Viewing page 8 of 162
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[Artifact 1]] A.P.Man To Hop Ocean; What Of It, Says Wife Editor's Note: The A.P.'s aviation editor is going to fly to Europe tomorrow on a "preview" trip prior to the establishment of regular passenger service. He has just broken the news to the little woman.) [[Line]] BY DEVON FRANCIS. New York.-[[?]]-When I got home last night I said to my wife: "Irene, I want you to get my store clothes pressed and wash me a pair of socks because I am going to fly to Europe Saturday." Then I waited calmly for her to faint. I had it all figured out what I would do when she keeled over. I would be tender and give her smelling salts and bring her to. Then I would tell her it was all right, that 28 or 30 other people were going along and that it was to be in the world's biggest airplane, with four motors. "I think," she said, "that is just fine. I have a steak for dinner. Do you want mashed potatoes or fried?" I did not know quite what to say. "I guess," I said, "I have not made myself clear. I am going to Europe, which is a continent, like on the maps. I am going to Europe in an airplane. There is a lot of water between the United States and Europe." She nodded, "Lindbergh and Corrigan and now you. They have been flying the Atlantic since 1919. I hope you remember to be nice and not ask for a second helping." I am not one to quibble over trifles, but it seems to me that when a man is flying to Europe in the first plan to carry anybody but the crew, a woman ought to realize. The plane will take off from Manhasset bay, on the north shore of Long Island, tomorrow and head for Horta, the Azores. Then we will go on Sunday to Lisbon and stop overnight, and land Monday at Marseille, France. This is the same plane which has flown the route before. It weighs 41 1/2 tons fully loaded and, starting June 28, will be used for regular passenger service by Pan-American airways. It carries a crew of 12 and on shorter hops can seat up to 74 people. There are berths in it, and all that, and it seems to me that a woman ought to realize that this is something which will be recorded in history. Well, current history anyway. "I hope you will not be too lonesome while I am gone. I don't want you to worry," I said, half sarcastic. She replied, "Oh, I don't want you to worry either. Just don't think about me. I have lots of things to do, just lots of things." Somehow, this trip doesn't seem to be the fun I thought it would be. [[/Artifact 1]] [[Artifact 2]] [[Image- a color image of a 4-engined plane in flight]] [[/Artifact 2]] [[Artifact 3]] THE FIRST CLIPPER PASSENGER [[Image-Eck looking at a map of his flight]] W.J. ECK LOOKS OVER A MAP TO TRACE HIS FLIGHT A vice-president of the Southern Railway, he has drawn Ticket No. 1 on the first passenger flight to Europe of the Clipper plane. He will hop June 28. His position of the ticket is fitting, for he has followed aviation development since he saw the Wrights fly. [[/Artifact 3]] [[Artifact 4]] 1931 Request Wins D.C. Man No. 1 Ticket on Ocean Airliner WJ. Eck to Head Passenger List on June 28 Flight An application filed eight year ago, second only to that of the late Will Rogers, today won for W.J. Eck, assistant to the vice president of the Southern Railway, No. 1 ticket on the inaugural passenger flight of Pan-American Airways across the Atlantic, scheduled for June 28. Expressing delight at his selection from among hundreds of applicants, Mr. Eck said that he had filed his application "when it was first rumored that Pan-American was considering the establishment of trans-Atlantic service." Mr. Eck, who lives at 53 Adams street N.W., will be one of 30 to 35 paying passengers-the number depending upon weather conditions and mail load-in the 41 1/2-ton ocean clipper. Names of other passengers will be announced later. Pan-American Airways started scheduled service between the United States and Europe May 20, and since has been carrying mail only. Because his selection came "rather unexpectedly," Mr. Eck said, he will be unable to complete plans for extending his trip and will merely make the round-trip flight from New York to Marseilles, French terminal of trans-Atlantic line. He had been tentatively planning a trip around the world by air for next year, Mr. Eck said. Like Will Rogers, cowboy humorist, who became one of the world's greatest air passengers prior to his death in a crash with Wiley Post in Alaska in 1935. Mr. Eck is internationally known as an air traveler. He was one of the pioneer passengers on the Pan-American Airways' service around South America in 1930 and was an early passenger on the British Imperials Airways' route from London to Capetown, Africa, in 1935. The South American flight was not a complete circuit because of a revolution in Brazil, Mr. Eck recalled today. [[Image-Mr. Eck]] W.J. ECK -Underwood Photo.
