Evening Star Newspaper, May 26, 1929, Page 56

AVIA BY JOSEPH ILBUR WRIGHT FIELD, Dayton, Ohio, May 25.— Army engineers here are harnessin; the most terrific centrifugal forces ever produced by man to learn secrets which will' spell greater safety to those who ride the air. The greatest propeller test stand in the world, on which a propeller 40 feet long may be whirled to destruction by electric motors totaling 6,000 horsepower, now is to be constructed here as part of a unit of three similar stands. The first of these stands, equipped with 3,000 horsepower motors, now is almost ready for operation. The stands will be used to test every type of propeller used by the Army to determine whether they are safe to use. Experts in charge of the stand characterize | aviation propellers as the worst otential source of bad crashes nown today, especially in the case of the multi-motored plane where the “props” are swung alongside the fuselage. On the 3,000-horsepower stand now virtually completed here, any type of aviation propeller now in use may be run to destruction. Speeds of as great as 4,300 revolu- tions per minute may be obtained. Army officers say it is almost im- ble to appreciate what this means in terms of destructive force. Have Tremendous Force. At this speed, it was pointed out by M. A. Smith, chief of the pro- peller test work, the tips of the ordinary aviation propeller are oing as fast as an Army Spring- eld rifle bullet. When the hub of a propeller traveling at this velocity snaps the blades fly off with as much force as a 6-inch Navy rifle shell of the armor- piercing type. The striking force of half a blade whirled off the jack shaft at this speed is estimated atidQD0,00U pounds, Mr. Smith said. Naturally, when a blade lets go at such a speed, an enormous strain is developed on the motor and its mount, especially when only part of one blade lets go and the uneven weight continues to whirl at enormous speed. In order to handle this strain a huge steel and concrete “anchor” weighin 3,000 tons, imbedded to a depth o more than 25 feet in the earth, is required, this huge anchor alone costing -$40,000 to $50,000, Mr. Smith said. The new stand is being con- structed in accordance with de- signs prepared on the basis of ex- perience with a smaller stand of the same type at McCook Field, Dayton, which now is bein abandoned by the Army Materiel Division in favor of Wright Field. Cuts Half Through Rail. On this McCogk Field stand, said Mr. Smith, ‘who is known throughout the 'Air Corps as “M. A.” a micarta propeller blade, which is composed of nothing but layers of canvas impregnated with a chemical compound and bonded together under enormous pressure, was turned up until it maBped. ‘When the fabric blade broke off the hub one blade hurtled through six inches of oak and four inches of pine without any perceptible lessening of force. Another similar blade cut half way through a railroad rail weighing 60 pounds to the foot, cut the entire end off a small building near the stand, took the top off a high-f on post and then “cartwheeled” a long dis- tance over the ground before ex- pending its energy. To safeguard the personnel en~ gaged in the tests a bombproof room has been constructed deep down in the monster concrete foundation. The top of this ‘bombproof room is composed of a layer of 24-inch steel I beams on edge, a “pad” of six inches of oak, also on edge; two inches of chan- nel steel, four inches more of oak, and, finally, on top, two inches of steel armor plate. Thus a total of more than three feet of steel and TION S. EDGERTON. | wood shelters the crew. Even with this protection, the engineers are not absolutely sure of their safety. In their little armored cubicle the research workers have control of the engines operating the pro- peller and have before them in- struments showing the progress of every phase of the experiment. So they may watch the blade without exposing themselves, a transit has been arranged for vision through a narrow slit in the armor plate, the observers sight- ing through the transit by means of a periscope-like arrangement of mirrors from deep under the armored roof. Provide Weak Link. “The construction of the ar- mored roof has been carefully planned to take up anticipated shocks,” Mr. Smith said. “We realize that we must let the energy of the blade destroy something before its force is ex- pended. That is the reason for the steel and the more resilient wood construction. We expect that when a fragment of propeller strikes the roof of the dugout the top layer of two-inch steel will crumble and curl like a hairpin. We hope, of course, that the ar- mor we have set up will be suf- ficient to absorb all the blow, but we can’t be certain that it will. There is a possibility that a steel blade may get all the way through.” As a means of taking up the “unbalanced pull” resulting when a test blade breaks off unevenly, a “weak link” has been built into the jack shaft, which is designed to break under a stress of 80,000 pounds. This weak link is formed by a shaft coupling connected with bolts, which shear off when the danger point is reached. Naturally if the blade should break off in the upper part of the are, it will fly cff into space rather than crash into the bomb-proof room below. To care for this, a moveable bomb-proof “pad” which will check the flight of the blade must be constructed completely around it. This pad, which is de- signed to give under the blow and thus deaden the shock, will be constructed of. layers of six inches of oak, two inches of steel and six inches more of oak. Without such an obstruction to stop the fragments of the blade, it is estimated that such frag- ments would travel three to four miles through the air. Noise Is Terrific. The noise of such a stand in operation is almost incredible, Mr. Smith said. It is so fiendish that the nerves sometimes give way and listeners suffer the most acute physical pain. One big, stalwart employe who was kept on duty in the McCook Field bomb-proof while an obstinate propeller was being induced to “give up,” be- came nauseated purely from the terrific noise. Mr. Smith says that the sound of the big stand will be clearly audible in Dayton, five miles away, above the usual noises of the city. A special type of ear defense equipment, composed of a hard rubber pluF, with a gold screen and special sound-absorbing fill- ing, has been 'devised to help deaden some of the sound. Ua: of t};e stands for teslting new types of propellers, elfec ally the variable pitch type of blade, about which com&%nuvaly little to be a great boon to every flyer, Army say. The shattering of a propeller in the air usually is sufficient to tear the engine away from its mounting and d the plane. If the proye er happens to be be- side the fuselage and the blade lets go on that side the ship may very likely be cut in two, it was pointed out. Excegt on stands of this char- acter there is no place where pro- pellers may be tested up to the point of destruction so that the weaknesses may be remedied in subsequent models. PLAYGROUND PLANE CONTEST PLANNED Orville Wright and Col. Lindbergh Head Committee Sponsoring National Tournament, NEW_ YORK (#)—Playground boys and girls throughout the Nation soon will be busy with balsa and bamboo, plano wire and China silk, building model airplanes for trial flights in the national playground aireraft tourna- ment. Orville Wright and Col. Charles A. Lindbergh head a committee of leaders in aviation and aeronautics who are sponsoring the contest for the Play- ground and Recreation Association of America. The tournament culminates in finals at Louisville, Ky., October 18 and 19. The competition is limited to boys and giris up to 21 years of age, those not 16 by next September as juniors and the others as seniors. Local contests planned throughout the country will extend until September 10, when the boys’ local records in each event will be submitted to a national committee in New York. The five high- est point winners in each event will compete for national honors. The three boys or girls who win the greatest number of points in the na- tional contest at Louisville will be awarded silver cups. Champions in the individual events will get gold medals. SERVICE INCREASED " FOR AIR PASSENGERS American Transport Association Revising Its Time Table—Jump in Daily Mileage Reported. The American Air Transport Asso- ciation has just issued a revised edition of its consolidated air passenger time table which shows that in the last three months facilities for air passenger travel have increased more than 25 per cent. Planes which - formerly operated on a once-a-day schedule are now making two and three trips. The daily mileage has jumped from 33,000 to 44,000 miles and the scheduled stops from 103 to 123. The greatest increase is in the number of schedules on which planes are oper- ated. Three months ago there were 42. The consolidated time table lists 130 as being flown at d);escnz, Methods of attracting traffic have also undergone revision. Many air lines have reduced their rates for round trip passages, and one progressive or- ganization operating multi - motored planes between Boston and New York has issued 50 ride commutation tickets at even greater reduced rates. Still another company is specializing in chartered trips with passage sold on a fare and a half basis from point to point and return. Invention Makes Po Of Guns and SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (#).—Machine guns and their crews now may be dropped to the battlefield from air- planes and get quickly into action. A machine gun parachute pack, in- vented and perfected by Sergt. E. H Nichols of Brooks Field, makes it possi- ble for guns to be set up and fired in less than a minute after they have touched ground. Successful experiments by ~Army parachute jumpers, who are not expert machine gunners, reveal that a gun may be stripped for action 50 seconds from the time it hits earth. Sergt. Nichols claims skilled gunners could perform the operation in 15 seconds. The possibility of dropping several gunners and machine guns at strategic points, Army officials say, would be a sgnificant asset to the Air Service In time of war. A kapok cushioned pack is used to ssible Dropping Crew on Battlefield house the machine gun during its groundward fiight, with a cushion be- tween the gun and its tripod. . Rounds of ammunition and a container of water also are placed in the pack, which, when equipped, has a total weight of 125 pounds. Additional supplies up to 250 pounds may be included. By pulling a cable the pilot may re- lease the bag, whose weight pulls the parachute’s ripcord. In tests at Brooks Field bombing planes have dropped guns from low altitudes, ordinarily about 150 feet, to place them with only negligible drift, Gunners first descend from other planes, from regulation altitudes, so as to reach earth in time to rip open the gun's parachute as rapidly as possible. Sergt. Nichols, who with Lieut. L. P. Hudson has supervised experiments in landing guns from moving planes, also has devised a form-fitting parachute for | passengers of cabin planes. ‘THE SUNDAY. STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢, MAY 26 1929—PART 4. AIR MAIL PILOTS SET SPEED MARKS Robert P. Hopkins Flies From Chicago to Cleveland at: 190 Miles an Hour. When mail and express are flown along the airways of the United States, the average speed at which it travels is in the neighborhood of 110 miles an hour. Day after day and night after night, the year around, valuable car- goes are whisked from one business cen- ter to another in speeding planes, pilot- ed by alert young men who take it all as a matter of course. But there comes a time when even these calm individuals get a thrill out of flying their regular runs. That's when they get a stiff tail wind behind them and they go roaring down the air- ways to new records for their divistons, delivering their cargoes of mail and ex- press hours ahead of scheduled time. Averages 190 Miles an Hour. Among the noteworthy speed records established in regularly scheduled air transport service are those held by pilots of the air mail and express serv- ice between New York, Chicago, Worth and Dallas, a distance of 1,707 es. Pilot Robert P. Hopkins holds the speed record for the Western section of the Chicago-New York line, established when he flew his Liberty-motored Doug- las transport plane 318 miles, from Chi- cago to Cleveland, in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Pilot Hopkins' average speed for the trip, on which he carried a full cargo of mail and express, was 190.8 miles an hour, or 3.18 miles per minute. The record for the Eastern section was established by Pilot Earl F. Ward, who covered the 394 miles from Cleve- land to New York in 2 hours and 14 minutes in another Liberty-motored Douglas plane. His average speed was 176.4 miles an hour, or 2.94 miles per minute. Pilot Edmund Matucha flashed over the 454-mile airway between Kansas City and Chicago in 2 hours and 38 minutes for the devision record. His average speed was 172.2 miles an hour, or 2.87 miles per minute. Pilot Matucha was at the controls of a Liberty-mo- tored Curtiss Falcon mail and express plane, flying his regularly scheduled Tun over the Northern section of the line. Average Exceeds 159 Miles an Hour. To Pilot George B. Grogan goes the honor of establishing the existing rec- ord for the 541 miles from Kansas City to Dallas. Flying a Liberty-motored Curtiss Falcon, Grogan covered the dis- tance in 4 hours and 10 minutes, at an average speed of 129.6 miles an hour, 2.16 miles per minute. The composite record for these four flights is 1,707 miles in 10 hours and 42 minutes’ flying time—an everage speed of 159.6 miles an hour, or 2.66 miles per ‘minute. ELABORATE EQUIPMENT PROVIDED FOR AIRPORT Field Near Springfield, Mass, to Be Ready for Use September 1. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (#).—Every convenience for aviators, passengers and field crew is planned for the new Aga- wam Airport under construction near building, abutting will contain wait- res- here. ‘The administration on the. fleld, ing rooms, 3 Tooms, taurant, baggage room and telegraph equipment, The second floor will be given over to the owner and transpor- tation companies, with five bedrooms for overnight guests. . On the roof two rooms will house radio and meteorological t. A glnn ohlernt:‘an tower - will surmount e building alongside a por Te- volving beacon and wun;%}" llu- mmunt';m field. - f Facilities for pilots will be provided in the basement. 5 The field is expected to be ready for ‘general use by September 1. PLANES CHANGE PATHS TO MISS TALKIE STUDIO LIEUT. TRUNDLE TAKES CHARGE OF N. A. T.'S MILE-SQUARE PORT Former Marine Officer As- sumes Management of Field Near Alexandria. Organization of Flying Club for Instruction of Student Aviators Is Planned. Lieut. W. Burns Trundle, who has been alternating with Donald Stewart on the Washington Airport's New York line, this week took over management of the activities of the National Air | ‘Transport at its newely acquired “Mile- two and a half miles airport, low Alexandria, on the Washington- Predericksburg road. Lieut. Trundle, Corps officer, will have complete charge of the National Air Transport fleld, which will serve as a servicing and supply center for the Washington Air- port, a school center and other aviation activities. Lieut. Trundle plans the organization of a flying club at Mile-Square within the next few weeks for instruction of student fiyers who heretofore have been getting their first fiying experience at Washington Airport. ‘The office, barracks for airport em- ployes and gasoline pumps already have been installed and other improvements are contracted for, it is announced. In addition, the landing field of National Alr Transport’s new acquisition is being clipped and filled, fences are being re- moved and trees that might be hin- drances to landing planes are being re- moved. Mile-Square is a 600-acre plot of land recently taken over from the Aerial League of America. Buys Lights for Airports. mmo-, m.;uMu‘l’eer Field, Ma- con , _soon i completel; lighted for night flying. A eoewnc{ has been awarded for a large flood light and 23 border lights in addition to the beacon light already installed. 'Signals Will Be Flown in Alr by| Movie Men to Prevent Ruining of Work by Noise, HOLLYWOOD (#)— lanes here- after in this locality 5 alter Mfln courses h to prevent ruiiing records of talkles on sound stages. Several studios here are in the path times & day work is tire scenes “killed” because * B"Co-operation with the Department e of Commerce, the ‘California Aircraft Operators’ Association and the Assoeia- tion of Motion Picture Producers, an arrangement to eliminate atrcraft sound interference was worked out and now is in effect. h their or- ane pilots, ganization, have agreed avold stu- dios flying a signal by at least 2,500 leeAt in l&xy ht line. tely 15 captive balloon a) a feot I iameter, with_ & red-otange covering, will be flown at an altitude of from 400 to 500 feet. On the top of it will be a red light of 1,000 watts, AIR MAIL PILOT DROPS 6,300 FEET IN 447 MILES Cheyenne-Omaha “Down-Hill Pull” Is Not Regarded as Easy Flight. CHEYENNE, Wyo. ().—Lewis Bowen Eu the “down-hill pull” with the ‘anscontinental air mafl. en glances at his watch, waves to the boys on the field, and says: “Well, T'll have to be getting along to Omaha.” “That's easy,” some one often calls back to him, “Some of you fellows certainly have it easy. Any one can fly_down hill.” Bowen drops down from an elevation of 6,800 feet at Cheyenne to 500 feet at Omaha on his 447-mile hop, but the old timers admit it is far from being the “easy hop” it would seem to be. He is among the leaders among air mail pilots for the number of hours he has spent in the air at night, flying the mail for Boeing Air Transport on the Western leg of the transcontinental run, Sweden’s Lindbergh Picks Vikings’ Trail For New York Flight 3 STOCKHOLM (A)—Capt. Albin Ahrenberg, the Swedish fiyer who is preparing for a flight from Stockholm to New York early in June, intends to follow the trail of the anclent Vikings by way of Iceland, Greenland and Labrador. Capt. Ahrenberg will be accom- panied by Lieut. Axel Floden, reserve pllot, and Robert Ljunglund, radio operator. He 1is known here as “Sweden’s Own Lindbergh.” He made a “'round Sweden” tour in 1927, cover- ing 25,786 miles, and flew another last year, covering 37,215 miles, Stanley 1015-1017 14th St. a former Marine | LIEUT. W. Ule TRUNDLE. Police Dog With Aviation Complex Sticks to Plane By the Assoclated Press. DETROIT, May 18.—A dog with what might be determined a decided “aviation complex” is the possession and almost inseparable companion of E. A. Moore, a Detroit commercial aviator. ‘The dog, named Pal, is a German po- Tce hound 2 years old, and has 65 fying hours on his record. At Packard Fleld here, whence most of Moore's take-offs are made, it is said to be almost impos- sible to keep Pal out of the cockpit of his master’s plane. He is willing to fight anybody who seeks to keep him out, and if Moore does get away without the dog it is only after some one has held him back by main force. Then the dog refuses to eat until Moore comes back. ENBRYD FLYERS MAY PIK SEADOL Coolidge Action Charges Commerce Department With Rating Colleges. By the Associated Press. Youths who want to fly soon will be able to choose their “air college” from a list of accredited schools, rated just as academic colleges are rated now. By virtue of one of Calvin Coolidge’s last acts as President of the United States, an amendment to the air com- merce act of 1926 was signed, charg- ing the Department of Commerce with responsibility of examining and rating civilian fiying schools. Training pilots is one of the great- est problems facing the aviation in- dustry today, because an unskilled pilot is its most serious liability. Sixty per cent of all aircraft accidents are charged to faults of the pilot, emphasiz- ing the great care which must be taken in selecting and training future fiyers. Transport companies planning the establishment of new air lines find the selection of pilots their most ticklish problem. One crash is sufficient to re- tard the natural growth of an air trans- port line several years. The air trans- port executive must select competent men to handle his expensive equipment and priceless cargoes of passengers. - Hundreds Await Opportunity. Although the number of pilots avail- able is dwindling fast as new air lines are opened, there are still hundreds of fiyers waiting for the golden oppor- tunity which means the big money they read about. There are many flyers available, but few really competent to fly passengers and costly equipment with the utmost in safety. In aviation, like most other professions, good men are needed, but there is little place for the unskilled pilot. ‘The Department of Commerce regula- tions, now in an embryonic state of development, will be aimed at the in- competent “barnyard” flying school. The question is— Wby pay more. HOUSANDS of motorists well able to afford costlier automo- biles, but strongly imp. nationwide preference for Buick performance, have begun to ask themselves this frank question: Why should I paymore than for any motor car? They have found by a that [Buick power, a swiftness, smoothness and flexibility easily excel otherautomobiles. They have learned that Buick provides an BUICK MOTOR COMPANY, Youth Claims Honor as First Stowaway on Regular Air Line ‘What is believed to be the first case of an aerial stowaway on & regularly operated air passenger line has been reported by the American Air Transport Associ- ation. The stowaway, Carl Ellis, - 21 years old, an Oklahoma youth, rode “blind baggage.” Ellis crawled into the baggage compartment of a plane at Big Springs, Tex., a stop on the Fort ‘Worth-El Paso route. He tumbled out when the compartment was opened at El Paso 3 hours and 45 minutes later, having flown more than 400 miles. He was badly cramped after his long con- flnnzcnt in the small compart- men! Society Now Uses Airplane Mail in Correspondence Air mail for soclal correspondence is now in use, according to the Amer- ican Alr Transport Association. Of 10 cities whose mail volume was surveyed by the association, Brooklyn, N. Y, was found to be using air mail for social correspondence to the great- est extent, 656 per cent of its air mail being of a social character. Percentage of social correspondence in air mail volume of other cities is as follows: New York City, 24 per cent; Newark, N. J, 35 per cent; St. Joseph, Mo., 40 per cent; Kansas City, 30 per cent; Wichita, Kans., 40 per cent; Ponca City, Okla., 59 per cent; ‘Tulsa, Okla.,, 43.4 per cent; Oklahoma City, 30.8 per cent; Fort Worth, Tex., 378 per cent, and Dallas, Tex., 22.3 per cent. ‘The “barnstorming” pilot who buys an | old wartime plane, lands it in a vacant fleld near the edge of come extinct. ‘The competing schools, which hare ldeaulte fields, high-grade instructors, planes and equipment, as well as INTERSTATE LINES * CONTROL CHANGES Ownership of Chicago-to- Atlanta Route Goes to Aviation Corporation. Interstate Air Lines, Inc., whose Chicago-Atlanta mail and passenger line is one of the most important air transport routes in the country, has been acquired by the Aviation Cor- poration, new aeronautic holding and development company. A Chicago report that o of Interstate had passed to hzmwmpmy from the United Aviation Corporation cf Chicago through an e: of stock was confirmed here recently by Graham B. Grosvenor, Aviation Cor- poration president. ‘Acquisition of Interstate Air Lines,™ sald Grosvenor, “not only increases to approximately 5,800 miles the extent of established air transport services Aviation Corporation now controls, but its serves as a vital link between the northern and southern groups of lines we previously obtained. It is the air transport funnel through which vir- tually all aerial mail and T traffic originating in the Northwest and Midwest flows into the South and thence into Central and South America. “Heretofore, our transport companies have consisted of two separated systems. In the North, the Universal, Embry- Riddle and Colonial airways extend from Minneapolis and St. Paul to Montreal and Boston. In the South, the Southern Air Transport _lines stretch from Atlanta to El Paso. Inter- | state, with its junction at Chic: | with Universal and at Atlanta "l‘flol Southern, now joins these two net- town and sets up a flying school is destined to be- | works into one. Over 4,400 of its 5,800 miles of airways mail is flown under Government contract.” The main Interstate line extends 632 miles from Chicago to Atlanta through Terre Haute, Evansville, Nashville and Chattanooga. A 145-mile spur from St. Louis joins the trunk line at Evans- competent ground school courses, willi ville. Interstate’s fleet of Fairchild and gain a place in the sunlight by re- ceiving a high rating. other planes flies 1,536 miles on daily schedule over these routes. The luxurious five-passenger coupe _ with 129" wheelbase can be had for $1865, f. 0. b. Buick factory, special entirely new ressed by the $1200! Buick’s price equipment extra; mastery over hills, highways and traffic! And, as a re- sult, these motorists are purchasing more than twice as many Buicks as any other automobile priced above See and drive a Buick! Compare its abilities with other automobiles, ctual driving cceleration, Division of General Motors Corporation irrespective of price. You, too, will find yourself asking the inevitable question: Why pay more?. .. You, too, will agree that Buick represents maximum value! FLINT, MICHIGAN Consider the delivered price as well as the list price when comparing automobile values. SERIES 116 Sedans - - $1220 to $1320 Coupes - - $1195 to $1250 Sport Car - $1225 These H. Horner Bury Motor Co. Anacostia, D. C. Bowdoin Motor Co. Alexandria, Va. BETTER AUTOMOBILES prices f. 0. b. Buick Factory, reasonable charges Jor delivery and finan SERIES 121 Sedans - - $1450 to $1520 Coupes - - $1395 to $1450 Sport Car - $1325 G. C. Time Paymeant Plan. Buick Motor Co. (Division General Motors Corporation) 14th at L Emerson & Orme 17th & M Sts. N.W. Fred N. Windridge Rosslyn, Va. ARE BUILT Sedans Coupes Sport Cars - $1525 to $1550 SERIES 129 - - $1875 to $2145 - $1865 to $1875 special e%lipmen( extra. Buick delivered prices include only onvenient terms can be arranged on the liberal Dick Murphy, Inc. 1835 14th St. N.W. Rushe Motor Co. Hiyattsville, Md. C. C. Waters & Sons Gaithersburg, Md. BUICK WILL BUILD THEM