Air Trains

Two widely separate incidents of last week may be forerunners of a new mode of air transportation.

At Berlin, the Raab-Katzenstein airplane makers hitched a motorless glider to the tail of a regular plane. To the tail of that glider they hitched a second glider. This "train"--the air equivalent of a motor truck with tandem trailers--taxied across the field and managed to take off, the plane tugging, the gliders lunging after. Soon the "train" straightened out in smooth flight and without difficulty attained an altitude of 1,200 ft.

By and by the pilot of the rearmost glider cut loose from the train and coasted comfortably to earth. Then the pilot of the other trailer did likewise. Finally the motored plane landed.

In Southern California, one Dale Drake, glider expert, persuaded his friend Lloyd O'Donnell to tow his glider by motored plane 200 miles to Long Beach, for a glider rodeo there. Their air train went well for 175 miles, a record air tow. Over Santa Susanna Pass, near San Fernando, the tow rope broke. Glider Drake was left 7,200 ft. in the air. Undaunted, he coasted ten miles and landed safely in a barley field.

Such trains promise great economies in air transportation. The greater the load which a power plant can pull the cheaper the charges for passengers or freight, and the better the profits for the entrepreneurs. The chief difficulty at present seems to be the initial motive power to start the train from the ground. Once in the air the motor pull for a train is not much greater than for a single plane. Railroaders and motor truckers have the same problem on an easier scale. A solution for the air seems to be multi-motored planes with all engines working for the take-off and fewer for the "haul."

Another apparent benefit of air trains is related to Speed, chief advantage of air over surface travel. A fast-flying train can touch at different airports without stopping, by cutting off its trailers one by one with passengers or freight.