Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1924, Page 57

FICTION Part 5—8 Pages World Flyers as Pioneers Reveal Prdgréss BY ROBERT J. BROWN, Jr, rxt Lieutenant, Army Air Service, Chairman World Flight Committee. . ODERN science and invention have indeed concentrated the work of a century into a clcle of the sun. Less than two centuries ago the ordinances of certain European cities prohibited street lights on the principle that dark- ness had been orgained by a divine power and must not be desecrated. Years ago in our own country severe punishment was inflicted where persons ‘who dared to express an unusual thought were convicted of witch- craft, and at a still later date some Jaughed at the steamboat and others cred at the first steam locomotive. The rapid development of the science of acronautics has to a certain extent stilled the jeers of the skeptics, and 10w one hesitates to place limitations on the future progress in this field of endravor. The vision of speeding through space at the rate of over 266 miles an hour, with forest, plain va_and mountain racing by in a leidoscopic view on a continued woy ¢ through the air; out of sizht of and only four times and then less than two hours each time; covering 40,000 miles and passing over 28 na- tions of the globe and making a com- plete circumnavigation of the world in less than five days will in the not fur-distant future became raeality. Although continuous flying over so many miles is at present beyond the Jiuman endurance of one man, it still lies within the realm of possibility that the world can be encircled with- in five days, bearing in mind the fact that airplanes have already made more than 266 miles an hour and have refueled in the air while in flight. It remuins only for a world airway with the people of our country the impor- tan of aviation in national defense. extent, apparently due to the division und consequent natural inclination of of our Nation. hievement requires ®x- nd pioneer work, and this is being undertaken by the afrplanes of the Army Air Service which are now swinging out over the North At- lantic Ocean and the last long mile of an air voyage around the world and rapidly bringing to a close one of the mo: hazardous and thrilling exploits in history, replete with dan- #ers and hardships never before en- countered by man. ploration Army Air Service has conduct. n up-hill fight to bring before of our country the import- ion in national defense. Although military and naval defense Dolicies are now laid down, there is till a total lack of a policy for air defense in our country. This is par- ticularly true of New England, which has not a single combat unit of the small air force now authorized for the United States. This is, to some extent, apparently due to the divisio of the responsibility for aerial de- fense between the Army and Navy, and sonsequent natural inclination of these two services to think along lines in which they have been for- merly trained, and overlook the im- portance of air power in the defense of our nation. Then there is also the natural re- action which normally occurs during retrenchment following every great war. Burdened with taxes eaused by war expenditures, the citizens of the Republic are quite naturally demand- ing that the expenses of armaments be reduced to a minimum, and conse- quentiy our legfslators, knowing this attitude, and finding few active sup- porters of air-defense policy in the military and naval services, have taken no decided action to regulate, control or build up acronautics, either €ommercially or in the services. Other great nations, with longer hnd more bitter experlence in the ‘World War, are active in building up the air defense of their respective countries and in establishing a defi- nite policy of air defense in their re- spective nations. Lagging behind the other great powers of the globe our Army Air Service finds itself today, with its small annual appropriations for the procurement and operation of aircraft, practically demobilized. In spite of this fact the demands for the use of Army airplanes and the assistance of Air Service personnel in carrying out peace-time projects is daily Increas- ing. The Army has always been a fore- Tunner of progress; it cxplored our great Northwest territory; it estab- lished outposts of civilization during the settlement of our country: It guarded the trails for the covered wagon; it established railroads and built highways and assisted and pro- tected the early settlers and pioneers during the westward growth of our Nation. . Following out this progressive policy in spite of the small“appropriation for Government aircraft and the failure of commercial aeronautics to develop and support our aircraft industry, American ingenuity and invention have contrived, through the direct HE ed the peo) ance of av "MAGAZINE SECTION he Sundwy f_tm’ WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST v.‘..'e,,‘.‘..fipfi‘o. A ey e aAeflw I FEATURES H 17, 1924. 1n }Bfifl’eted by High Winds, Stung by Sleet, Blinded by Snowstom;, Deluged in ‘Torrential Rains, Exposed to Equatorial Heat, Lashed by Sandstorms of Deésert and Plunged Into Arctic Conditions, They Have Laid Out Route Which-May Some Day Become an International Air- way—Point to Future Possibility That Globe May Be Circled in Five Days, if Relays of Equipment and Pilots Are Provided in Other Countries. Landitg) Pl o roT Cren 0 are being extended throughout the country over which airplanes travel on regular schedule, Gen. Patrick, an active flyer himself, will personally fly to Boston to greet the world fly- ers upon their return from the haz- ardous North Atlantic flight. He bas efforts of the Army Air Service, to]stated: Place the among the development and progres ence of aviation. The Army Air Service has brought to America practically all the im- portant aeronautical records of the whrld. Today this country holds 31 world records for airplane perform- ance. Three of these 31 are held by the Navy: the 28 others by the Air Service of the Army. These include speed records for various distances, duration and dis- tance records. The altitude record, until recently held by the.Army, fs now held by France. These three rec- ords held by the Navy are for high speed and were, until 1923, held by the Army. There is no doubt that the combat planes developed by the United States Army are the fastest and most efficient combat airplanes of the world, but unfortunately very few of these can be purchased each year with the small amount of money made available b¥ Congress, and as a result our aircraft industry, depend- ing as it is for its existence on Gov- ernment support, is gradually van- ishing. 2 United States foremost nations of the world in in the sci- * k¥ ¥ AJ. GEN. MASON M. PATRICK, chief of Air Service*of the United States Army, is fully alive to the possibilities and importance of this new arm of national defense, which has developed so rapidly: dur- ing the past few years. Practically all the world records held by the Army Air Service have been brought to the United States during Gen. Pat. rick’s tenure of office’ Many proj- ccts, including bombing maneuvers against battleships, co-operation with other arms, long-distance crosy-coun- try flights to Alaska and return, Porto Rico and return, a non-stop flight across the continent, a dawn- to-dusk flight from New York to San Francisco, and the world flight, havg been initiated. All have been successfully com- pleted with the exception of the last named, which is now pearing its goal. Alrways have been ‘established and “The purposes of this flight are to demonstrate the feasibility of estab- lishing aerfal communication with all countries of the world, the practica- bility of travel by air through re- gions where surface transportation does not exist or at best is slow, tedi- ous and uncertain; to prove the abil- ity of modern types of aircraft; to operate under all climatical condi- tions; to stimulate the adaptation of aircraft to the needs of commerce; to bring before the people of the world the excellence of American products in the interest of our American in- dustry; and lastly td bring to the United States the honor of being the first nation to fly around the world.” The airplanes used have passed through every known climate ‘of the globe. They have been operating un- der the most trying conditlons; in. the torrid heat of the Equator, and the frigidity of .the Arctic regions. New navigation instruments are being given a practical test. Special equip- ment has been developed for this ex- pedition, which Is proving practical. This inchides earth inductor conipass, booster radiators, and pigmented air- plane dope. Practically all. the alrcraft of the world _are today manufactured by about. five nations. .The flight of the three United States Afmy airplanes around “the world will have passed over 28 foreign :countries, which are controlled. by .15 - separate ' govern-, ments. . This flight, ‘therefore, while it creates Interest in aeronautics in our’own nation, is ‘also a practical] demonstration to. the world of the re- liability and .usefulness of American airplanes. It is, furthermore, a mis- sion of intérnational amit: The credit for the stccess of the flight must, in-the last analysis, be given to the personnel actually ac- complishing this migsion of plonee?- ing an international airway. The. fly- ing personnel selected has no superjor in the world. 'The men have repeat- edly demonstrated their abillty to withstand hardship: and .to navigate successfully ‘through upknown areas: The success of the expedition is' in part. dueto-the:completeness of - the. Harbor at ToRSHAVN, Taroe Islands, onthe, WVorld Route . “IVIGTUT, £ Greenland, ET Ontha West Const, Trom Whick Flying RouteisLaid 1o Tndian Harbor plans and preparations made for the care of the fiyers and the servicing of their alrplanes’ during their haz- ardous journey. direction a .world flight committee, composed of officers of experience in similar expeditions of a lesser magni- tude, was formed and every source of information as to the best route around the world, the best time to make, the flight, and the best equip- ment to be used was exhausted. * kK % HE area which afforded the great- est.difficulty was that in which the figers are now operating—i. e., the North Atlantic Ocean near-the Arctic Circle across the little known regions of Iceland and Greenland, where air- planes have never before‘flown. Un- der the authority" of the Secretary of War, John ‘W. Weeks,-Gen. Patrick Bent a pathfinding. expedition of.one officer to Greenland arid Tceland in the Summer of 1923 to finvestigate ’ the feasibility of traveling through these areas. . The favorable -report ‘of this officer finally determined the route jacross the North’ Atlantic Ocean which was selected, so that the length of each hop would be redliced to'a mini- mam rather than risk the ' success Under Gen. Patrick’s. I of the expedition on one turn-of-the | dice, by attempting a non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. . As the average life of one airplane would not normally permit it to make a complete ; circumnavigation of the globe, several airplanes were- started. Our .experience on the . Alaskan and Porto, Rico flight taught’ that certain suppiies and equipment would be needed’ in the Arctic region and dif- ferent ones in the tropical areas through which the flight must pass. _The extreme.cold of .the North Pa- the typhoons of equatorial rains, the monsoons' of India, the heat ‘of the Bquator, all ‘requifed special attention In the shipment of supplies. Where the route skirted the ~Arctic Circle warm clothing for the fiyers and alco- hol jand glycerin for the radiators werd prgvided. At Angmagsalik, ureenhn the farthest north stop, Feindeer, siéeping bags have been ready. : To_withstand ‘the equatorial heat, airpline . parts shipped to depots in the Orient were given-extra coats of varnish. ' Approximately 100 tons of supplies -were ‘shipped to various Doints of_the: globe. .- : -Although , they , are- bef: ;{1}9 8ix - months -outside 'n! tho ited ace of* American Airen 3t IVI6TUT, Greetland AquxcaI Fart i JCELAND, Ot Rotte Taken by Fiyers [ States for travel, the present indica- tions:are that five months will be the approximate time required for the completion of the.expedition. The airplanes selected for the flight were manufactured by ‘the Douglas Company of Santa Monica, Calif. They are all American in design and con- struction and . were .chosén because they were capable of .carrying suffi cient ‘gasoline and oli for long flight and could be used with either pon- toons 1 for water: landing or Wwith wheels. for overland . flights. These airplapes are each powered with a Liberty engine of 400 Horsepower, de- sigried and' built: for the ‘Army Air Service during the-war,. With the latest, model -of this engine, the world cruisers as land planes have attained a speed of 105 miles an hour at 1,650 propeller revolutions, and over 70 miles an hour - while operating as seaplanes; “Thirty-five of these engines have been distributed, to various points around the world so that there were actuplly elght complete engines avail- able- for each of the original four sirplanes ofsthe flight. There are .18 supply and .repair depots on the world flight route, approxi- mately’ 1,600° miles apart. At seven of these depots, major overhaul could be givén' the airplanes;. at-the others minor: repairs. could -be - made; and spares and tools carried by each air- plane replenjshed. The distribution of engines to these depots was made on the basis of replacing each motor after it ‘had-been run for abeut 60 hours. 2 . * ok x k HE wisdom of this distribution ‘is évidenced by the fact that when the first new motor ‘was: needed .by Maj. Martin in Alaska, one was-avail- able within 500 miles. Again, when Lieut. Smith’s engine failed him near Touraine in. French Indv-China, one was available at the: next scheduled #top ’and was Tushed _to. him ‘over- nigh an, *American --destroyer: Wh u.u!. [Nelson‘negded a new. ene gine in Karachi, India, one awaiting him at that place. At Brough, England, where the fiyers again attached pontoons for the water flights across the Atlantic, new engines qwere Installed. . Knowing that the North Atlantic sectlori. would be one of the most hazardous of the whole expedition, extra suppligs and a great dispersion of spare parts.was made in this area. At practically every stop between England - and Labrador, every concelvable. item of supply that could be needed:is avail- able. The boxes in which suppiies were shipped' were made’.of wood which could be used in repairing the afr- planes, although, as one member of the committee remarked, “This- pre- caution will be unnecessary by the time they have completed three- quarters of their route, as.their ex- periences up to that time would un-. doubtedly qualify any one of the members of the flight to hew an air- plane out of a log.” It was suggested that a few stove 1lids and: electric fans ‘should 'be .1n- cluded in the last division, as the pi- lots selected are capable of . flying home with no other_equipment. The Pacific flight was made during such, bad weather that Lieut. Smith remarked upon reaching. Shanghai, was .China, after the 600-mile ‘flight from: Kagoshima, Japan, that he-had just experienced the first good fiying day since leaving the United States. A shorter route might have been taken to Calcutta from Hofigkong, China, inland through Hanol and'Mandalay; famous in song and stoty, but here again safety was given precedence and a longer route along the coast- line of French Indo-China was chos- en, as it was considered preferable to risk a forced landing along the shore, even with its crocodiles, swampe . and’ barbarians, but with.a ::lnce of mmeh:yl:lnlllt,veml& risking .a.land! mountains and tractiess | Jungle . Inhabited:;only : byl wild bum and - polsonous . ingects, Approach to the FAROE ISLANDS : ) ARMy AR Service FioTos with its hopelessness of rescue before succumbing to the ‘terrars of the Jungle. " At ‘Akyab, Burma, the American flvers passed Maj. MacLaren, the British aviator, who was attempting to fly around the world ih the. op- posite direction. He had met disaster here a few weeks previous and was just preparing to continue his voyage in another airplane. Recent advices state that the present expedition un- fortunately ended. early in the week when the British airplane crashed-in a fog in the North Pacific. Two years ago.a British airplane was forced. down. at Akyab, 40 miles at sea, two officers clinging to their wrecked plane for several days. The superstitious natives who inhabit the Malay Peninsula in this vicinity rowed out in small boats to within speaking distance, but did not dare to approach nearer, for fear of be-. ing devoureq by what they thought to be the devils of the deep. The aviators were finally rescued by a passing vessel. It must. have been a relief to the American flyers to successfully pass this section of the route-and avoid the “Jinx of Akyab.” I India was crosged by the flyers in four days throdgh rain and sand storms. Making up for time lost in the North Pacific, . frequently two scheduled flights were made in one day. CokLk kK HE ' flight route from India fol- lowed the eastern shore of the Perslln Gulf. Leaving .Persia, a landfng was made at Bagdad, Meso- potamia, knm\n as “The Cradle of Ctvilization.” Bagdad is one of the oldest cities in the world, existing records_indicating that there has been a city In this spot for over 4,000 years. Compared to it, New York and even London are as of yesterday. . + As'the world fiyers followéd the old caravan route from Basra through Bagdad ;to Aleppo, Syria, a distance of over 300 miles,.in & few hours, it was a decided -contr: to'the 'slow movement of the old ocamels, the stately. “ships of thé desert” .which stfil make this journey at'the: rate’of about 20 miles & day. “The Ottoman Empire and. European ‘natfons, flitted by in" rapid “succes- sion .as - the ®fiyers -followed ' the Franco-Rumanian. - Alrway - across ‘Eu- rope. Upon ~the, arrival: of the American fiyers .. in. England, the ‘world ‘had been completely.’encircled in the air by the Americans, the’At- lantic.Ocean having previously: been crossed by Amerkm Naval ‘aviators in_1919. New . and varied- scénes. gre ' now. presenting themselves to, the aviators. They . crossed ' Scotland .6 Kirkwall. to, the Orkney Jslands, near Scapa Flow, and prepared.to/battle. the elements in_the North Atlantic Ocean. Each of thé airplanes small smoke” bombs and ‘is equipped with & daritt sight. - When out of sight: of land, the smoke bomb. is dropped, and after the plane has pro- ceeded: a few miles the smoke is sighted astern through. a sighting tube orteles “This ‘telescope: 15 connected with a peficfl Which traces ‘an a horizontal piece of ‘milk cells loid_the line of fiight. between: the | smoke- and the, plane. If the air- plane is fiying perfectly straight and level, the steady movement of the nlelcopn trained on the smoke will the ‘line to be straight. The .n‘ o formed: Between this line and the fore and aft axis.of the forward- mbvln' )lnn will :be. the .angle of * drift. Similar smoke bombs for this purpose have been located at all of the Atlantic stops. Having determined the drift in this manner, the flyers can then check their course accurately by the two compasses with which each plane is equipped. One is the usual magnetic compass, and the other a new type compass, known as the earth inductor compass. The latter is not affected by the electrical phenomena of the Arctic regions, and its use on the world flight is a practical test. Each compass is a check on the other. The toute being followed from Lon- don, England, to Washington, with mileage, is as follows: Miles. *London, England. *Brough (Hull), England Kirkwall, Orkney Islands.. Thorshavn, Faroe Islands (emer- gency only).. . tHofn Hornafjord, Teeland.< tReykjavik, Iceland . tAngmagsalik, Greenland . tIvigtut,- Greenland *Indian Harbor, Labrado Cartwright Harbor, lendor Hawks Bay, Newfoundland. Pictou Harbor, Nova Scotia *Boston, Mass. . (Point of arrival in the United States.) New York Washington, D. C. *Main supply base. talinor supply base, 155 370 275 260 339 500 500 572 40 290 420 520 150 % 'HE first landing after passing the Faroe Islands was 250 miles away, at Hofn Hornafjord, on the east eoast of Iceland. This leg of the trip has been a disastrous one. On the first attempt to reach Iceland Lieuts. Smith and Wade were forced to turn back by heavy fogs, while Nelson successfully completed the trip in about eight hours. The fol- lowing day Smith overtook Nelson in spite of fog, but Wade was forced down with engine trouble midway between the Faroe Islands and Ice- land. This probably could have been remedied had not a commercial trawler, in attempting to lift his air- plane from the water, smashed it beyond repair, so that Wade and his companion were forced to withdraw from the flight through no fault of their own after having completed more than-19,000 miles of their jour- ney. ‘A new airplane is being sent to Nova Scotia to enable Wade to com- plete_the- balance of the journey with the flight. Iceland is in many respects one of the most interesting parts of the world. The country.is very old in civilization and culture. The_first Parliament was formed at Reykjavik, the present capital, on the . west, coast,: the second and last stop for-the flvers in Iceland. This Parliament was composed of old, gray-haired, white-robed judges, who gathered edch fall on the Mountain /Thimgelvir to pass judgment on im- portant cakes and formulate the laws of the land. Icelgnd is a country of thundering waterfalls, |ice --capped mountains, green meadows, rocky coast lines, Ereat beds.of lava, hot springs, gey- sers’ and the active volcano Kekla, a burning pit of flame. Nowhere in the world have more varied scenes been presented .to the ‘flyers. In many places vast ice fiplds connect high mountain’- summits and prodigious glaciers descend in some parts’even to the coast, where:they break off into icebergs.. The world flyers crossed Iceland'in less than five hours. From Reykjavik, Iceland, the air- men set: their course for Angmagsa- ik, . Greenland, the northernmost point onithe-entire route, in the shad- ow of the Arctic Circle, and the only town on the east coast of Greenland. Here First Lieut. Le Clair De Schultze, one -of the-alternate pilots for the flight, is stationed on board a vessel carrying suppiies for the flight. This vessel, furnished by the Dan- ish government, makes the trip to Greenland but once a year, as it is imposeible to- enter the harbor ex- cept during the month of August, and "even. then the harbor is sometimes Jammed with drift ice so°that navi- gation is. impossible. It required ovér.a Wweek for a small boat contain- Tn& supplies t4 push its way through nearly’ 100 miles of ice floes in the harbor'at Angmagsalik. Greenland is an immense unknown continent in the Arctic Ocean. So fas gs is: known, it is the coldest in- habited place. The route of the world fiyers from' Iceland to Greenland across the Greenland Sea follows ap- proximately the same trail that Eric the Red and his followers blazed 10 centurles-ago when they linked the Old World with the New in small open boats,’ driven here and there at the . mercy . of the winds, réquiring ~mopths.for.a'single - voyage—a strik- Use | Of planes ing contrast with the few hours' flight over the same sca by the Aru, flyers, representing a thousand years of progress. By a strange Eric Nelson, the the world flight, Viking ancestors. coincidence, Lieut engineer officer of is now trailing his THE Americans will skirt the coast of Greenland rather than attempt to fly across the hundreds of miles of great.desert ice fields. As a precau- tion, in case they become lost in thix part of the world, the fiyers have u list of every Eskimo village or settle ment on the east coast of Greenland. The whole interior of Greenland is a high plateau of ice formed b compressed snow, hundreds of feet thick, with not a living thing on it, the largest single body of ice in the world. Over 600 miles is being flown between Angmagsalik. Greenland. and Ivigtut, on the west coast. De- stroyers of the United States Atlanti fleet are forming 4 radio chain over this hazardous section and down the coast of North America as far Boston. Ivigtut is at the foot of the mighty snow-capped Kungnat Mountain, on of the highest peaks in Greenland The landing here will be in a shel- tered harbor near the docks of the largest kryclite mine in the world which operates only a few months in the year, during the Summer. Tie rest of the time it is buried in ice and snow. By using the hoist and docking facilities of the Danish Com- pany which works this minc, major repairs can Le made at this point and the planes made ready for the last long mile. From Greenland’s icy mountains they will cross the Davis Straits the frigid coast of Labrador. a flight over open water of miles. Down the coast of Labrador they will be preceded by a destroyer acting as « floating base for supplies. Landings will be made at Hawks Bay,' New- foundland and Pictou Harbor, Nova Scotia. From this point, if condition« permit, a non-stop flight will be made to Boston, the point of entry into th= United States, where they will chanze from pontoons to wheels for the fin«! dash_across the continent to their starting point. The aviators will be relieved again to be in their own country, wher~ they know that a request for gaso- line will net gasoline and not a pot of seal blubber or a string of coral beads. Linking Occident and Orient, buf- feted by high winds, stung by eieet, blinded by snowstorms, deluged in torrential ~rains, exposed to _torrid equatorial heat, lashed by sandstorms of the desert and again plunged into the frigidity of the Arctic Circle, these intrepid airmen have steered a true course in a tractless waste—one month following caravan routes in the old world, the next trailing the Viking across the Greenland Sea. They have pioneered a route that may some day become an internu- tional airway and have demonstrated that aerial communication with all countries of the world 1s possible, in accomplishing the flight from Seattie, Wash., to Tokio in 64 flying hours; to Shanghai, China, in 90 flying hours. and to Calcutta, India in 150 hour: while London was reached in 230 fiying hours. It is only 72 yvears ago that Ezr: Meeker toiled laboriously across o Western desert in his ox cart, requir- ing weeks to reach the Western coa trailing him came the pony expr and later the steam engine, whi within the year the dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight has been ac- complished. Although airplanes are still in a state of development, they have during this stage accompliched such marvelous feats that the future bids fair to record other accomplish- ments now impossible to predict. A harbinger of progress that knows no coast lines or boundaries and can reach unknown and inaccessible re- gions, where all other transportation is impracticable, the airplane murt soon be recognized as an important factor commercially and in national defense. Extraordinary Motor. (CONSIDER a three-fourths horse- Power steam turbine, the movinz parts of which are so small that one can hold them in the palm of his hand; then consider the possibilities of such an engMme built in large pro- portions. One can hardly realize that such power lies dormant in a simple pair of spiral gears, yet they form the active part of the most powerful turbine in the world for its size. The entire plant, the invention of J. H. Van Deyerter, consists of two gears or rotors, as they are called, re- volving in a closely fitting double cylinder. Imagine these rotors turned over so that the pocket formed between the fgears faced downward .under- neath the machine. Each tooth of the gears os it passes this point gets the benefit of the impact force of the steam or, in other words, its blowing pressure against the teeth. As the rotors tgrn past this point in the direction desired the steam just admitted into the V-shaped groove is completely shut off and ex- pands until it reaches the stage where its expansive power is fully expended, and it passes out of the gears in a practically dead condition. The great power developed in so small & space is explained by the fact that there are 80,000 impacts or pres- sures against the gear teeth a min- ute, and the same number of expan- sions in the grooves, oné for each tooth passing the point where the steam enters, the average speed of the turbine being about 2,000 revolu- tions a minute. As compared with electric motors, this little turbine is smaller for the same horsepower, asd is from 20 to 50 per cent more economical to oper- ate than other turbines of the same size, chiefly because of the great waste of energy through leakage in the fan type. There are but two points exposed to wear, the bearings and the con- tacts of the gear teeth. In the for- mer this difficulty is almost entirely overcome by the-fact that each bear- ing acts as a pump, supplying itselr with oil from a reservolr, and main- talns a film of oil over the bearing surfaces as long as the engine running. In the case of the contact of the gear teeth a film of steam surrounds these at all times when in operation, 80 that they are cushloned from each other. is