Air Wonder Stories, July 1929 — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- The Future of Aviation Springs from the Imagination - - - »- - «+ « Huco Grrnspacx, Editor-in-Chief DAVID LASSER, Literary Editor FRANK R. PAUL, Art Director Associate. Aviation Editors PROFESSOR FELIX W. PAWLOWSKI, M. & E-E., MS. University of Michigan PROFESSOR GEORGE J. HIGGINS University of Detroit PROFESSOR EARL D. HAY, BS., M.S,, MLE. University of Kansas MAJOR WILLIAM A. BEVAN, Air Corps Reserve Associate Professor Aeronautical Engineering, Purdue University Editorial, Advertising and General Offices, 96-98 Park Place, New York, N. Y. “AIR WONDER STORIES” By HUGO GERNSBACK Seeq])VIATION is no longer a new thought in liteta- €3| ture, Over a dozen such magazines testify to this. But practically all of these magazines are of the Bil purely “Wild West’—world war—adventure— 6) sky busting type. ‘ a} AIR WONDER STORIES imitates no other magazine in print, rather it pioneers into new and higher realms, yet at the same time into a field that is increasing in popularity every year. Briefly, AIR WONDER STORIES will present SOLELY fly- ing stories of the future, strictly along scientific—mechanical— technical lines, full of adventure, exploration and achievement. Years ago, Edgar Allen Poe wrote his immortal “Unparalleled . Adventure of One Hans Pfaal,” as well as “The Balloon Hoax.” Later, the illustrious Jules Verne gave the world his ‘Five Weeks in a Balloon.” Still later,-H. G. Wells startled us with his in- comparable “The War in the Air.” All of these famous stories, it should be noted, fall in the class of scientific fiction; they are all dramatized mechanics of the air. Thirty years ago, a famous man of science and a great mathe- matician proved mathematically, that an airplane—a heavier than air machine—was a scientific impossibility.. Yet airplanes flew before he died. Where will aviation be 30 years hence? In 100 years? In 1000 years? AIR WONDER STORIES gives that answer in an unmistakable manner. The reason is that the authors who contribute to this magazine are all trained in science and mechanics. They are the prophets who will mirror the future of aviation better than the best aeronautical authority. Engineers and pure scientists are too bound by conventions and far too practical and cautious to look far into the future. They do not as a rule risk their reputations by making “in- spired guesses.” Your science fiction author knows no such restraints. Take Jules Verne for example, His “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” though deemed imp le at the time it was written, has long ago become an actuality, yet he was bitterly denounced and ridiculed when he first published it. When we read it today, it sounds hopelessly tame. Yet only 66 years intervened since he wrote it; which again proves that today’s scientific “pipe dreams'' are tomorrow's actualities. AIR WONDER STORIES, then, enters into this new land of fiction, convinced of the tremendous possibilities of future aviation. Having been closely identified, as a publisher, with scientific publications of a popular nature for over 25 years, I may be pardoned in believing that I will succeed in making this new naga the greatest and most popular air fiction magazine in its field. As creator and editor of such pioneer publications such as “MODERN ELECTRICS,” “THE ELECTRICAL EXPERI- MENTER," “SCIENCE & INVENTION,” “RADIO NEWS," “AMAZING STORIES,” “AERO MECHANICS,” “SCIENCE WONDER STORIES,” “RADIO-CRAFT” and others, I be lieve I am qualified to do the new magazine full justice. I am most happy to announce that I have secured the full and enthusiastic co-operation of a number of well-known and outstanding science fiction authors, who have agreed to write for the new magauine. And I am particularly proud and happy to present to the readers of AIR WONDER STORIES the very distinguished aeronautical educators who compose the science-aeronautical talent of our editorial board. As associate editors, these well-known Professors of a num: ber of leading universities and institutions, will carefully scrut- inize all manuscripts in AIR WONDER STORIES before they are printed, with the phic to prevent gross scientific-aviation misinformation from reaching our readers. For while no man can predict how far aviation will actually advance in the next 100 or 500 years, still the limitations of nature's laws will prevail, then as now. So while an author may have a poetic license in letting his imagination soar skyward, he should keep away from pseudo-science and pseudo-aviation. And he should not picture the impossible as far as scientific principles and laws are concerned. : Our editorial board, then, is a guarantee to our readers that the scientifically impossible will not be published in AIR WONDER STORIES, but that, on the contrary, the educational motif will always be uppermost in our minds, We must instruct while we entertain. For the future of aviation springs from the imagination! And by translating the product of imagination into actuality, the evolution of aviation will be hastened. And further as an innovation for a magazine of this kind is the department entitled ‘Aviation News of the Month.” This gives a complete resumé of the month's advances in aviation. Over 40 magazines and other sources are consulted in the com- pilation of this department. It gives a real educational digest not obtainable otherwise in a single publication. New aviation inventions, patents, new air-fields, improvements of airplanes and airships, etc., are discussed intelligently every month. From the hundreds of enthusiastic letters that come pouring in, I know AIR WONDER STORIES will be one of the most discussed magazines in. America, Science Fiction as it will be published in AIR WONDER STORIES already is a tremendous force in America, Everyone talks about aviation and acience. This type of story is constantly discussed in the classroom by educators. Teachers encourage the reading of this fiction because they know that it gives the pupil a fundamental knowledge of science and aviation. Likewise parents insist that their children read this type of fiction in preference to the debasing and mis- chief-creating sex and crime stories. I therefore dedicate this new magazine to the air-minded, to the progressive air enthusiasts not only of this country, but of the entire civilized world, who are not afraid to peer ahead into the unknown. I am particularly addressing myself to that vast army of young and red-blooded men and women who believe that aviation will change the face of this earth—who believe that the future of our country lies in the air—and finally those who believe and know that it is first, last and always the great and tremendous Pig of IMAGINATION that is the Key to the future progress fo) Miation. With such readers AIR WONDER STORIES can and will accomplish wonders, 5 comicbooks.com