scoffed at the 

 possibility of man's flying. 



The name of this airway will also be a 

 tribute to Mrs. Bell, whose gift of $50,000 

 to the Aerial Experimental Association 

 in 1 907- 1 908 made possible the experi- 

 ments which resulted in Glenn H. Curtiss 

 and J. A. D. McCurdy taking an active 

 part in the development of aeronautics. 



The Woodrow Wilson airway will ex- 

 tend in an airline from New York to San 

 Francisco, with Cleveland, Toledo, Chi- 

 cago, and Cheyenne the principal cities 

 en route. 



It is proposed that both the Langley 

 and the Wright Brothers routes shall 

 have Washington as their starting point. 

 The Langley line will end in Los Angeles, 

 passing near Wright field at Dayton and 

 within a few miles of St. Louis. The 

 Wright Brothers airway will pursue a 

 more devious route through Virginia, 

 North and South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 

 bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona, and termi- 

 nates at San Diego. 



