AERONAUTS CLOSE SUCCESSFUL YEAR

To bring its activities to the attention of all the Alumni the Flying Club has decided to keep its plane available during commencement week for the benefit of any graduates interested in aviation. A pilot will be at the airport each day and Alumni will be afforded an opportunity to inspect the plane and make short flights over Boston and Cambridge.

Flying Club pilots have now flown over 10,000 miles and carried 215 passengers without an accident of any kind according to the annual report presented by Treasurer M. N. Fairbank '28 at the final meeting of the club Tuesday evening. The first half year of operation of the club plane has been an unqualified success, both aeronautically and financially and the club has never been compelled to go outside its own membership for the funds with which to carry on its fight activities. With the assistance of dues and flight fees it has paid a quarter of the purchase price of its Travel Air plane.

Interest in the club has been on the increase ever since it was founded two years ago by R. H. Jackson '26. A plane was purchased last December and the members of the club started flying in March. For the first time this spring it was decided to open the club membership to undergraduate competition and out of the 50 candidates who reported it was possible to select 14 men, bringing the present total membership to 37, 13 less than the constitutional quota.

At the present time the organization has five qualified pilots. F. L. Ames '28 heads the list with 240 hours of solo-flying. In the order of their experience follow: A. U. Pabst 2L., a naval reservist, 150 hours; O. A. Spalding '27, 60 hours; Crocker Snow 1L., ex-member of the 101st Pursuit Group, 55-hours; and F. J. Otis '27, of the JN4D squad, 50 hours. Ames and Otis own their own planes in addition. All these men are licensed in the State of Massachusetts and Ames, Pabst and Spalding have applied for certificates from the Department of Commerce.

In time spent in the club plane Spalding leads with 40 hours to his credit. The other pilots follow: Snow, 30 hours; Pabst, 20 hours; Otis, 16 hours; and Ames, 9 hours. Five additional men expect to qualify this summer as pilots, either in the Naval Flight School at Squantum or by taking private instruction. They are: R. W. Ayer '28, Brutus Brooks ocC., W. N. Bump '28, M. N. Fairbank '28, R. E. Gregg '28, and F. P. Sprout '28. Ayer, Bump and Gregg expect to go to Squantum; Brooks and Fairbank will take instructions at Curtiss Field, Kong Island; and Sproul expects to fly from the East Boston Airport.

There are at the present time only two other groups in America like the Flying Club. The University flyers, however, still are the only collegiate organization and they have been receiving inquiries from various colleges throughout the country concerning their methods of maintaining an airplane for members use. The other two American flying clubs which maintain a plane are situated in Water bury, Conn., and Detroit, Mich. The Detroit Club purchased its ship under the direction of R. H. Jackson, ex-president of the University aviators.

Many Alumni and men prominent in aeronautical circles have expressed interest in the club. The Hon. E. P. Warner '16, now Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics, was a member of the Harvard Airplane Club in pre-war days and has been active in helping the present organization. Other graduates who have expressed interest are Godfrey L. Cabot, President of the National Aeronautical Association; and S. M. Fairchild '17, President of the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corp., New York. Grover C. Loening, designer of the amphibian planes used by the Army in the South American flight, visited the airport in May, and inspected the club's ship