Transport: Weather Eyes

Few Wall Street men take time to talk about the weather, but one morning last week a group sat in an office where Wall Street meets the East River and talked of little else. The occasion: a demonstration of the weather charting system which American Export Line expects to use when and if its subsidiary, American Export Air Lines, Inc., starts flying the Atlantic. Along one wall stood a huge map of the North Atlantic. Dotting the 3,445-mile course from Manhattan to Lisbon via the Azores were India-ink silhouettes of 14 ships, nine American Exporters, five Fascist-run Italian Liners.

From this line the first weather message came from the Exporter Exermont, northeast of Bermuda in the Gulf Stream. ”Wind: south-south-west; force: six m.p.h.; weather: few clouds; barometer: 30.37; visibility: excellent; temperature: 84° F.” Soon other reports came jumbling in. Hour later the course was marked with weather bulletins all across the southern route.

Said Manhattan’s good, grey Weather Chief Dr. James H. Kimball, the man who has kept a weather eye out for all transatlantic flying since Lindbergh: “In transatlantic flying there has never been as complete weather information available as that available here today.” This was the cue for American Export Air Lines’ energetic, Pan American-trained Vice President James Murchie Eaton to announce a new transatlantic air partnership—American Export Air Lines and Italy’s Ala Littoria. There to confirm this news was suave Colonel Carlo Pezzani, adviser to the Balbo flight five years ago, now Ala Littoria operations chief.

Next April, with American Export flying a 15-ton Consolidated flying boat and the Italians a new Cant-Trieste seaplane, the two lines will start four months of survey flying along their joint line. Hoping for eventual Civil Aeronautics Authority sanction, the new partners are planning 60-to-70 passenger sleeper ships to be built in both countries from jointly drawn specifications.