Evening Star Newspaper, March 30, 1930, Page 62

- AVIA TION BY JOSEPH $. EDGERTON. NE of the many difficulties postal officials have en- countered in fixing new airmail rates is that of allowing for the varying condi- tions of terrain and weather met in various parts of the country by the .operators. There must be sufficient flexibility to permit the paying of higher rates to oper- ators who fly in bad weather fre- quently or who fly over broken country. The experience of two pilots on the: Eastern Air Transport run a few days ago when they ran into heavy and unexpected fog is a demonstration of the reason why there must be some flexibility in fixing rates of pay. Pilots on the Eastern Air Transport run from New York to Atlanta, passing through this city, are subject to| some of the worst flying weather encountered in this country. The only stretch which is as bad is that across the Allegheny Moun- tains on the New York-Cleveland section of the transcontinental line. Fogs are frequent along the At- lantic seaboard, especially during the early morning hours, when the night mails go through. That the Eastern Air Transport pilots have maintained their record of com- another glider club. Even experi- enced airplane pilots succumb to the lure of flying in the motorless planes. Witness the cases of Lindbergh, Hawks and others. Of the local clubs, the Wash- ington Glider Club and the glider club of the Aviation School of America are well along with the construction of primary gliders. The glider unit of the Standards Flying Club, composed of Federal employes in the Bureau of Stand- ards and other governmental bu- reaus and departments, is plan- ning to purchase its first glider. | The District of Columbia Air Legion Glider Club and the L: fayette Glider Corps have not an- nounced plans as yet, but some | of their members are reported to | be seething inwardly. The Washington Glider Club, | according to its secretary, Paul |E. Garber, curator of aeronautics |of the Smithsonian Institution, is building two gliders, a primary and a secondary. Some 500-man hours of labor have been expend- ed and 500 hours more will be re- {quired. There are 15 members actually at work on the gliders |and 23 members have paid dues. The glider section of the Stand- ards Flying Club has 15 pledged members, and after a few more THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C. MARCH 80. 1930—PART FOUR. for increasing its efficlency for various purposes, especially by the use of wing flaps. Fiaps, he said, may be especially | useful in landing, because of the in- creased lift which they afford at low peeds. Dr. George Lewis, director of research of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, also discussed the use of flaps, taking as an example the flap installation on the Curtiss Tanager, winner of the recent Guggenheim safe- airplane competition. Dr. Lewis re- | ferred to the increased interest in glid- ing as a wholesome trend of the times. He stressed the value of the glider for training purposes, pointing out that | every landing made by a glider pilot is | a “forced landing.” as this term is un- derstood by sirpiane pilots, and that such forced landings are safely made The success of the airplane will In- | echuse. of the low landing speeds off crease as it more nearly approaches the | the glider. true bird form, Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, ik i chief of the aerodynamics section of | s ELChELe ikt the Bureau of Standards, told members| The newly organized glider unit of of the Standards Flying Club at the| the club, it was announced by Victor | regular meeting during the past week. |Lowe, secretary, now has $285 on hand | The modern airplane, seen at a dis- | toward the purchase price of its first tance, resembles a bird, Dr. Dryden primary training glider. Of this amount pointed out. He predicted that as fu- | $225 was paid in as dues by 15 mem- ture refinements in the structure of the | bers and $60 came in as an anonymous | TRUE BIRD-FORM PLANENEED CITED Flying of Creatures of the Air Compared With That of Airships. BATISH BULLDOG TEST IS PLANNED Flights That Ended in Pilot’s Death to Be Resumed by Naval Flyer. Flight tests of the famous British| “Bulldog” single-seat, all-steel fighting plane, brought to a tragic halt by the| death of Lieut, George T. Cuddihy,| Navy test pilot, last Fall, will be re-| sumed soon at the Anacostia Naval Air | Station, following the assembly of a second plane of this type, which has been ordered from the manufacturers in England. Cuddihy was killed during his first flight in the fast little British plane sile steel, and the plane is powered either with the Bristol Jupiter radial air-cooled engine of either Series VII, supercharged for exceptional speed and performance at high altitudes, or Serries VI-A, when the operating altitude is not to exceed 15,000 feet. The wing structure is of the usual bispar type, with the spars connected by steel tube compression members, braced by tie-rods. A 35-gallon gaso- line tank is carried between the front and rear spar of each wing. Ailerons are fitted on the top wing only. The stabilizer is of cantilever type, the spars being of high tensile steel tubing flattened at the ends. The landing gear has rubber and ofl shock absorbers, with a travel of about 7 inches, the initial shock being taken up by oil pistons and the remainder by compression rubbers. The tail skid is of the rubber shock absorbing type, compression disks being used. ‘The wing span is 43 feet and the plane is 24 feet 9 inches long. The weight, fully loaded, with the Jupiter the Jupiter VII 3,150 pounds. With the “six” engine the speed at | alrcraft 168 miles per hour, maximum, dropping | APril 5. to 159 miles per hour at 16,500 feet. With the ‘“seven” engine, NEW PLANE ENGNE 10 BF EYHBTED Diesel Product, Rigidly Test-| ed Recently, Will Be Shown at Detroit. The first public_exhibition of the new Packard Diesel aircraft engine, | which recently passed rigid block and flight tests at the Army Air Corps material division base, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, and won & Department | VI engine, is 3,100 pounds. and with| 0f Commerce approved type certificate, will take place during the All-American show opening at Detroit One of these 225-horsepower engines | super- | of the radial air-cooled type recently | airplane are made this res it will | contribution. It is estimated that $178 ¥: e o more will bé required, and this amount | when a part of it, thought to have been soon will be raised, Mr. Lowe said. |an aileron, carried away in a power | Dr. Dryden will give the fourth of a|dive. The plane plunged deep into the series of five lectures on aerodynamics | ground at Bolling Field and the pilot | before the club in the east building of | was killed instantly. !the Bureau of Standards at 8 pm.| The Bulldog i5 unique in many re- | Tuesday, discussing airplane control and | spects among fighting planes. The en- | stability. The public is invited. | tire structural portion is of high ten- QUALITY IS THE BEST POLICY ——=— be even further increased. He discussed the aerodynamic qualities of the best flying birds and the airplane, showing superiorities in the bird structure. Wing Structufe Discussed. Dr. Dryden also discussed the wing structure of the airplane and means o — — charged, the speed at 10,000 feet is 177 | was flown from Detroit to Miami as| Packard Co. in addition to motors in the sho 1 Diesel-powered a city airport for the period of the show. The new Diesel motor will make its debut in the show as standard power- plant equipment for planes of the Ryan Aircraft Corporation, Stinson Alrcraft Corporation and the Verville Alr- craft Co. . The Stinson flight from Detroit to Miami, a distance of 1,150 miles, was made in 10 howrs and 15 minutes, a reduction of fuel cost amounting to approximately 70 per cent resulting from the use of furnace oil. In addi- tion the use of this oil is said to elimi- nate fire hazard, and with the new Diezel more miles are obtainable per | gallon from furnace ofl than can be obtained per gallon from gasoline in an ordinary aviation engine of the same horsepower. The Department of Commerce, basing its action upon the Army block and flight tests of the Packard Diesel at Wright Field, has awarded approved type certificate No. 43 to this engine, This permits the engine to be used legally in any approved type licensed airplane to be used for air mail or air transport operations. | miles per hour and at 16,500 feet 172 | the power plant for a Stinson Detroiter " : | miles per hour. The climb to 3250 at a cost of $8.50 for furnace ofl used D. C. Youth Gets Pilot License. | feet is a trifie slower than with the | as fuel. S. Lawrence Harris, 19 years old, son other engine, requiring 2.2 minutes, but| ~Several large aircraft manufacturing | of Mrs. S. L. Harris of the Burlington in the higher ranges there is a notice- | concerns are planning to exhibit planes | Hotel, has passed his examination for a able improvement, the total time for| using the Packard Diesel as standard | limited commercial pilot's license at climb to 16,500 feet being 10.5 minutes. ' equipment in the Detroit show. The ! Parks Air College, S§. Louis, Mo. pleted scheduled flights on a level | are signed the list will be closed comparable with other leading and a glider purchased. Future United States air mail lines is due | members will have to wait until to the skill, determination and | sufficient are enrolled to form a courage of the pilots and the ef-|second unit and buy another ficlency of the operations and | glider. Lieut. Barnaby has taken communications forces. | over the job of acting as sponsor One of the nights during the and technical adviser to this past week brewed a sudden and embryo glider club. unexpected fog of the type which| Students of the Aviation School is common along the coastal run. of America are at work on the Within a space of a half hour a construction of two gliders in the layer of light clouds at heights of jold Simmons aircraft factory, 3,000 to 7,000 feet, through which near the site of the Benning race the stars could be seen, settled to|track. They expect to fly at Con- the ground, increasing in_density. Two pilots, on their regular runs, were caught in the air with an impenetrable blanket of fog over the entire line beneath them. One of the pilots, Verne E. Treat, escaped only by taking to his parachute, after seeking for three hours to find a hole through which he could land. The other, “Dick” Merrill, cruised around for more than five hours and, at dawn, found a little hole through which he could see enough of the ground to make a landing. All pilots on the run do not get oftf as lightly as did Treat and Merrill. Sidney Molloy died when he crashed into a radio tower while attempting to land in a fog. “Johnny” Kytle had one of the narrowest escapes from death on record when he flew into Stone Mountain, Ga,, in a storm. Others in;e had experiences nearly as ad. Scientists and pilots are work- ing on devices which will make it possible to bring a plane down safely through a fog. Such de- vices have not been perfected and, until they are, even such skillful, cool-headed and courage- ous pilots as Treat and Merrill are practically helpless. It stands to reason that pilots encountering fog conditions regu- larly are entitled to more consid- eration than those who do not face such hazards. Treat's plane abandoned when he jumped, was eomuplef.ely demolished, though his mail was undamaged. Operators who are likely to face the loss of expensive planes through no fault of themselves or their pilots must be paid rates for carrying the mails which will enable them to cover such losses. The Brown-Watres bill for re- vision of the contract air mail system, now pending before Con- gress, makes allowances for such conditions. Congress should see that there is sufficient flexibility to meet unusual requirements oc- curring in the present stage of air mail development if and when m’lu bill comes up for considera- n. With five local glider clubs either struggling to raise funds for purchase of primary gliders or at work on the construction of liders, it appears reasonably cer- ain that this sport, which has taken firm hold in other parts of the country, will make its debut | here soon. Gliding has made great strides toward recognition as a leading American sport during the past Winter. There has been consider- able glider activity among a rela- | tively small group of enthusiasts for severel years, chiefly at Cape Cod and in the vicinity of De- troit and San Diego, but gliding bas failed until just recently to capture the public fancy. There are five or six persons in this country who have done a great deal during the past few months to turn the spotlight on gliding. Among them may mentioned Lieut. Ralph S. Barna- by, first licensed Navy glider pilot, whose glider flight from the Navy dirigible Los Angeles attracted Nation-wide attention; Hawley Bowlus, who has pushed the American sailplane endurance record up to more than 9 hours; Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and Mrs. Lindbergh, who have taken to gliding at the Bowlus camp, ear San Diego, winning their first-class glider licenses; Capt. [Frank Hawks, who is planning a towed-glider flight behind an air- [plane from coast to coast, and fiss Amelia Earhart, first woman lider pilot, and one of the most ctive supporters of gliding. Much of the work of developing he science of gliding in this coun- has been done by aeronautical clentists, among them Dr. Wolf- ng Klemperer and Profs. Alex- nder Klemin, F. W. Pawlowski nd Peter Altman, who head the ronautical departments of lead- g American universities. Their ork, however, though of vital mportance to every person who flies, or expects to fly, a glider or aflplane, has failed to stir the jmagination of the layman as Heeply as the flights of those brominent in the aeronautical yorld who have taken up gliding s a sport or as an adjunct to egular flying. "There is something about glid- ng that gets into the blood. ose who have made one glider t, almost without exception, wildly enthusiastic. One h person in a community is jyfMclent to stir up a fever amon, KR acquaintances. result | gressional Airport. Those who have flown gliders, | especially the trained pilot, are |warm in their commendation of iglldlng as a sport and as a means lof training prospective airplane | pilots. Lindbergh has said that |he believes gliding will become | one of the most important factors |in primary aviation training. | Barnaby is of the same opinion. | Bowlus stresses the ‘“sublime | pleasure” experienced in soaring | flight. | . As has been pointed out before, | the modern developing of gliding for sport and flight training pur- poses began in Germany after the war. That country now leads the world in this sport, holding all recognized glider records. In- creased attention is being given to gliding in France, England and Italy, however, according to re ports to the Department of Com- merce. There now are approximately 200 glider clubs in Germany, the Department of Commerce has been informed. The Rhoen-Ros- sitten Gesellschaft, at Frankfort, is the largest, and has schools in various parts of the country. Two thousand private glider licenses have been issued to students, more than half that number having been granted during the past two years. A student must obtain such a license after attending a glider school before he is permit- ted to attempt a cross-country glider flight. In France there are two glider organizations, the University Aeronautics Club and the Avia. The club teaches its members to | fly and helps to form glider clubs, }lendlng both ground and equip- ment for practice. The Avia, formed primarily for research work, aids clubs to select appro- | priate sites and furnishes plans , for the construction of gliders. The British Gliding Association was formed recently, with the | London Gliding Club as an affili- ated body. B In Italy there are no glider | clubs, but the Italian air ministry maintains three schools, at Pa- vullo, Tuscany; Luigi Gavatti Air- port, Genoa, and Monte Mario Field, near Rome. These schools operate three months during the of age, who must be members of the Avanguardisti, the Fascist Boy Scout movement. The gliders used are built in Italy from Ger- |man designs. | Gliding in this country is being | fostered actively by the National Glider Association. This associa- tion encourages the establishment of glider clubs, chartering them as members of the national body acts in an advisory capacity, pr motes competitions, licenses glider pilots and co-operates with the National Aeronautic Association |in the homologation of glider and | sailplane records. | So rapid has been the growth of | gliding in the United States that o | Officials of the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce |have decided to call a meeting | soon of supervising inspectors and |engineering inspectors of the | branch on duty in various parts {of the country to determine whether regulatory or advisory |action of any sort would be ad- visable. In announcing this conference, ilbert G. Budwig, director of air regulations of the branch, ex- plained that all available data on the subject of gliders will be as- sembled here for examination, | study and discussion by the field | inspectors. Popular interest in | gliding, he pointed out, is grow- ing so rapidly that there is need for uniform knowledge and pro- cedure “in order to develop and expand this scientific sport to the highest degree of safety.” Aeronautic Engineer Gets Medal. Samuel D. Heron, civilian engineer in the material division of the Army Alr Corps at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, has been presented the Manly | medal for the outstanding achievement In aeronautical engineering for 1928. AVIATION NEEDS AIRCRAFT DRAFTSMEN COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF DRAFTING Enroll any time—Day and Classes. Continued year, Send for Free Catalogue {.13h and E Sts. N\W, Motro, 5626 Evening it the This Is What GRARAM Means by Greater Value-Giving The Only Car at its Price that Gives All These Quality-and-Value Features Four wide doors . . . 115-inch wheelbase . . . 6-cylinder, 66 horsepower engine . . . Cylinders 3%s x 4'2—207 cubic inches displacement . . . 7-bearing crankshaft, 814 sq. in. of main-bearing area . . . Adjustable seats . . . Adjustable foot pedals with rubber pads . . . Internal hydraulic brakes with extra large 12-inch drums; separate emergency braking system ... Cam and lever steering gear ... Generator and water pump drive by chain . . . Sturdy Graham-built quality body . . . Treadle type accelerator . . . More than this, Grabam provides this car—and every other Graham model—with the security and protection of shatter-proof safety plate glass throughout, at the lowest additional cost ever placed on such equipment. Summer and teach boys 17 years| Above the commonplace in quality and still held down in price H. C. Fleming Motor Co. Hyattsville, Md. 518 10th St. N. E. B. Frazier Motor Co. ‘845 Four-door Town Sedeny price at factory Graham Standard Six Universad Grabam Standard Six Town Sedan, $845 Standard and Special Sixes, $845 up.} Standard and Special Eights, $1445 wp. Prices at factory SEMMES MOTOR CO., Inc. 1526 Fourteenth Street N.W. Phone Number: Potomac 0772 ASSOCIATE DEALERS B, Brosius Bros. & Gormley Rockville, Md. Logan Motor Co. 1812 E St. N.W. i y National Auto Sales 33 New York Ave. N.E.