Evening Star Newspaper, December 29, 1929, Page 73

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 29, 1929, What’s New in the Field of Aviation Automatic Pilots With Gyroscopic Brains, Bi gger Seaplanes to Carry More Passengers T'han Airships, Mid-Ocean Landing Fields and Parachutes That Will Float an Entire Plane to Safety Are Certain Developments. BY WATSON DAVIS. N the year that will be remembered f because of the beginning of the first / regularly scheduled transcontinental passenger line, the technical advance of aviation has been as speedy as its com- mercial expansion. The old rivalry between heavier-than-air air- planes and lighter-than-air airships has settled itself. The Graf Zeppelin proved that airships buoyed up by gas are practical craft for inter- continental travel across the ocean. The round- the-world trip of the Graf Zeppelin, accom- plished in 13 days, was an important histori- cal event. 3 Thanks to the development of the pouring through a hose fuel from one airplane to an- other while both are in flight, the airplane was able to snatch from the airship its laurels for long continuous flight. While the pioneering ‘Army plane Question Mark made a sensational beginning with 150 hours 40 minutes 15 sec- onds of continuous flight, its successors in ree Inventor Elmer A. Sperry. fueling endurance flights amazed not only the public, but even the manufacturers of the ene gines which kept the airplanes aloft for hun- dreds of hours. On July 30 Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine kept their monoplane, the St. Louis Robin, aloft for 420 hours and 21 minutes, or 17)%, days. In Germany, land of airships, an immense 12- engined seaplane carried 169 passengers and gave to this heavier-than-air craft the world’s passenger-carrying record. In Germany also there was the demonstra- tion of the world’s first rocket plane, now of no practical value, but possibly the forerunner of a new breed of aircraft that will ply intere planetary routes in some more distant future. MORE important than rocket planes or even giant seaplanes 1is the less sensational progress being made toward the building of safer and more reliable airplanes for every- day use. The Guggenheim safe aircraft competition, which will come to a close with the announce- ment of the winners early in 1930, was un- doubtedly a great incentive to manufacturers and designers, despite the fact that the number of final contestants was small. The two years since the framing of the conditions have seen the development of slots, the building of the succesful autogiro plane, and the acquisition through research of much more information upon the aerodynamic qualities of ordinary air- planes. Even the wide range of speed, 35 miles per hour minimum and 110 miles maximum, speci- fled in the Guggenheim contest, is now achieved by commercial airplanes, and it is not unlikely that in a couple of years, or shortly thereafter, there will be perfected airplanes of high cruis- ing speed capable of landing at about 25 miles an hour. When such speeds are achieved, the areas of the airports may be made correspondingly Smaller. It may even then be possible to move the airports from the suburbs into the center of cities by placing landing fields upon the roofs of buildings covering large areas. Artificial landing fields are already in ex- istence upon the decks of the aircraft carriers of the various navies of the world. While the ships are intended to provide a landing place for small fighting craft only, plans are under way for the construction, during 1930, of a floating airport, capable of accommodating transatlantic planes. Such a veritable floating island might make practical the spanning of the Atlantic by an airplane line. Wml.z America has not pioneered nor given L promise of producing large seaplanes to oompare with the Dornier DO-X or the similar English craft now butiding, large land planes transporting from 30 to 35 passengers will be- come somewhat more numerous in America’s skies during 1930. Such expansion of aerial transport facilities will be alded by the perfection of the automatic pilot which saw successful trials during the past year. As the aerial counterpart of the “Metal Mike” which keeps ocean steamships traveling in a straight line without the aid of a human helmsman, the untiring arms of the ingenious mechanism will prove a useful adjunct to the human pilot. In handling large airplanes, the gyroscopically activated “mecaviator,” as it has been christened, will relieve the pilot of physical strain and allow him to give more attention to navigation and other problems. ‘The mecaviator is just one of the mechanical aids to airplane piloting that are being made available. On some of the airways of America & pilot, if his plane is properly equipped, can watch a little instrument and tell instantly when his plane deviates from the invisible course marked by the radio beacon. Altimeters, so sensitive that they record a height above ground within a dozen feet, have been perfected. Such devices, added to the al- ready crowded instrument board of the average airplane, have made it possible for a skilled pilot to fly “blind.” A demonstration of blind flying, flying with instruments alone without sight of the ground from time of takeoff until the time of landing, is an indication that eventually it may be pos- sible for airplanes to operate when a blanket of thick fog covers the earth, a condition which now effectively prevents air travel. Tn‘l parachute, the life belt of the air, may graduate during 1930 into a safety device for airplanes as well as passenger and pilot. Serious experimental work is now in progress attempting to adapt, for commercial use, a glant modification of the parachute, so that in case of trouble the whole airplane can be floated to earth without danger to passengers or machine. The expansion of the aeronautic industry has resulted in the production of many new types of airplane engines just as it has stimulated the production of various kinds of airplanes by many manufacturers. Both airplanes and en- gines must now prove their worth in the Fed- eral governmental tests before they are licensed, and this activity of the aeronautic branch of the United States Department of Commerce, to- gether with the licensing of pilots, will during 1930 prove more important as the use of air- planes expands. Gasoline’s inflammability has made airplane designers desire to eliminate it, &nd they are, therefore, watching with interest the develop~ ment of the Packard Diesel engine for airplanes, which during the past year has demonstrated its ability to power long cross-country flights, It is possible that during the coming year this motor will be put into limited commercial use. It will be quite logical for airplanes in the future to be propelled by heavy oil just as steamships and stationary power plants of to- day are, by means of the Diesel principle, Giant parachutes designed to bring a disabled plane to ¢ Vertical take-offs and landings are accomplished by this windmill-like “autogiro.” utilizing the advantages of the flexibility of heavy oil fuel, Ntx‘x‘ Spring Germany’s Graf Zeppelin will fulfill its destiny in engaging in Arctic ex- ploration. When thjs airship—the first to be built in the post-World War times—was financed & considerable portion of its cost came from popular subscription collected with the idea that the airship would be used for Arctic ex- ploration. Carrying a corps of scientists, head- ed by the great Nansen, the Graf Zeppelin will . make & trip over Arctic regions which are un- known or but slightly explored. It is possible that a small party of scientists will be landed from the airship to spend months in exploration of unknown and inaccessible regions, from which they will be rescued on a later flight, With England’s two bids for heavier-than-air supremacy, the R-100 and the R-101, completed, the return of airship flying weather early in 1930 may bring flights to British colonies and dominions or to America. IN & huge hangar at Akron, Ohio, a building that would hold 80,000 people, the first of the United States Navy's two new 6,500,000~ cubic-foot airships will progress during the coming year. It seems probable that the plans for establishment of a commercial airline across the Pacific, financed by American capital, will be realized during the coming year, and the construction of a fleet of large commercial air- ships may be begun. Indicative of future trends in lighter-than-air construction is the completion of the metal- clad airship of the United States Navy. As design and materials are perfected, it is to be expected that a similar type of all-metal ship will take its place in commercial aviation, IRCRAFTERS seize upon new material more quickly than engineers engaged in the old branches of construction. Due to their light weight, aluminum and magnesium are finding extensive use in engines and the structure of airplanes. Another even lighter metal, beryl- lium, a chemical curiosity only a few years ago, may become a practical aircraft material in the coming months. Speed is always one of the airplane’s chief claims to usefulness. For this reason, when United States Government engineers at the Langley Memorial Laboratory of the Nationay Advisory Committee for Aeronautics announced that by putting a cowling over the familiar radial airplane motor it is possible to increase the speed of an airplane 15 or more miles an hour without additional expenditure of gasoe line, there was an immediate change in the cone ventional appearance of many airplanes. The N. A. C. A. cowling presents to the air as well as to the eye a more finished appeare ance and the increased speed that results is due to the lessened wind resistance. This is & striking example of the great benefits to the aircraft industry that can result from small expenditures of money for research. . The aircraft is adding month by month many tasks to its repertoire. Flying over unexplored jungles in Mexico, Col. Lindbergh and archee ologists of thé Carnegie Intitution of Washing= wn discovered unknown Maya regions. As a routine operation of Alaska fiyers, an icebound ship’s crew and valuable fur cargo were rescued. Such an achievement a few years ago would have been one of the most outstanding aviation events, : "] HE same flyer, Ben Eielson, was the aviator who earlier in 1929 piloted Wilkins in the Antarctic to explore a large portion of unknown ice waste, . With the ambitious Byrd expedition in the Antarctic as well as with thé new Wilkins exe pedition, airplanes may be expected during the coming year to play an important part in adding the last great unknown to the map of the world. The year 1930, too, may see the Unifed States recapture the world speed record for airplanes, which England set during the 1929 Schneider Cup race. Late in 1929 Lieut. Alford J. Wile liams, Navy speed flyer, was authorized to re- construct the racing seaplane Mercury and to prepare it for an attempt to set a new Ameri- can speed record. The Mercury is the plane which was to have represented America in the Schneider Cup race, before its 1,200-horsepower engine and tremend- ous weight gave rise to difficulties which made its entry in the race impossible. It was uily by private United States capital and has never been flown, The present record, set by A. H. Orlebar, an Englishman, is 357 miles an hour. This speed was attained two days after Orlebar had flown 355.8 miles an hour. This tremendous velocity is almost one-third #e rate at which the earth “itself is spinning. (Copyright, 1929.) he de.