Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1920 — Airdrome of the Jungles. [ARTICLE]

Airdrome of the Jungles.

The recent navigation of the transAfrican air route was made possible only by the heroic work of the three advance parties who laid out the for-ty-three airdromes, says Popular Mechanics Magazine in an article with a full-page illustration. When the site for a typical airdrome had been selected tentatively, four boundaries 800 yards long, and two diagonal traverses, were cleared of grass, usually seven to ten feet high, and of smaller obstacles. This work revealed with least labor the configuration and suitability of the ground. Each native was then assigned for clearance a “skonkewan," or area 10 yards square. When tills patch had been cleared of grass, the anthills were carted away.