Commercial Mileage

"It is customary to belittle American aviation. The figure? show that American flyers fly more than the aviators of all other countries put together."

Thus Major Lester D. Gardner, editor of Aviation (weekly). For three months he had been investigating the activities of U. S. pilots and flying companies, had found that 344 men flew a total of 6,283,730 miles, or eight times the distance flown last year by Imperial Airways (the British line connecting London and Paris). Some 700 more licensed pilots had yet to report their 1925 mileages. It was estimated that these would bring the U. S. total well above ten million miles. Having said his say, Major-Editor Gardner 'sailed to explore 8,000 miles of European airways. He planned also to investigate "the propaganda of foreign airplane manufacturers who seek to belittle American builders."*

*For a well-documented, brief comparative history of commercial aviation in the U. S. and Europe, see p. 633 of World's Work for April, written with aid from the Department of Commerce and the American Engineering Council.