Aviation's Place in Tomorrow's Business
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From the collection of the 7 n r m Prelinger a Uibraryi San Francisco, California 2006 15 'Place In Tomorrow's business BY THE SAME AUTHOR THIS MAN HOOVER LINDBERGH FLIES ON FIRST PRIZE OF $5,000 IN THE LEHIGH AIRPORTS COMPETITION WON BY A. C. ZIMMERMAN AND WILLIAM H. HARRISON, ASSOCIATED ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS OF Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA In Tomorrow's business EARL REEVES B. C. FORBES PUBLISHING COMPANY 120 FIFTH AVENUE - - - NEW YORK CITY COPYRIGHT I93O BY B. C. FORBES PUBLISHING COMPANY MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INTRODUCTION " " ETANA the shepherd tended his flocks on the plains near Ur in a day that lies beyond the dawn of history. Just how far beyond, we do not know. But the tale already was old some fifteen hundred years before the birth of a man named Abraham, in a house in the goldsmith's quarters in Gay Street, caused the name of the Sumerian capital to come down to us. Etana lived and the metropolis thrived as an eco- nomic unit built upon agriculture, river commerce, and certain industries, while Egypt still struggled through the dark ages of barbarism. And one day he flew to heaven on the back of an eagle, but when he had almost reached his goal he was cast down to earth again. There, as recorded in cuneiform characters on baked bricks, is the earliest tale of flight by man. Etana was no kingly hero, no warrior seeking to emulate the gods: the Etana of this myth was a lowly shepherd, and bound upon a purely commercial venture. His flocks were sterile; and it was well known that in the heavens above the Euphrates the gods of Sumer grew a certain herb which was the source of all life. Etana would prosper greatly, could he but bring back to earth a slip of that herb and plant it in his own fields. vi Introduction For more than 6,000 years following the age of Sumer flight remained a myth. Only yesterday, when the various islands of the Hawaiian group were knitted more closely together by airways, a new legend came to light. In the days be- fore the white men came to Oahu and therefore, one supposes, before the native stalwarts were softened by civilization courageous young men played a game which consisted of launching forth on a wicker plat- form to glide from clifftop to the sea. These frail craft they balanced skilfully, and with them landed as grace- fully as a seagull. " This was heroic sport, Etana's venture was com- " and similar to mercial aviation ; but they were alike, other tales of flight in this through the ages flight always appears to have been accomplished by earlier, sturdier, more god-like forbears of the peoples who cherished the tale. Now that we have brought it finally into the Present, as a thing achieved, and by our contempo- raries, there remains about it a halo almost mystical, a glamour sometimes blinding. Great pilots take on heroic stature; and the fol- lowers of Etana, those who strive to make of aviation a "gainful pursuit," sometimes are assumed to have almost magic powers. They would be the first to pro- claim that at no altitude has that herb which is the source of life been discovered. It might have given a Midas touch to the business of the shepherd of Ur; but the business of aviation must be built, bit by bit, with Introduction vii meticulous care and exactness, and by hard-headed men, guided by lessons learned. In so far as is practicable, this book endeavors to look at this gigantic task-in-hand through the eyes of those who are building for tomorrow. Here and there through the following pages these men speak of their visions or reveal fragments of the lessons learned. Those lessons will mean much to busi- ness as a whole. No one can say how much, as yet, or exactly what. Nor can one profess to write any com- plete, scholarly, or profound dissertation on the sub- ject of commercial aviation now. Writing about aviation is like building aviation in that : you build with what you have and know, and you write of what exists and is known. That thing which is may be scrapped tomorrow, and the thing you know may no longer be true. Very well, then, rebuild and rewrite. Out in Indiana we used to say that two men were needed to describe the passage of a certain crack train. " One to say, Here she comes." " Another to say, There she goes." Aviation is faster than that. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION .......... v CHAPTER I AVIATION BECOMES AN INDUSTRY 3 The Experimenters The Birdmen Silent Struggle for Efficiency Curtiss Proves the Plane War Production The Slump Hoover Takes a Hand Morrow lays Founda- tions Engineering Background The Rec- ord Today. CHAPTER II WHEN LINDBERGH AWAKENED Us .... 16 No Banker's Risk Status of 1929 Pas- senger Service Discontinued Money Becom- ing Available for Reasonably Planned Enter- prises Cost of an Air Transport Company What Aviation Needed Employment Meas- ure of Progress. CHAPTER III THE AIRPLANE'S FIRST " JOB " 26 Jitney Pilots Sherman Fairchild Speaks The Aerial Camera Servant of Business Cities' Uses In Advertising, Insurance, Transportation Surveying New York Mapped. CHAPTER IV BUILDING THE AIR MAIL 37 Wealthy Backers Government Operation x Table of Contents PAGE " " Vaulting the Hump Lighting the Way Private Enterprise Takes Over Who Were the Pioneers? Foundations of Today's Lead- ers Boeing National Air Transport Getting Out of the Red. CHAPTER V LESSONS OF THE MODEL AIR LINE 51 Civic Pride Western Air Express Remark- able Performance Hanshue Emerges Guggenheim Aid What the Passenger Wants Expansion Herbert Hoover, Jr. Fokker Alliance What Next? CHAPTER VI How THE AIR MAIL SERVES BUSINESS ... 62 Progress of Transportation in History Vic- tory over Time Who Uses Air Mail For What Purposes Examples United States Chamber of Commerce Survey. CHAPTER VII " " WHAT THE FORD LABORATORY TEACHES . 71 Ford Firsts Model Airport Great Freight Experiment Records The Future Ford- ized Production Fordized Publicity. CHAPTER VIII THE EMPIRE BUILDERS AND THEIR REALMS . 79 Keys Hoyt Boeing Hanshue Harri- - man Aviation Corporation - - United Curtiss-Wright Units and Affiliations Detroit Aircraft Bendix Capitalization, All Leading Companies The Five Great Transport Empires. Table of Contents x* PAGE CHAPTER IX FORMING A VERTICAL TRUST 90 C. M. Keys Speaks His History Capital- ization, Keys Group Keys Rule for Success Aviation Meets a Financial Trend Ad- vantages of One-class Stock For Different Jobs, Different Companies, and Men Rules for Transport. CHAPTER X A MASTER BUILDER LOOKS AHEAD 99 Anthony H. G. Fokker Speaks Builder of Three Industries Good Designing Practice How to Fail in Aviation Why Leagued with General Motors A Five-year Forecast Types of Planes Coming What is "Too Big"? A "General Motors of the Air." CHAPTER XI NOT MONEY, NOR MACHINES BUT MEN . 107 Frederick B. Rentschler Speaks National City Bank Comes In Brothers Rentschler A Manufacturer First A Gamble on Horse- power Debt to Army Too Much Money Not an Unmixed Blessing Lessons Learned What Cannot Be Done You Cannot Walk Home Engineering Vital Essential Capi- tal Is Men. CHAPTER XII SHRINKING THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE . 117 Backers of Pan American Rate of Achieve- ment Significance to World of Business Investors' Dollar Follows Fastest Transporta- xii Table of Contents PAGE tion German and French Competition Hoover's Influence Selling Latin America Costs Operation Lessons New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line Survey Equip- ment. CHAPTER XIII SPANNING THE CONTINENT 132 " " The Lindbergh Line Race for Empire Fields Unfit Big Planes Available W. W. Atterbury's Pledge Keys' Principles Fi- nancial Analysis Air Transport in a Nutshell Harriman Line, Biggest Carrier "South- " ern Transcontinental Seven-fold Increase Who Travels How to Handle Traffic. CHAPTER XIV THE NEW NIGHT EXPRESS 143 W. E. Boeing Speaks More Night Flying than All Europe Mail Car of the Air What Is a Lighting System? What it Costs Business Man Sold on Night Flying. CHAPTER XV NINE-TENTHS ON THE GROUND 151 Three Hundred Millions on Airports Cities Which Lead Foreign Examples Croydon - Tempelhof Oakland Airport G. B. He- gardt Speaks Rules for Municipalities How to Make Rates Concessions Crowds Rates Charged Airport of Tomorrow Build for Growth Selling Aviation to the Public Half a Billion, 1929 to 1930. Table of Contents xiii PAGE CHAPTER XVI BATTLING TRANSPORT COSTS DOWNWARD . 170 Colonel Henderson Would Sign a Contract Overhead and Depreciation Guesswork Elu- sive Figures Air-mail Operation Costs Operations Selling Administration The Bigger Ships Plane-mile Variations Direct Operations Costs Analyzed. CHAPTER XVII UNDERWRITING THE RISK 187 Complete Coverage Safety Compared with Railways With Automobiles Gug- genheim Recommendations Safety Rules for " " Passengers Taking the Guess Out of Un- derwriting Horatio Barber Speaks Pres- ent Tendencies Rates Downward Dan- gerous Competition How Agents Can Find Opportunity. CHAPTER XVIII JOBS IN AVIATION 196 The Lure of the New Shortages What is Needed Types of Jobs Qualifications Preparation Engineering A Salary Scale. CHAPTER XIX ASSEMBLY LINES AND SALES ORGANIZATIONS . 205 Designing What Is Needed? The Leaders Their Starts $8,000 Shoestring Dis- tributors Instalment Buying Curtiss Fly- ing Service What Planes Sell Cost of an Agency Profits Discounts Used Planes. Table of Contents PAGE CHAPTER XX " " THE CASE FOR THE BIG SHIP 214 Hanshue Looks Ahead Two Views of Ro- mance Dornier's Feat Operators Demand on Manufacturers Fokker 32 Cost of Manufacturing Transportation To Compete With Railroads Freight and Express Next Performances of Tomorrow CHAPTER XXI AVIATION'S IMPORTANCE TO BUSINESS . 221 Adding Values To Products To Time A Simple Success Factor Spreading Costs Volume Arriving Half Million in the Air A Business Man's Risk.