IN this department we shall publish every month your opinions. After all, this is your magazine and it is edited for you. If we fall down on the choice of our stories, or if the editorial board slips up occasionally, it is up to you to voice your opinions. It makes no difference whether your letter is complimentary, critical, or whether it contains a good old-fashioned brick-bat.
All of your letters, as much as space will allow, will be published here for the benefit of all. Due to the large influx of mail, no communications to this department are answered individually unless 25c in stamps to cover time and postage is remitted.
Up in the Air
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
Inasmuch as you are going to publish a new magazine devoted to stories of the air, perhaps you can enlighten, through your columns, the great number of people who are bewildered by the rapid changes that are going on in aviation. I, for one, find myself at sea when I try to orient myself and know whether we are drifting. I confess I am very much interested in your proposed venture and knowing of your success as an editor, I can look forward pleasurably to your first issue. It would more than justify itself if it succeeds in helping out those who, like myself find themselves, aeronautically speaking, up in the air about what is going on. I am enclosing return postage for any descriptive matter you may have regarding the magazine.
BURT KANE, Portland, Me.
(AVIATION NEWS is the answer to those who are up in the air about what is goingon in the industry. All the latest aviation achievements of the men, themachines and the airports will be written about each month to keep our readersthoroughly informed. Further, there will be additional columns from time to time of other matters of interest and instruction. Notices about these will appear in early issues of AIR WONDER STORIES. This magazine will be like no other air magazine in print, and we hope it will be much better than any. We would appreciate Mr. Kane's criticisms and suggestions as to how to improve lt.-- Editor)
A Retired Business Man Speaks
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
I have just been perusing your most estimable magazine SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, and your notice about a new magazine on aviation fiction comes to mind. As a retired business man and engineer free to indulge my fancy, I have spent a good deal of time in rather extensive reading. I must say that I like your SCIENCE WONDER STORIES very much and if your new magazine approaches it in interest, entertainment and instruction you can certainly count me among your readers. Through the press of business cares, I have lost touch so much with the world and found to my surprise that your pages on science news gave me an admirable glimpse into the great number of scientific achievements. I have not my copy of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES before me at this moment and I do not recollect whether you will run anything comparable to Science News. If you can see your way clear, I would suggest that you do so. As a further suggestion which I hope you will not find presumptuous, why don't you give a little explanation, somewhere, of the principles of aviation with notes concerning some of the problems of the industry. As I look back at the remarkable progress of aeronautics in the past ten years, I can well imagine a glorious future for it. If you have delved into this future your readers, which I am sure will be many, would like to know something of it.
MORRIS GLASSBERG, Bronx, N. Y.
(The AVIATION NEWS which Mr. Glassberg has doubtlessly read, has been incorporated. There is under consideration, at present, some plans similar to his ideas expressed here. We are in accord with his belief regarding the glorious future in store for aviation. And our authors limited only by scientific truth and their vivid imaginations are peering ahead to try to discover what that future is. We have adopted as the watchword for AIR WONDER STORIES a phrase what we believe to be true, "The future of aviation springs from the imagination." And we believe it will be the writers, such as will write for AIR WONDER STORIES, who will discover that future.--Editor)
From an Embryo Aviator
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
I am what you would call an embryo aviator and I am interested in everything pertaining to aviation. Since I first flew, I've been more and more thrilled with what the air means to all of us more or less, "earth bound" creatures. I've been telling you this to let you know that I am very critical of anything that is said in the name of aviation, for as you probably note there is a lot that has been said about it by people that don't know what they are talking about. If you can contribute something new or interesting, you should find a ready field, but if you are just going to follow the crowd, you'd better not waste your time. Having heard much about you, I am optomistic of what you can do. In other words, I await your first issue with an open and critical mind.
WILLIAM KENDALL, New York, N. Y.
(We would be very happy to know what Mr. Kendall thinks of the first issue of AIR WONDER STORIES. We can appreciate his feelings about what must be his hobby and even more than that. It is our aim to print the best aviation stories of the future that can be obtained, and also the "Aviation News of the Month," written in an interesting and "newsy" style. And from time to time, as the need for it grows, we will add columns that will not only serve as a source of information and instruction but also of immense entertainment.--Editor)
A Challenge
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
I have seen the notice of your AIR WONDER STORIES about to appear and would like further information about it as I am very much interested. I understand from a friend also that you will have some "News" items of aviation in it and other things. I am rather sceptical about how a fiction magazine can go off into technical sidelines about which it knows little. I am only interested in the fiction side, as I believe that real stories of the air that are well written can beat anything I ever read. Aviation is doing wonders for the world, and stories built about these wonders must just be great. So I am anxiously awaiting the first issue. But be careful how you branch off into aeronautics, you might lose your "rep."
FRANK PARSONS, Providence, R. I.
(Mr. Parson's frank advice has been well-considered and for the most part we can agree with him. Many ill-equipped people have gone into aviation pretending to know it all, and they have only succeeded in making themselves ridiculous. We cannot know it all. And for that reason we have as associate editors, some of the leading aeronautical authorities in the country, who will advise us not only on the manuscripts that are submitted to us but also on other aviation matters. With the support of such men, and with their wide knowledge and experience, we hope to have some non-fiction material that will prove of interest and value to all our readers. But the magazine is primarily of fiction stories of the "wonders of aviation--those that are and those that are to come."--Editor)
Doesn't Want to Be Cheated
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
As a subscriber to SCIENCE WONDER STORIES I would like to subscribe also to your new aviation magazine. I don't want to be cheated out of any of the magazines or stories you put out. Will you please send me all the necessary material so that I can receive the first issue? I must compliment you on SCIENCE WONDER STORIES and if the new paper is as good, you can count me in with you, and my friends also. We have just aroused a real interest in aviation and we count on your capable editing of the magazine to help us to understand the art or industry of flying and get a lot of enjoyment from the stories. Could you also recommend through your columns or otherwise some good books on aviation; how the machines fly, the construction of the various types and how the pilots operate the machines? Some books that are not too technical but yet explain things in a satisfactory manner. I know that I and my friends would appreciate this very much. Meanwhile all my best wishes are yours for the success of AIR WONDER STORIES.
WESLEY BROWN, Omaha, Neb.
(We believe that thru the wonderful stories the "Aviation News" pages, book reviews and other material which will be added, Mr. Brown and his friends will find that they can get a fine background of knowledge of the remarkable field of aviation. Any specific questions that they have we will be very glad to answer. Our staff of aeronautical experts are professors of aeronautics in leading universities, men whose knowledge of the subject is unquestioned.--Editor)
Aviation Will Cause Radical Changes
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
I understand you are putting out a new magazine to be called AIR WONDER STORIES. That sounds like very interesting news especially if it is going to be different from the air magazines that are now on the market. I have read most of them and am now ready for a real good one after the fashion of your SCIENCE WONDER STORIES. However, I don't understand what sort of stories it is going to carry. Are they going to be stories of the present or of the future? And are you going to run some pages of science or aviation news? I certainly hope you will, for it is hard for a busy person who wants to keep up with all that is going on, to do so. I have always had a great interest in aeronautics and it seems to me that it is going to cause some radical changes in the world, the same as most scientific advances have. I would appreciate an early answer letting me know just what your plans are, for I surely am interested in the announcement I saw in the first issue of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES.
JOHN FARRAND, Cleveland, O.
(AIR WONDER STORIES is designed to fill a real need for stories picturing aviation of the future. It aims to be an organ not only for entertainment, but also as Mr. Farrand says, to enable a busy person to keep abreast of the industry. The pages of Aviation News are experimental but if the reception it receives is similar to that accorded SCIENCE NEWS in SCIENCE WONDER STORIES then we predict it will be a huge success. We hope that what is contained in the present issue answers Mr. Farrand's questions. We would say, furthermore, that many other additions are under consideration to make the magazine a real source of education. We invite Mr. Farrand's criticism of thisissue.--Editor)
Leary About Air Magazines
Editor AIR WONDER STORIES:
A friend of mine tells me that you are going to get out a new aviation magazine. How? When? Why? and Where? I suppose you know that there are already a lot of aviation magazines out, but I suppose yours will be different, at least I hope it is. There is always a question I wondered about aeronautics and perhaps you can answer it for me. I hear a lot about motorless-airplanes called "gliders." Just how are they run? Are they really without motors or is there something phoney about it? I hope you can find time to answer this for me, I am sort of leary about most air magazines so I am waiting until yours comes out to see what it is going to be like. Also if it is too much trouble for you, could you tell me on what principle the Helicopter works. I have seen a lot about them too in the papers and would like to know if they are really on the principle of birds. I would appreciate very much a hearing from you about these questions and also some news about your new magazine.
MILTON YOST, Baltimore, Md.
(The first issue of AIR WONDER STORIES is now open to scrutiny. We hope Mr.Yost like it. In answer to the motive power of the glider: The glider is generally shot off the ground from a catapult which works on the principle of a sling-shot. They are really without motors and depend on upward currents of air to keep them aloft once they are in the air. The helicopter aims by having rotating wings to get power to lift it vertically from the ground and allow it to descend the same way.--Editor)