N^^irporM^iav^OneofWorlds Finest Transportation Terminals
Sketch of the proposed terminal building at the Washington
National Airport at Gravelly Point, as seen from the flying field.
On the ground floor at the extreme left is the presidential
reception room, with other space on this level devoted to express
handling rooms, space for individual airline dispatchers and
rooms for pilots, stewardesses, ground crews and their equip
ment. First level above flying field is the passenger level and
behind glass front is waiting room with ticket offices. Airline
offices and dressing rooms also are on this level, while the
penthouse level will house the control tower, weather bureau
and observation platform.
—Courtesy of Section of Fine Arts,
Public Buildings Administration.
Structure Will Equal
U. S. Capitol in Size
Design Embodies Special Provisions
For Thousands of Sight*seers
And Airline Passengers
By Joseph S. Edgerton.
On gravel and sand which a few months ago formed the bottom of
the Potomac River, contractors now are beginning work at the Washington
National Airport, at Gravelly Point, under the largest single paving con
tract in American history and soon will begin construction of one of the
finest transportation terminals yet designed in this country—a building
which will come within a few feet of«&
equaling in length the Capitol Build
ing. including the Senate and House
Wings.
Although the new terminal build
ing, in size and architectural beauty,
is expected to form one of the most
Impressive additions in some years
to the building attractions of the
National Capital, it also will embody
functional principles which will
make it unique—a preview of the
transportation terminal of tomor
row.
The new terminal building is de
signed to handle sight-seers by the
thousands, in addition to airline
passengers, mail, baggage and ex
press, without conflict or mixing of
traffic streams. Under this arrange
ment, sight-seers will not become a
necessary evil, interfering with the
efficient operation of the terminal,
but a desirable accompaniment to
the operation of one of the most
modern traffic terminals the world
has seen.
For the spectators will have their
own approach drives to the terminal,
their own automobile parking areas
and tneir own promenade, along
the front of the entire building,
with an uninterrupted length of
more than 700 feet, raised one floor
above the airport level. This prom
enade will command a magnificent
view not only of the entire airport,
but also of the Potomac River and
the city beyond.
A great glass-walled dining ropm
will open on a terrace one floor
above this promenade and during
good weather the terrace will be
utilized for open-air dining.
Gives Unusual View.
Nor will the presence of thou
sands of spectators on the prom
enade interfere with the view of
airline patrons in the great terminal
waiting room and ticket office. Three
raises in floor level above the prom
enade will permit those in the wait
ing room to look over the heads of
the promenaders, through a two
story glass wall, over the airport
and the city.
The present construction sched
ule calls for completion of the air
port paving contract during July
and the buildings during Septem
ber and for inauguration of airline
operations by October 1.
With completion of a hydraulic
fill of more than 18.000.006 cubic
yards last December, 79 days ahead
of schedule, the way was cleared
for actual construction of runways
and terminal buildings.
Clinton M. Hester, Civil Aero
nautics Authority administrator,
early in April signed the contract
for paving the runways, taxi strips
and aprons at Washington National
Airport—a paving contract equiva
lent to the laying of 50 miles of
paved road 20 feet wide. Since
road-paving contracts customarily
are let in units of 10 miles or less,
this contract, according to Federal
officials, ranks as the largest single
paving contract in American paving
history and probably in world
history.
in placing me nyaraunc nil on
the airport site, the dredgers piled
sand and gravel along the runway
sites far higher than the finished
level will be. Since December huge
bulldozers or scrapers have been
at work mixing, leveling and con
solidating that fill $long the run
ways. This work has imposed bur
dens on the runways, in weight of
machinery and surplus fill, greater
than any which are expected in
the course of their use for the land
ing and take-off of airplanes.
“They survived that test mag
nificently,” said Col. Sumpter Smith,
chairman of the Interdepartmental
Engineering Commission, in charge
of the construction of Washington
National Airport. “There is no evi
dence of any considerable settle
ment at any point.”
Resilient Paving.
Paving of the runways alone will
account for what would be almost
30 miles of the usual 20-foot road.
The taxiways, over which airplanes
can roll to the point of take-off
without using the runways, and the
broad apron in front of the hangars,
terminal building and observation
terraces and airport roads will ac
count for the rest of the mileage.
More than 120,000 tons of paving
material will go into these areas.
A resilient type of construction,
which is estimated to cost less than
one-third as much as rigid forms
Of construction, is being employed.
The north ends of the 6,875-foot
north-south runway and the 5,300
foot northwest-southeast runway
are being paved first and, as work
proceeds toward the center and
Bouth end of the field, paving of
the 4,820-foot northeast-southwest
runway and the 4,200-foot east-west
runway, parallel and adjacent to
A
the southern boundary of the air
port, will follow.
The terminal building will stand
at the western edge of the level air
port area, in the shoulder of the
higher ground to the west, with its
ground floor at field level in front
and one story below grade in the
rear.
The front of virtually all of the
second and third floors on the air
port side, more than 700 feet in
length, will be of glass, providing
an unimpeded view of the airport
from nearly all parts of the build
ing. The United States Capitol, for
comparison, is only 751 feet in
length including the Senate and
House wings. The airport terminal
will be nearly 100 feet longer than
Union Station, which measures 626
feet 10 inches by 210 feet over the
main building.
The great length of the termi
nal will permit the loading and un
loading of eight or more of the
largest airliners at one time di
rectly in front of the structure. Four
passenger entrances are provided,
leading directly to the plane load
ing platforms. Between these en
trances are separate baggage doors,
so arranged that at no time does
the flow of baggage cross the flow
of passengers. There also are four
equipment rooms opening directly
on the field for the storage of air
plane servicing ladders, passenger
steps, blocks and other similar
equipment, none of which will be
left on the field when not in use,
as is the case at practically all air
ports.
Tunnel Elaborate.
An unusual feature will be a serv
icing tunnel leading to the airplane
loading platforms. Through this
tunnel air conditioning tubes, tele
phone lines, gas and oil servicing
lines and electric power lines to op
erate engine boosters will be led to
each platform, providing instantly
available facilities of all kinds for
the waiting planes without any un
sightly features of any kind. Ex
cept when actually in use, all of
the pipes and cables will be out of
sight. Although all modern air
liners have complete air condition
ing equipment, it does not function
unless the engines are running and
it is customary to cool cabin air in
summer or warm it in winter by
means of truck type ground air
conditioning units prior to taking
aboard passengers.
The proposed terminal
building, as seen from the
traffic entrance side. At right u
trucks run beneath the build
ing to platforms and leave at >
left. Passengers enter through
the central colonnade.
—Wide World Photo.
The photo at left is a view
of the structural groups of the
airport from the southwest.
The six hangars are each 240
feet wide by 205 feet deep.
The buildings behind parking
space and terminal will house
the Civil Aeronautics Author
ity offices.
—Courtesy of Section of Fine
Arts, Public* Buildings Ad
ministration.
Architect s study of the main waiting room and concourse, with the dining room at rear, in ■
the terminal building at the Washington National Airport. The two-storied landscape windows
on the right open on the flying field. A dining terrace will be located outside the dining room
windows.
Architect’s sketch of another waiting room view, looking toward the dining room, showing
airline ticket offices, located beneath the balcony at the left, with large observation windows
overlooking the flying field at the right.
—This Sketch and the One at the Left Are Published by Courtesy of the
Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration.
Direct telephone service between
the airliners and the outside world
during their stay on the loading
platform is a feature entirely new
to aviation ami will enable passen
gers to make business or personal
calls in the cities they visit without
leaving the plane.
To appreciate the conveniences the
new terminal will offer the air
line passenger, it is necessary to fol
low such a hypothetical passenger
as he goes about the business of
booking a ride on an out-bound air
liner.
In a taxicab, or his own car, he
rolls along the Mount Vernon high
way from the Highway Bridge clo
verleaf. Soon after passing Roachs
Run and the bird sanctuary, the
car, climbing up an easy grade on
the new right-of-way of the high
way, crosses over a new stone bridge
beneath which runs a new road,
coming under the railroad yards to
the right from United States No. 1.
This is the new mail and express
truck road and service road to the
airport terminal building; entirely
separated from both the Mount Ver
non highway and the airport pas
senger and spectator roads to auto
matically prevent any mixing of the
various types of traffic.
Swinging off the Mount Vernon
highway through a modified clover
leaf, our passenger approaches the
monumental new terminal building
around a beautifully landscaped
traffic circle. Long canopies pro
vide shelter in case of rain. If our
passenger has been brought by mem
bers of his family or friends, they
can find unlimited parking space
close at hand where the car can be
left while farewells are said.
Glass for Observers.
Accompanying the porter who
takes his luggage into the huge
waiting room, the passenger sees
through the glass wall in front of
him the expanse of the airport and
the busy loading platforms. At the
ticket counter, the porter places
his luggage in a small opening be
neath the counter surface, the
bottom of which forms a scale
tray. As the passenger receives his
ticket and baggage check, he sees
his luggage, its weight noted by the
ticket agent, placed on an escalator
to the outgoing baggage room below.
He will not see it again until it is
handed to him at the end of his
trip.
Illuminated signs indicate at
which one of the four loading sta
tions his plane is waiting. They are
easily visible from all parts of the
waiting room and the plane itself
can be seen over the heads of the
spectators on the promenade a few
feet below. To the south of the
terminal building a graded road
permits cars to reach the field
level for aged and infirm or crippled
passengers who may require wheel
chair service.
As he leaves the terminal building
through one of the four exits to
the field, the passenger finds his
plane directly in front of him, with
a movable inclosed canopy leading
directly to the loading door, provid
ing complete shelter from wind or
rain.
There are to be restaurant or
dining room facilities of various
kinds. In the field-level floor is a
restaurant for airport and airline
personnel, where they can go with
out the bother of changing from
working clothes. Above is the main
dining room and dining terrace, a
smaller lunchroom and refreshment
counters. The visitor can get any
thing from a candy bar or soft drink
to an elaborate course dinner and
the finest of service.
Airline operations will be super
vised from the third floor of the
terminal building and its superim
posed control tower. The third
floor will house an air traffic office,
communications office, maproom,
Weather Bureau quarters and a
broadcast booth. The Weather Bu
reau offices will include a roof hatch
through which balloons may be
released and observed in the reg
ular checks on upper-air wind con
ditions.
Installation of the Civil Aero
nautics Authority’s instrument land
ing system and controlled-approach
light system at the Washington Na
tional Airport is to begin late in the
summer, and the systems are to be
in operation on a service-test basis
soon after the airport opens for
operations.
The systems, intended to make
possible the safe landing of aircraft
regardless of weather conditions—
even in fog so thick the pilot can
not see the runway even after his
wheels have touched—are to be in
stalled in keeping with a Federal
policy which will make the airport
one of the world’s most modern and
complete air terminals.
“While the airport terminal itself
provides primarily for the handling
of passengers, mail and express to
and from planes, its observation
terraces, restaurant, coffee shop,
lunchroom, lounging and dressing
rooms afford all of the facilities
in connection with an air terminal
which have proved so popular and
so fruitful in the development of
patronage for air transportation at
such foreign air terminals as Tem
plehof, in Berlin, and Schiphol. at
Amsterdam, in a more compact, use
ful and, we believe, much more
beautiful fashion,” Col. Smith said.
Although Washington Airport
now is handling an average of
more than 1,200 airline passengers,
incoming and outgoing, each 24
hours, with a daily total of 126
plane movements, the inauguration
of service at Washington National
Airport is expected even further to
stimulate service.
“No one familiar with the rapid
expansion of aviation activities in
this city, especially transport oper
ations and no one familiar with the
increasingly high standards of safety
required by this expansion will have
American. Forces Landed at Veracruz to Battle Mexicans 26 Years Ago Today
tiy trank H. Rentfrow.
Twenty-six years ago today, April
21, 1914, an American landing force
swept over the waterfront of Vera
cruz, Mexico. Marines and sailors
landed on the fire-swept beach,
swarmed thiough the streets and
eventually gained control of the city.
There was bitter opposition. A
•group of valiant naval cadets, to
whom life was cheap and honor
priceless, gathered in defense of the
academy. Most of them perished
there. Street fighting is always
bitter and Veracruz was no excep
tion. Men died, gallant men on both
sides, without even the small con
solation of dying for a major cause.
Things like that just don’t hap
pen. They are generally the result
of a carefully considered plan. Vera
cruz was part of a plan. Behind
the occupation lay two contributing
factors, and strangely ‘ enough it
was the lesser of the two that was
offered to the general public as the
casus belli: Honor! Honor has al
ways been a convenient peg upon
which to hang excuses of this kind.
Had the true reason been ad
vanced at the time, the public
would have accepted it less readily
than the intangible affront to our
national honor. Although the cir
cumstances justified prompt action,
many Americans would have doubt
less condemned the expedition, for
actually it was on the borderline
between justifiable seizure and
wholesale piracy.
Instead, the “Tampico incident”
was offered for public consumption.
This occurred on April 9, when one
officer and nine unarmed sailors
from the U S. S. Dolphin went
ashore to obtain supplies. Their
boat was tied up to the wharf when
Mexican soldiers Suddenly and inex
plicably pounced upon the Ameri
cans and placed them under arrest.
Two of the men were roughly
handled and dragged from the
launch, which was flying the Amer
ican flag at the time. Although
they were soon released, this indig
nity could not be suffered in silence.
Admiral Mayo immediately dis
patched his famous demand that
the Mexican government "Publicly
hoist the American flag on a prom
inent place on shore and salute it
with 21 guns, which salute will be
duly returned by this ship.”
Several days passed, during which
the jingoes and chauvinists scream
ed loudly for war. Nothing was done.
Little could be done, mostly be
cause the Mexican government
was in such turmoil that it was diffi
cult to determine which was the
responsible party. Despite Admiral
Mayo's ultimatum the situation
might have been settled, if not
amicably at least without bloodshed,
except for developments at Vera
cruz.
The threatened occupation fif
Tampico never materialized. In
stead, the ships sailed for Verartuz,
a sudden and new theater of inter
est. Why the Marines weren’t put
ashore at Tampico where the insult
occurred, was never asked by the
satisfied public. ,
At Veracruz a real threat to otir
security had arisen. It ^required
prompt attention—far more than
some little bad boy making faces
and calling us names. A lean, lithe
German blockade runner, the ypi
ranga, was under full steam for
•Veracruz. She carried in her hold a
matter of 200 maehine guns and
15,000,000 rounds of ammunition.
This cargo of death was consigned
to the Mexican government.
No element of this situation was a
secret to our state Department. For
months operatives had watched that
cargo. They had followed -it fjpm
New York, halfway around the
world, saw it transferred to another
vessel and cleared for Mexico.
Technically it was not contraband.
Although an embargo constrained
American munition merchants from
selling their wares to Mexico, this
legal difficulty was avoided by the
simple expedient of reconsignment
in a foreign port. It would have
been a violation of international law
to seize the German ship. But it
would have been fatal to permit her
to land that lethal cargo. Fifteen
million rounds of ammunition is too
much handicap to offer your poten
tial enemy. The munitions had to
be prevented from falling into Mex
ican hands, and there was only one
way to do it.
So, on April 21, a landing party
was mustered from the American
fleet lying off Veracruz. They went
ashore in the face of a killing fire.
The seizure of the custom house
naturally closed the port to any
shipping, and the munitions could
not be landed. It cost American
lives, yes. Perhaps it was a useless
cost. Maybe it was a far cheaper
price that would have been paid had
the Huerta government received the
15,000,000 rounds. No one can an
swer mat.
But ashore they went, eager
youngsters participating in the Arst
American hostile landing since the
“days of the empire.” Marines and
seamen swarmed into the city, with
enemy Are biting deep into their
ranks. Toward evening organized
resistance broke down, and by morn
ing there was little to contend with
except the sharp “ping!” of snipers’
bullets. Shoulder to shoulder, sea
men in their coffee-dyed uniforms
and marines in their khaki moved
through the streets. They ferreted
out the snipers and ran them to
earth.
Many deeds of valor were per
formed in that brief action. Fifty
four Medals of Honor were awarded,
almost half the number that were
put out during the entire World
War. k The explanation is that up
until this time Navy and Marine
Corps officers were not eligible to
receive the decoration. This was a
discrimination, for Army officers had
long been entitled to the Medal of
Honor. So, shortly after Veracruz a
grateful Congress let down the bars.
Quite naturally, there was a rush
to make up for lost time. Before
the smoke cleared away 40 officers
of the Navy and the Marine Corps
had been issued Medals of Honor.
Another 14 went to the enlisted per
sonnel.
This wholesale generosity is not
entirely to Tbe condemned. Many of
those officers had fought valiantly
and without reward throughout the
Spanish-American days, the Boxer
uprising, Samoa, Nica. •’gua and
other far-flung outposts where our
bayonets ruled. It was, so to speak,
a sort of retroactive recognition or
payment for “value received.” ,
There were others who incontest
ably won their medals right there in
Veracruz. Ensign G. M. Lowry, from
the U. S. S. Florida, for instance.
Shortly after midnight Ensign
Lowry observed a heavy fire being
delivered from the Oriente Hotel. It
was sustained and was chipping
away the American lines as they
advanced. He called for volunteers
to go with him and stamp out the
menace. Boatswain’s Mate J. G.
Hamer crawled from his position
alongside the custom house wall,
where he had just finished out
shooting a crew of Mexican machine
gunners.
He and the ensign started for
ward. Presently they were joined by
J. F. Schumacker, George Cregan,
Harry Beasley and L. C. Sinnett.
The six seamen slipped down a dark
alleyway between the custom house
and an open warehouse. Bullets
droned through the darkness. The
Americans held their fire, not wish
ing to disclose their presence too
soon. Closer and closer they crept.
When they gained the spot indi
cated by their leader, they opened
fire. The enemy replied vigorously.
P. A. Decker, a boatswain’s mate
of the Florida, raced through the
darkness, and took up a position
about 10 yards behind the others—a
kind of one-man rear guard. A wise
precaution. Sometimes you pass
snipers up, and they shoot you in
the back.
Both sides were shooting at the
enemy’s flashes now. Bullets make
an unusually weird sound when they
ricochet off brick walls. One of
them hit Schumacker in the head,
mortally wounding him. Cregan
tried to stanch the flow of blood
with one hand while he kept up the
fire with his other.
Lowry stood \ip to pass the word
back for a stretcher party. A Mex
ican soldier concealed behind some
boxes saw him. He raised his rifle,
aiming at the ensign. Decker yelled
a warning. The Mexican hesitated,
endeavoring to shift his muzzle from
Lowry to Decker. He was a split
second too late, for the one-man
rear guard shot first.
Lowry and his men moved ahead,
angry and grim. They effectively
silenced the hostile demonstration.
The entire parly, with the exception
of the slain Schumacker, received
Medals of Honor. The practice of
bestowing posthumous decorations
was not so general in the days pre
ceding the World War.
Boatswain’s Mate Henry N.
Nickerson received three separate
wound? on the afternoon of April
21. Any one of them would have
entitled him to call it a day and turn
into the sick bay for medical atten
tion. But Nickerson wouldn’t quit.
He slapped a first aid dressing on
his latest wound and hurried off to
supervise the erection of a barricade
at the corner of Zaragoza and San
Miguel streets. There was brisk
fighting here. Nickerson was hit
three more times. He had to quit
now, for two of the bullets shattered
his left leg so badly that it was
necessary to amputate it just below
the hip.
Ensign E. o. McDonnell estab
lished a signal station on the roof
of the Terminal Hotel. With him
were Chief Turret Capt. A. De
Somers, C. F. Bishop, J. A. Walsh,
C. L. Nordsiek and F. J. Schepel.
They took up their position before
noon and remained until after dark.
They were back the next morning
at daylight, and throughout the day
busied themselves with their task of
signaling. There they were, naked
to the view of the Mexicans, their
signal flags swishing to and fro. The
Mexicans realized those messages
were things of evil to them. They
took full advantage of the exposed
position and drenched it with rifle
and machine gun fire. A Marine
was killed nearby on the roof, and a
sailor was seriously wounded. But
the only casualty suffered by Mc
Donnell's men was the wounding of
Nordsiek.
Gen. Smedley Butler of the
Marines, then a major, received his
first Medal of Honor in the street
fighting. He was destined to win
his second one a short time later in
Haiti.
Conversely, Chief Boatswain John
McCloy won his second Medal of
Honor, having been awarded the
first one 14 years before in the Boxer
trouble.
Vice Admiral Harry McC. P. Huse,
now retired and living in Washing
ton, was a captain during the occu
pation of Veracruz. He distin
guished himself under Are on sev
eral occasions and was awarded the
coveted medal.
There were many deeds of valor
performed that day, far too many
to detail. Lt. G. M. Courts scurried
in an open boat through a zone ol
fire to deliver dispatches to the U.
S. S. Chester. There was Lt. H. C.
Frazer, U. S. N., who saw one of
his men fall wounded close to the
Mexicans. The lieutenant ran so
far forward to rescue him that the
^others were obliged to suspend fir
ing to keep from hitting the officer.
Surg. C. D. Langhome, U. S. N.,
indefatigable in his every effort, also
carried a badly wounded sailor from
in front of the Naval Academy, with
Mexican sharpshooters firing at him.
On the evening of the second day
the fighting died down. Then the
commanders suddenly recalled the
original misunderstanding with
Mexico. There was still some salut
ing to be done to our flag, but there
were no Mexicans around with au
thority to do it. Thereupon the
Marines broke out the Stars and
Stripes and ran it to the peak while
21 guns boomed out from the Amer
ican fleet. Thus was our national
honor satisfied on that April day
of 26 years ago.
any doubt about the need for more
adequate airport facilities in Wash
ington,” Oswald Ryan, member of
the Civil Aeronautics Authority, told
the Board of Trade recently.
He cited figures showing that
while the number of scheduled air
line flights from Washington has
increased 30 per cent during the
past year, an average increase of
52 per cent has been recorded for
New York (the only city having a
larger number of daily operations
than Washington), Chicago. Cleve
land. Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
"Thus Washington has not kept
pace with the other cities with which
it is linked in air commerce,” Mr.
Ryan said. "The primary reason for
this is that the present Washington
Airport has reached its saturation
point and the common carriers of
the air have not been able to sched
ule the regular services and extra
sections required by the increasing
demands of air traffic.
“It is estimated that some 400,000
passengers a year now enter or
leave Washington by transport
plane. With the new National Air
port ready for service, it is safe to
predict that the air traffic into and
out of this city will reach a much
larger volume and our National Cap
ital will be able to take her rightful '
place alongside the other great traf
fic centers of the country and will
realize a more equitable participa
tion in the benefits of the rapidly
expanding air commerce of this
Nation.
•This region is bearing its share
in the expansion of private flying
activities. In the District. Maryland
and Virginia there has been a 20
per cent increase in certified pilots
and a 25 per cent increase in air
planes since January 1, 1939. On
the basis of the. anticipated national
increase, it is estimated that within
a couple of years there will be three
times the number of licensed pilots
in this area and five times the
number of planes now licensed. The
new National Airport will be ac
cessible to all private flyers enter
ing Washington from the rest of
the country if their planes are prop
erly equipped with radio.”
Work Co-ordinated.
The Interdepartmental Engineer
ing Commission in charge of the
airport project is co-ordinating the
work of the 17 Federal agencies
which are taking part in this great
undertaking. One of these agen
cies, the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission, has approved
final plans for the re-located Mount
Vernon Memorial Highway, which
will provide grade-separation ap
proaches to the airport from the
highway by means of an overpass
at the south end of the airport area
and an underpass at the north end.
These approaches are designed in
accordance with the most modern
theories of road building and in
some respects will represent the best
high-speed type of traffic stream
flow handling yet undertaken. The
system of interior roads serving the
various parts of the airport also
represents some new departures in
traffic engineering.
President Roosevelt participated
in the “ground breaking” for the
Washington National Airport on
November 19, 1938, when an Army
dredge brought the first scoop of
river bottom to the surface. If the
present schedule is maintained,
President Roosevelt will have an
opportunity, before the second an
niversary of this occasion on No
vember 19, 1940, of opening the air
port for full air transport opera
tions.