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[[newspaper clipping]] efficient. The average time for lifting this 41-ton plane was only 38 seconds. Both rising and alighting are so smooth that one is hardly aware of it. "The trip of 4,650 miles each way, or 9.300 miles round trip, was flown in practically 65 hours. The flying time eastbound was 29:51 hours and returning 35:17. The average speed was 154.1 m.p.h. and the maximum speed reached was 190 m.p.h. Fourth First Flight This trip was Mr. McVittie's fourth in a series of famous flying firsts. His initial experience flying high above the waves of the mighty ocean was on the first commercial flight of the Dirigible Graf Zeppelin from Friedrichshafen, Germany over the South Atlantic to Pernambuco, Brazil, in record time of 72 hours. By steamship eighteen to twenty days are required to cover the same distance. His second notable trip was aboard the Dirigible Hindenburg on its first westbound flight across the North Atlantic, with a flying time of 62 1/2 hours. His third experience was on the initial flight of the China Clipper, an interesting episode of which was spending Christmas Day up in the air during the flight between Guam and Manila. Mr. McVittie already has his ticket and hopes that his next air experience will be aboard the LZ130 - the new dirigible which has been remodeled for helium gas but which has not been put in service as yet. "Whenever that is ready to make its first transatlantic flight I am ready to be on it," he says. Since Chicago is the transportation hub, Mr. McVittie believes that the day is not distant when clipper ships will be arriving and leaving Chicago's lake front, "because they are as much at ease on the water as in the air." [/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Cincinnati Enquirer Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D.C. Please enclose three cents for return postage. Q. - Who bought the first trans-Atlantic airplane ticket? A. - The ticket used on the first commercial crossing from Baltimore to Lisbon, June, 1939, was issued by Pan American Airways to W.J. Eck of Washington, D.C. Of the Southern Railroad, for $675. Mr. Eck had made his reservation nearly eight years in advance while on a Caribbean flight in 1931 [/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] [[image: caricature drawing of a man holding hat and coat]] Believe It or Not by Ripley James MCVITTIE of Chicago "THE FIRST FLIGHTER" PASSENGER ON THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE GRAF ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG TRANS-PACIFIC CLIPPER TRANS-ATLANTIC CLIPPER ALASKAN CLIPPER [/newspaper clipping]]
