Flying Machines To Change Travel After War

1917

THE FLYING MACHINE

To Revolutionize Travel After the War

At a recent meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain a paper on "Commercial Aeronautics" was read by G. Holt Thomas, one of the pioneers of aviation in that country. Mr. Thomas said that in his opinion aeronautics would revolutionize the world, not only from a commercial point, but also from a humanitarian point, much more than it had revolutionized the war.

He said he was not one of those who thought that commercial aeronautics were going to bear out of existence the railroads and other forms of transport, but rather that flying would act as an adjunct to present modes of transport.

From a business point of view speed was everything. The aeroplane would enable a business man to leave London in the morning, go to business in Paris, and be home again to dinner. It would take him to Bagdad in a day and a half or to New York in two days.

Ceylon would become two and three-quarter days from London. Tokio four and one-half, Sydney five, Cape Town three and one-half, and Vancouver three. As for the question of cost, it would be possible to run a profitable air service between London and Paris $25 a passenger, a cent an ounce for mails and 50 cents each for parcels of three pounds.

A Constantinople to Moscow journey of twenty-four hours might involve a cost of $125 a ticket.

—La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, La Crosse, WI, Oct. 2, 1917, page 4.