FUTURE OF AVIATION

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 139, 8 March 1941, Page 12

FUTURE OF AVIATION

Seen As Instrument Of Peace NEW YORK, March 6. Captain Eddie Riekenbacker, who is steadily recovering from the critical injuries he received in the Atlanta crash last week, states in a notable article in an aviation number of “Fortune” that hitherto the commercial air transport industry seemed to be the final word in United States aviation both for magnitude and for efficiency, but, in the forcing house of war, the industry is expanding at such a terrific- rate that all previous conceptions of air operations have been dwarfed and outmoded. Even now, he writes, United States bombers destined for Britain are secretly but regularly spanning the Atlantic on schedules which make the formerly dazzling performances of Pan-American machines seem tentative and trifling. The industry is fast building up a fleet of long-range cargo and troop carriers many times the size of the combined United States transport fleets. The whole technique of flight operations is being rapidly pushed up. Captain Riekenbacker predicts that after the war surplus planes will be used to carry all first-class mail, utilizing 10,000 transport machines, compared with 300 at present in use. and SO,OOO pilots, compared with 2000 at present. Captain Rickenbacker’s • dreams bring together all the peoples of the earth by.aviation and ensure peace by annihilating racial, geographic, and economic barriers. “Instead of being the most deadly weapon that man ever invented the aeroplane should be the angel of peace,” says Captain Rickenbacker.