IGOR SIKORSKY chsajusszs
AS TOLD TO GEORGE E. PELLETIER
Member National Aviation Editor* Association
Commercial aviation in the next five years will
be flying bigger ships over longer distances at faster
speeds and with a greater load of passengers travel
ing more comfortably and conveniently. There is no
doubt of that.
The era of widespread use of private-owner craft
seems farther away than five years. The arrival of it
would be helped by the development of new types
of aircraft with improved takeoff and landing char
acteristics and possibly by the development of an
entirely new type of flying machine, such as the heli
copter.
What are these records then, and how may we
expect to see them approached in everyday air trans
portation five years from now?
Here are the records:
Speed—World’s records, seaplanes, 441 miles an
hour; landplanes, 352 miles an hour. Today air trans
portation operates frequently at 160 to 185 miles an
hour, with some transport planes having a top speed
of more than 200 miles an hour.
Altitude —World’s record, for balloons, 72,395
feet; for airplanes, 49,967 feet. Air transports today
operate normally at altitudes up to 14,000 feet, ex
cepting when they fly up to 18,000 feet to cross
mountain ranges.
Distance —World’s record, in closed circuit, 6587
miles; airline record, 6267 miles. The longest nonstop
distance flown on regular schedule by airplanes today
is the 2400 miles from California to Hawaii on Pan-
America’s route to China.
Up to 15,000 feet I found
that I did not need oxygen, that
I could move about comfortably
and without becoming fatigued.
Above 16,000 feet, I was fairly
comfortable if I remained seated,
but if I moved about the cabin
ever so little, the exertion was
somewhat as if I had just run up
several flights of stairs. By tak
ing oxygen through a tube from
a bottle, I could move about com
fortably enough up to 20,000 feet.
Above 20,000 feet, I found I
needed regular “doses” of oxygen
even while sitting still. Without
it, objects before the eyes began
to darken, and it would not take
long for a person to lose con
sciousness altogether.
Today, the limiting factor is the
non-ability of crew and passen
gers to stand the rarified air of
heights easily attained by the air
plane, unless Some special provi
sions are made wffich V:an be
called altitude air-conditioning.
Briefly, this would consist of
supplying oxygen or making the
cabin airtight and pumping in air
to such an extent as is necessary
to maintain reasonable conditions
for the occupants. If this is done,
considerably higher altitudes
could be reached without creating
discomfort to 'he people on board.
While stratospheric flight at
40,000 to 50,000 feet is possible
even now, I do not think it would
be practical for scheduled trans
portation within the near future.
It is believed, therefore, that
substratospheric flight, up to al
titudes of perhaps 20.000 to 25,-
000 feet, is the more immediate
prospect.
Now for speed. Recently sci
entific investigations have shown
that about 525 miles an hour is
the ultimate possible with the
type of machine we are now' able
to build. As every one knows, lift
is created by the speedy passage
through the air of a plane, or air
foil. But this same airfoil as it
passes through the air faster and
faster, encounters an ever greater
resistance or drag.
The increase of the lift and of
the drag continues to be about
proportional to the square of
velocity until the speed of about
500 miles per hour is approached.
At this point or soon afterward
the flow of air becomes dis
turbed, the drag increases con
siderably and smooth movement
through the air for the airplane
is not possible.
The speed of 500 to 525 miles
Eating Between Meals Builds Workers Health
■ ' 1 ~J|L I
MELrfWB ggggMf IgFil . % ifWir
c hsiimm i
aft v iv'visiß <# - *B§§§« .Jr
iim f * /.i, *
■X,: . 1 % X Js WmßmmW Izßk WSSmM | W? ) ’ vv
- n lull hi < WkCWiMfc
A.MONG recent contributions of
scientific research to the problems
of industry, one of the most valu
able has been the liscovery that
fatigue is often more a matter of
nourishment than lack of rest.
Workers become tired and con
sequently less efficient and less
productive, because of too long
periods between meals. They
simply need fuel more often.
Reports compiled by the Na
tional Dairy Council show some
remarkable benefits both in
terms of human health and indus
trial productivity from between
meal feeding.
Having tested out the between
meal milk service over a long
period, and checked the benefits
in terms of health—shown by a
lower percentage of absenteeism,
as well as a marked upward
swing in efficiency—many large
industrial units now regard this
service as indispensable.
Widespread Practice
Just how widespread the prac
tice has become is shown by a
recent tabulation of the types of
establishments where it now func
tions.
The list includes manufacturers
The commercial eia of aviaiioa is here an 4 Igor I.
Stkorrky, whose planer are making the experimental
runs over the Atlantic iellt in the accompanying
article his views of wha! the next five years will
bring to the world in the Held of flying.
A Vw.
fm -.yJm &'*** sfo-,
l V x,- IP. jaaMmsmUk
* WmP/xF: m
7 MiinriMn t
* -" "
Here she is. all set for flight, the Pan-American Clipper 111. The ship successfully negotiated the Atlantic
per hour may be approached to
within 10 per cent, during the
coming five years, in pursuit or
racing planes if extensive engin
eering work would be made. Com
mercial transport planes will still
remain far below this figure.
W:\cWPmßfr
Wffi
Wk M fflL
IfJII
18. * «—>>x
Noted scientists are leading advocates of eating between meals for
workers in factories and offices.
of clothing, shoes, hosiery, tex
tiles, paper products, rubber prod
ucts, pharmaceuticals, furniture,
china and glassware, paints and
varnish, foods, tobacco, metal
goods, telephone and life insur
ance companies, foundries, re
fineries and wholesale groceries.
Many government workers are
also between-meal consumers of
milk. Eighty-three plants, em
ploying a total of 115,230 work
ers, contributed to a recent sur
vey, testifying to the improved
health and higher efficiency of
their employees. In this group, 42
per cent conducted a mid-morning
milk service, three per cent a mid-
FLYING-
So far as distance is concerned,
the range of our airplanes is suf
ficient today for the longest hops
which the geography of the earth
makes necessary.
Within five years certainly, it
should be a practical and regular
afternoon service, and 55 per cent
had adopted both.
Here are some of the benefits
which plant executives report:
Employees work with greater
ease, thus increasing their output
and their earning power.
They perform their tasks with
more accuracy and less strain.
There are fewer absences due
to illness, consequently a higher
level of plant production and less
loss of pay to the worker.
Factory morale is improved.
Accidents due to fatigue and
unsteady nerves are fewer.
The workers are in better phy
sical trim at the end of the day.
business for passengers to be
able to go around the globe in a
week, if they are in a hurry. Ex
cursions to the North Polar re
gions or to the South Seas will
probably have been developed by
that time.
All of these findings are a prac
tical reflection of conclusions
which have been reached by sci
entific researchers in the field of
industrial productivity notably
Haggard and Greenberg, dis
tinguished physiologists of Yale
University.
These two scientists chose as
their laboratory a plant manufac
turing rubber footwear and made
tests under factory conditions.
Two groups of workers were
chosen for comparison, one eat
ing three regular meals daily,
another eating three regular
meals plus a mid-morning and
mid-afternoon feeding and a third
group was composed of workers
who skipped breakfast.
Milk Best
Efficiency was measured in
•terms of average hourly produc
tion on one operation in making
shoes, and here’s the score: The
no-breakfast group, 172 units
hourly; three-mej# group, 183
units hourly; three-meal plus two
supplementary feedings group,
191 units hourly.
It was discovered also that the
supplementary feeders had de
cidedly the best of it in maintain
ing a high level of muscular effi
ciency. The breakfast skipper
maintained it for only a little ove
two hours of the working day, th
three-meal group for four hour
the supplementary feeders foi
hours.
In addition to these striking re
suits in terms of production and
efficiency, the investigators re
ported benefits which cannot be
reduced to figures, but are
equally impressive from the hu
man viewpoint. Among the be
tween-meal eaters, they found an
“improved feeling of general
well-being,” “more zest for the
work," “less irritability late
morning and late afternoon," and
“fewer mistakes."