AERONAUTICS: Airports

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The fact is that New York City proper contains acres of barren, undeveloped land. E. H. Holmes, real estate man and financier, located about 220 acres in connected parcels in Jackson Heights, seven miles from Times Square. He organized Holmes Airport, Inc., started to sell stock in it and, last week, got Clarence D. Chamberlin, Aviatrix Viola Gentry and Actress Dorothy Stone (crippled Flying-Actor Fred Stone's daughter) to turn the first clods of a new airport. The convenience of an intra-city airport seemed obvious, but Mr. Holmes felt that he had opposition. He complained: "There are a lot of people who would like to see me fail. Some of them have done everything they can to hinder me, except drop a bomb in my apartment." Who opposes him, and why, he would not particularize.

How best to build or remodel an airport is still an unsolved problem. Some ports nowadays have single, straight runways; planes often must wait on them for wind to blow in a convenient direction. Some are built with runways as crosses, others as rectangles, a few as elliptoids. Some of the rectangles and elliptoids have diagonal runways. These seem at present to be the best.

To determine the best airport design Lehigh Portland Cement Co. has offered a $10,000 prize. Architect Harvey Wiley Corbett of Manhattan is chairman of a jury of award, which includes capable architects, engineers, city planners and flyers. The cement company of course has an eye to advertising and market stimulation, but it also had a non-commercial reason in offering the money. Advertising Manager of Lehigh Cement is Roland Doane, a onetime member of the British Royal Air Force.