AVIATION

Grey River Argus, 22 August 1934, Page 6

AVIATION

High Flying FOR U.S.A. AIR MAILS. (■Received August 21 at It) p.m.j WASHINGTON, August 21. A two-layer air mail service, th? upper one of which would have speedy (xpress planes splitting the thin atmosphere fifteen thousand feet above the earth, is under considerat'Am bv the U.S. Post Office Department. T ic offiuia’s of some of the a.i.’i lines have informed the authorities that their last new planes operate' most efficiently at a height <»f around fifteen thouand feet, but when they have to slop frequently, lots of time is lost. The lew plan would be for thes(» ships to curry Ihe mail between important cities, with smaller planes eoveriiig the intermediate points. AERIAL SUICIDE. BY NOTED ALASKAX FLIER bTEW YORK, August 20. A message from Anchorage, in Alaska, states that Frank Dorbant. one of the North-West's greatest a vial ion heroes, on Sunday took- io lhe air on a suicide mission, and, .is he has not been reported since. lie npparently accomplished his purpose After telling his friends that he would not see them again. Dorban’ t!'-w out towards the (Sulf of Alaska whh a small supply •of petrol, where he must have perished soon aftev wards.

The flier gained his reputa-ion in the North Country through his many daring aerial exploits. Fu 1929, ae was one of the many searchers for the Jost plane of Lieutenant Carl Eidson, Sir IL Wilkins’ Polar pilot. He recontlv had been in legal i rouble. H? was alleged to have been smuggling furs into the United States. Il is suicide venture recalls :he similar case of self-destruction ;»f Lois? Stanton, an American aviatrix. cabled on December 21, 1933.