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time at an altitude of 1500 feet. Within seven minutes after the fire was observed, fire-fighters had reached the spot by motor-truck, and the fire was quickly extinguished. The Government reported recently that the aeroplane patrol of the Cleveland National Forest covers 115 miles in its work in ninety minutes, flying at an altitude of 300 feet.

The mackerel fishers along the New England coast employ a seaplane for scout work. Flying at high speed, the aëro-fisherman can thus fly far out to sea and return, keeping the fisherman informed of the presence of schools of fish. It was found during the sea-scouting in search of submarines that an observer in an aeroplane high above the water may look down into the water to surprising depths.

The aeroplane has been employed as a paycar with very satisfactory results. A mining company in Mexico hit upon the idea of sending considerable sums of money by an air route to balk the attempts of bandits to hold it up. The mines lay in a remote section of the country, far from the regular trade routes and police or military protection, and to carry the pay-chest through this country would entail great risks. Now the aero pay-car covers the distance in a short time, while the would-be

robbers watch it soaring a mile or so above their heads.

The possibilities of smuggling by air-craft is already being considered by the customs authorities at Washington. Meanwhile, the first air smuggler has already appeared. A few weeks ago an aeroplane was flown from Canada across the border into the United States carrying a consignment of furs to a concern in Newark, New Jersey.

The Customs Division of the Treasury Department at Washington believe that an air service to patrol our Mexican and Canadian boundaries against smuggling will soon be required. By carrying wireless telegraph and telephone apparatus, the air-police can instantly communicate with any near-by force. A single air-scout can thus patrol hundreds of miles of boundary, doing the work of a large force of inspectors and doing it more efficiently.

At a great automobile race held recently at Detroit one of the cars was held up for the lack of a certain part which could only be found at Dayton, Ohio. A fast aeroplane brought the missing part in record time.

The aeroplane has been found extremely useful in making astronomical observations. It often happens that an eclipse of the sun or other phenomenon which occurs at rare intervals is hidden from the observers by clouds or mist. The aeroplane makes it possible to rise. high above the clouds and thus gain an uninterrupted view. The experiment has been made by Professor David Todd, who has charge of the Amherst College astronomical observatory.

The seaplane used for the flight was taken aboard a steamer bound for South America. On reaching the point at which the observation was to be made, off the coast of South America, the steamer left its course and proceeded to the desired position. Professor Todd, a naval pilot, and a photographer flew to a height of nearly 15,000 feet, and up there the eclipse was observed and photographed. The results were then cabled to Washington to be compared with similar observations taken at the same time off the coast of Africa. The photographs of the eclipse taken at this altitude are more successful than those made at sealevel. The atmosphere being thinner at this altitude also make it possible to catch certain color values of the sunlight during the eclipse.

Experiments have been made by the Government with the intention of organizing an aëro patrol to work with the life-saving stations along our sea-coast. The shores are, of course,

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THE AEROPLANE AS A DECORATIVE FEATURE OF A PARADE-HOW CAPTAIN EDDIE RICKENBACKER WAS GREETED IN LOS ANGELES

regularly patrolled during the winter months and the stations connected by wire with one another. The air-craft, again, could carry out lines to vessels in distress or drop food and supplies on their decks, and in comparatively rough seas they could come down near the ships and take off the crew or passengers.

Plans are being perfected by Stefansson, the arctic explorer, to reach the pole by means of aeroplanes. It is planned to construct a flying craft suited to the new conditions which can land upon or rise from the water, the land, or the ice. The attempt will probably be made this year. The extreme cold does not deter aero-explorers, since the engines will not be affected. The men plan to wear suits of clothes

having an arrangement of electric wires with which they can be heated to any temperature.

The recent experience of the great naval seaplanes in the transatlantic flight has encouraged the Government to construct larger and more powerful machines. The naval experts believe that with such machines they can make a non-stop flight across the ocean. The wings of the machines will be increased from 126 feet to 200 feet, and it is probable that nine instead of four motors will be installed. The Government also plans to build giant dirigibles, to rival the largest in Great Britain or Germany, which will be capable of flying three times across the Atlantic Ocean or across the width of the United States without alighting.

SOME FURTHER USES OF THE AËROPLANE

By JAMES ANDERSON

THE story of some of the things which are done, or are immediately projected, by the use of aeroplanes in this country to-day may surprise those still skeptical as to the proved practical value of these machines.

To begin with, the airplane has come to help agriculture. In southern Texas, where the devastating pink boll-worm that attacks the cotton plant has been trying to invade the

United States from Mexico, there are cottonfree zones, declared by law as barriers against the progress of the worm. But a few misguided farmers feel that their rights have been infringed and have developed a tendency to become outlaw cotton-planters. Much of the country is heavily timbered. Roads are neither plentiful nor good, in many places, and it has been possible for an outlaw planter to tuck

away a few acres of cotton in some nook of the woods beyond the probability of discovery by ordinary means. The Federal Horticul

tural Board not long since determined to try the aëroplane as a scout to hunt the outlaw Texas cotton-fields, and very successful flights have already been made for this purpose by army aviators, who have not only reported outlaw plantings, but also that on a clear day at an elevation of 2000 feet a distinct view can

The Gilliams Service

smoke, or to locate them accurately. For precise location the system in use depends on triangulation, through reports telephoned from separate observation points. Aëroplanes will use wireless in reporting fires, and will locate fires by coördinates, in the same way that gun fire in war is directed to a particular spot or object.

The government believes that the aerial mail, when extended all over the country, will meet conditions that can never be met by railroad. At various places beneath its flight, it is planned to drop mail into large nets, constructed for the purpose, wherever mail is wanted. For the aeroplanes to be used in this service, Uncle Sam has turned battle-planes into mailplanes. For this purpose the armament and military accessories have been removed, the pilot's cockpit. changed from the front to the rear, and the front cockpit altered so as to provide a rain-proof compartment holding about 500 pounds of mail. Along the aërial mail-routes it is planned by the post-office department to have radio-system block-signal stations every twenty-five miles. These, of course, will provide a system of lights for night flying. It is easy to appreciate all that the coming of the aërial mail will mean to far-off places like Alaska.

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UNLOADING ITS CARGO FROM AN AEROPLANE

be had of the country over a range of thirty miles; and cultivated fields, buildings, roads, railway lines, creeks, and the character of the wooded areas can be easily distinguished. At seventy-five miles an hour the ground seems to move so slowly that these observers affirm they can get a complete picture of the area and readily distinguish cotton- from corn-fields..

This last summer, army aëroplanes and captive balloons not only have covered portions of the national forests of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and other States to aid in detecting and suppressing forest fires, but one of the interesting possibilities, to be tested at the first opportunity, is bombing forest fires to put them out. It is believed that bombs charged with suitable chemicals can be used with good results.

Lookouts in a very broken country, cut up by deep cañons or where mountain ridges obstruct the view, or in a flat country that affords no good points of vantage, are often unable to pick up all fires quickly by the rising

Plans are said to have been completed for the construction of a fleet of dirigibles for a New York to Chicago line, carrying a passenger list of twenty-five and a crew of ten. The ships are to be of the Zeppelin type, and helium gas is to be used, removing the danger of fire. Out in the far Northwest, passenger airplanes will soon be flying on regular schedules between Seattle and Spokane, according to officers of an air-craft company, which has leased from the, city of Spokane a 1000-acre tract on which to test air-craft. Each plane will have a capacity of twelve to fourteen passengers. The flight, it is believed, can be made in four and one half hours.

Mining companies are beginning seriously

to consider the employment of aeroplanes to carry the workers to and from pits and to transport the ores to market. Many an outof-the-way mine, which has been abandoned because no means of transporting the ore has been found, could thus be profitably worked. A famous mining corporation, composed of practical business men, is now considering the use of aeroplanes in taking gold bullion from Mexican mines, and owners of oil-wells in Wyoming and Texas are inquiring concerning the feasibility of using aëroplanes to inspect and establish fields.

In Texas, ranch owners have utilized aëroplanes successfully in trailing cattle-thieves.

The aeroplane is already being used to carry lighter forms of express freight. An enterprising store in one of our large cities near the sea delivers packages to its customers daily by aeroplane in an incredibly short time. The distance, in this case of less than thirty miles, is traversed in about twenty minutes and then an automobile completes the delivery. In

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THE AEROPLANE IN WHICH CAPTAIN READ FLEW OVER THE OCEAN, ON EXHIBITION IN CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK

"Just us East Side kids giving the N C-4 'the once over'

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