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This was not a good showing and much doubt was expressed as to the value of steam. One of the basic problems which confronts us every day in Research work is just such a comparison - the first of the new, against of the last of the old. Progress was made, however, as just before this War the Normandie and the Queen Mary crossed the Atlantic in about four days! An interesting thing though about the application of steam to transportation is the fact that a steamboat crossed the Atlantic before the steam locomotive was put into use on land. Up to the beginning of the 20th Century only a few people had tried air transportation, using balloons. The Wright brothers from Dayton really opened the sky-roads when they flew at Kittyhawk. Many airmen over the years have contributed to the knowledge of long transoceanic flights, until now such trips are very common. Recently a 30 ton flying boat made the trip from New York to Ireland in 16 hours. It was just 100 years after the first steamboat crossed the Atlantic that an airplane made a similar trip. When the War came along it soon became apparent that Time and Distance were going to be deciding factors. A great shipbuilding program was started at once in cooperation with the Navy and the Merchant Marine. The dramatic success of this project is well known to everyone. To save space on our ships, bombers were flown to destinations whenever possible. |
