Aeronautics: Speed

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Speed flyers flashing along the Pacific Coast, the Atlantic Coast, and over a measured course at Detroit, made news last week.

Hawks v. Wedell. Within a few hours of each other, Capt. Frank Monroe Hawks shot southward from Vancouver, B. C. and Pilot James Wedell rocketed northward from the airport at Agua Caliente, Mexico. Each was intent on breaking the border-to-border record of 7 hr. 48 min. set last June by Broker-Crusader James Goodwin Hall. Wedell even intended to turn about at Vancouver and chase after Hawks back to Mexico. He paused for fuel at Reno, zipped over Vancouver Airport in less than 6 hr., flew 100 mi. farther before he realized he had passed his goal. Turning back, he landed with a new record of 6 hr. 42 min. Awaiting Pilot Wedell was a note from Hawks: "Best of luck. Jimmy. See you in Mexico tonight." But Wedell had enough for one day. Meanwhile Pilot Hawks had flown only as far as Granada, Calif., near the Oregon border, where he landed in a field, nearly unconscious from carbon monoxide fumes.

Reichers v. Hawks. In Publisher Bernarr Macfadden's low-wing Lockheed Golden Eagle, Pilot Lou Reichers roared from Newark, N. J. to Havana in 6 hr. 41 min., beating Capt. Hawk's record of last July by 22 min.

Bayles v. the Clock. Official timing cameras of the Federation of Aeronautique Internationale clicked at Wayne County Airport, Mich, while Pilot Lowell Bayles flew his fat little Gee-Bee racer four times around official pylons 1.8 mi. apart. When Pilot Bayles landed his average speed had apparently smashed the world's landplane record of 278.4 m. p. h., held by France. On one lap he was checked at 295.86. Final calculations, however, gave him an average of only 281.9, less than the 4.97 margin allowed him to receive official credit. Moreover, no record would have been allowed because the timing camera failed to show his plane passing the pylon at the end of the final lap. Few days later he tried again, crashed to death at 300 m. p. h.