Adventure Magazine Cover — page 195: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ask Adventure ‘More about Flying in Mexico i ey THE first June issue Mr. Mahaffey answered an inquirer who wanted to know about flying opportunities in Mexico, by saying in effect that they aren’t so good for foreigners. This took care of the in- quiry in a perfectly satisfactory manner; but it remained for the editor of Aviation to deal with the general subject, which he does in the following letter to “Ask Adventure:” 225 Fourth Ave., New York. Permit me to supplement the information your Mr. Mahafiey gave on aviation in Mexico. Since the instauration of President Obregon Colonel Salinas is no longer chief of the Dpto. de Aviacién: in his stead Rafael O’Neill has been ap- pointed to head the air force of the Mexican Army, now called Fuerza-Aerea. Sefor O’ Neill is not an American, being a native-born Mexican, though his father was a North American. His mother is Mexi- can. Senor O'Neill served during the latter part of the Great War with the American Army Air Service as a volunteer. At the termination of hostilities, having obtained his discharge, he returned to his country and now is commissioned to put the Fuerza- Aecrea on a modern basis. The Fuerza-Aerea has a number of up-to-date French and Italian aeroplanes beside their Mexican- built machines, which are satisfactory for training purposes. The Government works (Talleres Na- cionales de Aviacién) at Valbuena not only con- struct airscrews, but also aeroplanes—as above mentioned—and aero engines. Three models of the latter are built, v7z.: 35 h.p., 80 h.p., 180 h.p. They are all radial air-cooled engines of very sturdy, though somewhat heavy, construction and stand up well in service. Owing to the high elevation of Mexico, D. F., the engines have a high compression to work well in the rarefied air. The propellers built at Valbuena are quite excel- lent, in particular with regard to their ability to resist great changes of temperature and moisture without cracking. Civil (commercial and private) aviation is not yet authorized in Mexico, probably because quite a few foreigners might take unfair advantage of such a permission and utilize aircraft for smuggling or stirring up rebellion. The small State air force which Esteban Cantt organized in Lower California has been incorpor- ated in the Fuerza-Aerea since Sefior Canti’s curi- ous rebellion was suppressed by the Government. It had a few Curtiss J.N.-4 planes—which are prob- ably the American planes your expert referred to. They are without military value—LapIsLAs p’ORcY. We sent Mr: d’Orcy’s letter on to Mr. Mahaffey, who wrote him the following appreciative reply, which also embodies some more right-on-the-spot facts: Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. ‘Adventure has sent me your splendid supplemen- ' tary letter covering aviation in Mexico, for which 189 please accept my personal note of appreciation. Unfortunately at the time Mr. Goodstein’s letter was answered—from San Francisco I believe—I had just completed several long trips touching coast points all the way down to Panama and had not been able to keep track of the many political changes in Mexico. It so happens that Mr. Ralph O’Neill is an old acquaintance of mine, and while I knew he had leagued himself with Obregon and had been actu- ally offered an appointment as chief of the aviation department and he was the party referred to in my reply on page 189, I did not feel at liberty to men- tion hisname. As showing the difficulty in securing information of undoubted accuracy, allow me to state that we always considered Ralph O’Neill as an American citizen although his mother is of Mexi- can extraction, and the family one of the most prominent for years past at Nogales, Arizona. His father has repeatedly held office, and was candidate for Senator during the late elections. In any case Ralph is a splendid type of the best that our Gov- ernment had in its service during the Great War. My understanding was that he had sworn allegi- ance to the Mexican Government on taking his new position, as has also been required of the various French and Italian aviators and mechanics who have at different times joined the Mexican air forces. I likewise have the impression that he left for England and the continent this year to secure new planes and has been replaced as the actual head of aviation. Changes continue rather kaleidoscopic in official circles at Mexico City and I have not had the pleas- ure of seeing their official organ Tochili for some months past, referring to the monthly publication of the Mexican aviation service. Naturally it is quite impossible also, when the inquiry is general, for Adventure’s foreign correspondents to go into a mass of detail when answering our voluminous correspondence from the States although absolute accuracy is always attempted. Since the matter of commercial aviation has been touched I would state that a decision is pending on the 20th of May and another on the 24th of this month, covering mail, express and passenger ser- vice to such points as Vera Cruz, Tampico and Ciudad Juarez (El Paso) from the capital. It is very probable that a company headed by an Italian named Jorge Puflea will be given the latter route to the border and the intermediate points. In this connection I would state that since the armistice this matter of commercial aviation in Mexico has been taken up to my certain knowledge by at least three English groups, two each from Germany and France, one from Italy and various others from the U. S. A. It is generally conceded that of the American groups it is most probable that a concession will be granted the Mercury Aviation Co., which is already operating in Cuba, Colombia and other foreign parts. During the past two years these matters have been thoroughly threshed over by those seeking concessions and the Secretaria de Communicaciones of the Mexican Government. It appears that the Post-Office Department in all cases demands mail service. Many other routes have been proposed at differ- ent times; such as Mexico City to Salina Cruz and way points, the capital to Mazatlan wa Guadalajara and Tepic, Chihuahua to Hermosillo, etc. CORICGLOO© (C@