New Records

Exciting to the public are flights which break such obvious world records as speed, altitude, duration, distance. More satisfying to manufacturers and operators are less spectacular, technical records such as the two which U. S. flyers broke last month and the one which Boris Sergievsky broke last week. Last month it was Pilots Zimmerly and Schoenhair who, flying Barling and Lockheed Vega ships, respectively set new world records for altitude and speed with weight (TIME, March 10). Last week Pilot Sergievsky, who like his employer, Igor Sikorsky, is a naturalized U. S. citizen, filled a Sikorsky seaplane with two long tons (4,409.24 Ib.) of "pay load" and climbed with it to a height of 19,500 feet over North Beach, Long Island. The old altitude record for two-ton seaplanes was 15,837 ft. The significance: the U. S. is catching up with Europe in development of high-climbing, load-carrying seaplanes, essential to coastal and intercontinental air transport (especially in South America).

As a womanly feat Elinor Smith. 18, flew a Bellanca at Roosevelt Field to between 30,000 and 32,000 ft. At the top she fainted, recovering after a sharp dive. Previous female altitude record: 23,996 ft., by the late Marvel Crosson.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.