The big planes for world travel will be ships like the seventy-ton _Martin Mars_ flying boat and the giant Pan American Consolidated 204-passenger Model 37. Donald Douglas is building two new luxury airliners, the fifty-passenger DC-6 and the 108-passenger DC-7. The 100-passenger Lockheed _Constellation_ will also be in service soon. Smaller planes operating on feeder lines will soon whisk passengers from small towns to the main lines of the transcontinental and world airways. There has been considerable talk about the widespread use of the helicopter in postwar days. In spite of the great advances made in its development, it will probably be some time before its use becomes widespread. The helicopter itself can fly up, down, backward, frontward, and sidewise, but it is still difficult to fly unless its pilot has had considerable practice. The helicopter gets its lift and its forward, backward, and sidewise movement from the big rotating blades above the fuselage. These blades have the same effect as those of a propeller. The big blades bite into the air as they turn. The shape of the blade is like the airfoil or wing of a plane. As it bites into the air it creates a lift just as a wing does. By the use of his controls the pilot can change the angle of the blades to increase or diminish their lift. For example, when the lift is reduced on a blade on one side of the plane it banks off in the direction of the reduced lift. The same holds true for any movement of the helicopter. A small rotor in a vertical position at the tail has controllable blades, and the machine is steered by changing the angle of these blades. The pilot of a helicopter of today is a very busy fellow. New developments, however, will probably simplify the operation of the machine. [Illustration: FAIRCHILD _PACKET_] The year 1945 marks the beginning of the forty-third year of powered flight in America. Before we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk air travel will be the world’s primary means of transportation. No spot on the globe will be more than fifty hours distant from wherever you may live. Truly the shortest distance between any two points on earth will be an airline! During the last few years we have seen the airplane being developed into the mightiest weapon of war that the world has ever seen. We have witnessed the miracle of the creation of our great Army and Navy aërial task forces. And we have seen our air forces lead the way to victory over the enemies of our civilization. Just as the airplane brought us peace, it must also be retained as a military weapon that will always be a threatening force to restrain any fanatics who may again seek to destroy democracy and peace.