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Now, at 57, he lives a retired life at Dayton, persistently working at aeronautical research.
Flying Developments. That first flight was over only 120 feet of ground and lasted only 12 seconds. During the 25 years since then various planes have crossed the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. They have risen to 38,418 ft., stayed in the air 65 hrs. 25 min., traveled 4,466 miles without alighting, sped 319 m. p. h. They have crossed North America from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 18 hr. 58 min., from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 24 hr. 51 min.
Passenger, express and mail planes cover 20,327 miles of routes. (Railroads on their silver anniversary had only 9,021 miles of trackage.)
Plane Manufacture. Last year 2,000 planes were manufactured and sold. This year the number will be 10,000, next year 20,000. About 150 concerns are now making planes. But scarcely a score make 95% of the output. As happened with the automobile industry, some of the airplane leaders will fail, some of the others will grow big. There will be mergers. Airplane securities have an active sale. They are all speculative at present..
The chart (left) gives some current information on a few of the important manufacturers. Changes occur daily.
Motor Manufacture. The Wrights in 1903 could get no one to make them a suitable flying motor; they invented one themselves. It was vertical and water-cooled. But the Wright Aeronautical Corp., which bought their airplane patents now makes radial air-cooled (whirlwind and cyclone) motors, but no planes. Nearly 3,000 Wright whirlwinds will have been made & sold this year. Pratt & Whitney (Wasp & Hornet radial motors) is the next largest motor maker, with 1,200 output this year. Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Co. makes V-type motors for its own planes; Fairchild Aviation Corp. is almost ready to market its Caminez radial engine. Packard and Velie, among motor car engine makers, have modified their motors for flying.
Transportation. There are about 30 operators of scheduled flying routes in the U. S.,* and about 600 more who run planes for hire on special trips. They can make money only on long, fast trips, for the slower railroads and motor buses are much cheaper. So the market for transport planes is limited.
Unlimited however is the field for sport planes and flying boats. Flying boats (Fairchild, Loening and Sikorsky are the leading makers) are useful for getting to the harbors of large cities from outlying airports and suburban homes. At present they are too expensive for all but rich businessmen.
Sport planes on the other hand are cheap, safe and handy, and so are popular. They sell well and have rapidly become a main support of the aviation industry. The limit of their sale (their saturation point) is far off.
Fares—Air v. Rail. To travel by air now costs on the average three times as much as by rail (without sleeping car). Some comparisons:
Rail —Air
Seattle — Los Angeles . . . . . . . . $47.46. . . . $125
Salt Lake City — Los Angeles. . . . 42.32 . . . .60
San Francisco — Los Angeles. . . . .17.04 . . . .50
Tucson — Los Angeles . . . . . . . . . 18.12 . . . .40
Chicago — N. Y. . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..32.70 . . . . 100
Boston — N Y . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .8.26 . . . . . .25