Evening Star Newspaper, May 18, 1930, Page 58

AVIA TION BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. VENTS of the past few days: have strengthened mate- rially the recognition by leaders of the aviation in- dustry in this country of the po- sition of the national advisory committee for aeronautics as the foremost aeronautical research body in the nation, if not in the world. The first of these was the de- cision by a special committee of the National Aeronautic Associ- ation that the development by the advisory group of the now famous N. A. C. A. cowling for radial air- cooled engines constituted the outstanding aeronautical achieve- ment of 1929 and so merited the award of the coveted Collier trophy. The second was the fifth annual aircraft engineering research con- ference held during the past week at the Langley Memorial Research Laboratories of the committee at Langley Field, Hampton, Va., be- tween executives and aeronautical engineers of the aircraft industry and representatives of the Army, Navy, Department of Commerce, | and Bureau of Standards with members of the committee and its technical staff. The conference brought to the | attention of the industry notable | results in aeronautical research | accomplished by the committee during the past year and revealed plans for still more far-reaching studies to be pushed during the coming year. Building Giant Tunnel. In 1ts 20-foot propeller re- search wind-tunnel, which result- ed among other things in the pro- duction of the N. A. C. A. cowling, the committee has the world’s largest wind-tunnel. This tunnel, however, is to be dwarfed by a giant tunnel now under construc- tion, in which entire airplanes may be mounted for study. The great tunnel is to be 30 by 60 feet in dimensions across the throat and in this huge opening winds of from 100 to 120 miles per hour will be produced by engines totaling| 6,000 horsepower and driving two | many-bladed propellers each 30 feet in diameter. The foundations of the tunnel and the building which will house | it are nearing completion and the steel is on the site for the frame- work. Though it will be some time before the tunnel is com- pleted, the research program al- ready formulated and requests recefved for studies which will re- quire employment of this tunnel assure for it an exceedingly busy tuture. The same is true of a great sea- lane test channel a half mile ong, 25 feet wide, and 25 feet deep, now well under way at Lang- ley Field, in which sorely needed studies of seaplane pontoons and boat hulls may be made at ranging up to & maximum 60 miles per hour. This chan- nel is to do for seaplane, flying boat and amphibion floats and hulls what the wind tunnel has done for the remainder of the airplane. Hulls and floats which will be much stronger, more sea- worthy, better for landing and| taking off, and safer in general are expected to result from use of the channel, which also may be used for speed boat design work. There will be no test channel in the world to co: e with when it is comp! Travel at Speed of Sound. ‘The committee’s study of the effects on the air of airplane pro- peller tips traveling at approxi- mately the speed of sound, as they do with the modern high-speed avition engine, is leading to start- ling new theories in propeller and alrfoll design. It has been found that the conventional propellers of today are efficient only up to approximately half the speed of sound, but that above that point efficiency begins to fall off rapid- ly. This means that with present enfilm speeds the effect of pro- peller tips of the present designs not only is not useful but may be actually harmful as far as per- formance is concerned. ‘The cross-section of the present airplane propeller is identical with that of certain types of airplane wings. For tremendous speeds, however, studies now being made show that radical .departure from this eross-section is needed. It has been revealed that a cross- section flat on one side and with the arc of a circle for the other side is much more efficlent than the present type at high speeds. The result may be that the cross sections of future propeller tips may be radically different from that of the remainder of the blade, with corresponding in- creases in speed and efficiency. The wind tunnel in which tests of air-flow around propeller tips are conducted is one of the most Interesting of the many scientific wonders at the Langley Field lab- oratories. In this tunnel wind speeds up to 900 miles per hour are obtained. At this tremendous speed moisture in the air is con- verted into fog in the mouth of the tunnel and this vapor, rushing around the test object, reveals « clearly and accurately the direc- tion of the air flow. The shriek- ing of air at the speeds attained in this tunnel is so penetrating as to be acutely painful to the aver- : &ge listener, Oil Spray Studied. The power plant division of the laboratories is at work on meth- ods of fuel oil injection in engines of the Diesel type, control of the spray being the heart of the Diesel aviation engine problem, and also on the use of super- chargers for compressing the air fed to the e 80 as to increase power and eiencg. In the study of the spraying of fuel ofl caused by different types af jets at various pressures, the committee has devised a method of photographing the spraying at speeds of from 2,000 to 4,000 pic- tures per minute. Tests with superchargers show that greater efficiency may be ob- tained from an engine with low cylinder compression which is fed by a supercharger than fro charged high-com; e god B U gt is a profession, or so I have read. If m an 50, I am a professional because ""mfl“ of names in the engine. A single cylinder engine with a displacement of 118 cublc inches has developed 40 horsepower in the laboratory at 1,200 revolutions per minute through use of a supercharger developing a pressure of five pounds per square inch, it was reported. Another most important de- velopment of the year at the lab- oratories has been the completion of a small vertical wind tunnel and a new type of dynamometer for the detailed study of causes and methods of prevegtion and recovery from spins. A large ver- tical tunnel now is under con- struction for the further expan- | sion of this work, which is regard- |ed as among the most essential items of research now in progress in any aeronautical laboratory. Device Checks Spins. Demonstrations of the small tuhnel were made with a mono- plane wing of about 3-foot span and full floating ailerons as the subject of the tests. With the ailerons inoperative the wing went into a continuous spin in the wind stream, continuing to |spin as long as the air flow con- Research Accomplishments Skown | tinued. With the floating ailerons unlocked, the spin was checked in a turn or two after being spun sharply by hand. It long has been recognized that human observations are subject to serious errors, especially in the case of violent airplane ma- neuvers. Langley laboratories have pro- duced a mechanical observer, a | robot whose reactions are precise |and whose senses continue to function accurately through the most extraordinary acrobatics. - The robot is really a group of instruments which record upon revolving drums eight separate records of the airplane behavior. They do their work so accurately that the camera obscura observa- tions which have long been re- garded as necessary to check on the movements of airplanes in test flights, may be discontinued when the robot is at work. Formation of ice on airplane wings, especially on the leading edge of the wing, is one of the most serious Winter problems of the pilot. Such ice formations distort the wing curve and destroy its ability to sustain the plane, this effect being even more seri- ous than the accumulation of weight. Joe Removal Shown. A new method of removing ice from the leading edge of the wing in a special ice-forming wind tunnel. The leading edge of the wing is covered with a rubber strip impregnated with oils to For this reason the|ing p: THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, MAY 1 LOS ANGELES TO FEATURE CURTISS RACE IMANY FEATURES FOR AIR RACES Event Heralded as Greatest Aeronautical Exhibition in History of Capital. Plans for the Curtiss Marine Trophy Race, to be flown next Saturday after- noon at the Anacostia Naval Air Sta- tion, call for what is expected to be the greatest aeronautical event the National Capital ever has witnessed and one of the greatest of the year in this country. Aside from the race itself, which will be the most keenly contested ih the 15 years' history of the annual seaplane classic, there will be added events which will include a review of 10 squadrons of Navy combat planes; a glider descent from the dirigible Los Angeles, the at- tachment of an airplane to the dirigi- ble in flight, combat flying by one of the most famous Navy squadrons, acro- batics by a picked section of Marine Corps pilots, individual acrobatics by Lieut. Mattias B. Gardner, operations officer at the local air station and one of the best acrobatic pilots in the serv- ice; parachute jumps and other fea- tures. Glider Flight Scheduled. The glider flight will be made by Lieut. Ralph S. Barnaby, Navy Con- struction Corps, who is the Navy's only glider pilot and the’ first American licensed soarer pilot. Barnaby will use the glider in which he spiraled to earth from the Los Angeles last Winter at Lakehurt, N. J. It is the glider in which _he won his soarer license at Cape Cod last Summer and in which he flew for miles along the dunes in a flight which has become one of this country's glider classics. The attachment of the airplane to the Los Angeles is a part of the train- rogram preliminary to the com- pletion of two glant Navy dirigibles almost twice the size of the Graf Zep- pelin, each of which will carry five or six single-seater fighters as part of its regular equipment. The plane will be piloted by Lieut. Comdr. Charles A. Nicholson, Navy Construction Corps, who was selected to demonstrate the “landing” of a plane on a_ dirigible before President Hoover at Hampton Roads. The at- tachment is made by means of a hook engages & trapeze arrangement pended below the dirigible. . “Red Rippers” to Perform. ‘The combat demonstration will be given by the VB-1 Navy light bomber squadron, known wherever pilots fly as the “Red Rippers.” This squadron, from the U. S. S. Lexington, consists of 18 Navy Boeing F-4-B fighters under command of Lieut. Comdr. John H. Campman, and may function either in its light bombardment capacity or in emergency as a fighter squadron. ‘The demonstration to be given by the “Red Rippers” will be of a type never before seen here and is expected to m; bombardment while in flight was demonstrated als from three points of the compass on a single target so rapidly that the sky which ice will not adhere tightly. Beneath the rubber sheet are two rubber tubes which may be in- flated by a pump in the cockpit of the plane. ‘The ‘was shown in the tunnel. A model of the wing was subjected to an icy stream of air filled with water vapor. A film of ing edge. The “inner tubes” were |filled with air, breaking the ice and the wind blast blew it off the o{ly rubber, leaving the wing edge clear. Tests to show the amount of air resistance, or drag, caused by the er research tunnel with a plane. The tests showed that the greatest amount of drag was caused by the wing and wing struts, totaling 4.6 per cent of the total. The tail caused only 4.7 per cent, the landing gear 13.4 per cent, the engine, 16.9 per cent and the fuselage and turtleback, 15.4 per cent. Two weeks ago some mention was madé in this column of the Army’s mechanical airplane pilot, christened the War De- partment “Mecaviator.” It was pointed out that a more catchy title was needed if “Mecaviator” was to attain public popularity as a dinner table topic of discussion. The British, it was pointed out, call their version of the mechani- cal pilot “George,” and the sailor calls the gyroscopic steersman of the ocean liner “Metal Mike.” It was predicted that Lieut. Ro- land Birnn, Army Alr Corps, who served as intelligence officer on the staff of the provisional wing was strutting his stuff as pilot of a Condor B-2 bombardment plane, upon his return to this city would have something to say about the mechanical pilot. Lieut. Birnn is back and Lleut. Birnn has. Birnn Speaking. “Maybe,” says Lieut. Birnn, “‘George’ 1s a hot name for the mechanical aviator over in Merrie England, but not so in this land of liberty and Pullman cars. A pilot is a pilot, which, if you asked an R. M. A. sometime after the armistice, means that a pilot 1s a pilot. What I mean is that a pilot is a pilot, and try to get him to do anything else! “You may be able to scrap a lot of good human pilots by send- ing them back to the buttonhole factorlies or what not, but you can’t scrap & fellow like ‘Mecavia- tor,” who is bullt for his job and to make the mistake of calling ‘Mecaviator’ by the name of ‘George.” “Why I mentioned ‘George’ in connection with Pullman cars is— ah, you see the light? If they have these mechanical pilots on large passenger transport planes and some one were to call, ‘George,’ why naturally the pas- sengers would expect some one named ‘George’ to come back in the cabin to point out the scenery, soothe their tortured brows or spout statistics showing how un- desirable the competing compa- nies’ airplanes were. A Professional Man. “What I mean is that a pilot is a pilot and not a steward or porter and if you go to calling a pilot, even a me- chanical pilot, ‘George,’ he isn't going to like it. Why, the calling of a pilot in California when “Mecaviator” | ass ice quickly formed over the lead-|W. various parts of an lane were mmdfi b; thowmmommm A standard Fairchild 71 cabin mono- | the 16 years of competition for the trophy, the country’s outstanding sea- plane prize. Glenn H. Curtiss, donor of the trophy, who designed and flew the first seaplane and who produced many of the planes to be entered in the race, will be a guest of honor in the reviewing stand next Saturday, PRISONS “AIR-MINDED™ Flying Field Planned at Florida Btate Farm. Prisons are growing air-minded, too. A fiying fleld being constructed on the State Prison farm st Raiford, Fla., under the direction of its superintend- ent, J. S. Blitch. A fleld large !nculh‘ for two 2,500-foot runways of 500-foot width has been selected, and the pris- completed airport. “In case of epidemics or eritical ill- ness,” said Supt. Blitch, “vaccines and medicines, as well as doctors and other professional help, can reach us with a minimum of delay. In case of trouble istance can be flown in promptly.’ —_— side-kick, Art (Lieut. Arthur I. Ennis, Army Air Oorps, to you), that I am wrong as usual and what was meant was that the business of being a pilot is not a business; it is a profession. From that I gather that professional men can be replaced by machines like the mechani pllot, but a rort of menial, or a ‘George,’ a&s some le would call & steward or porter, to be a real human being, who is wise to the foibles of traveling humanity. “It's like the electric dish bought the Mttle woman at home; the machine never so much as bats an eys when I shout, ‘Hey, Olga, bring me a class of water’ Olga, though other- wise good on service, is nothing to bust into the kitchen to see, being bullt like & B-2, which is a Curtiss Condor bomber, big and heavy on the folks below. “But, to come back to the Sperry gyroscopic pilot, ‘Mecaviator” Pere sonally, I think i¥s a fine name, but viotim of those lous s flalr of tn Bootch the who like to eall ‘Mac- nothing else. But you don't want | A A Bootch Robot. “Let me tell you what happened re- cently. Riding in the nose of the B-2 in which the ‘Mecaviator’ was installed was a wise-cracking newspaper reporter, who persisted in getting off a lot of gags about ‘MacAviator’ We could tell by the way it was acting that the mechanical pilot, in its place under the seat, didn't like it & bit. “Somewhere 40 miles west of the Golden Gate this dropped & nickel down through the floor grating in front of the mechanical pilot. Live in!lup to the Scotch name he had been belaboring it with all along, the me- chanical pllot did & nose dive after the half-dime. You can imagine! “No, Joe, it appears that ‘Mecavia- tor’ is not such a hot name, either. ‘Gyropilot,’ ‘Gyrobot’ and many others have been used. This business of hav- ing a mechanical professional man is bringing up lots of complications. For instance, should the mechanical pilot be compelled to take out its airplane m'l license? Does it fly a plane for or reward? Are the few drops of would they be iw my allowsooat® on the top wing of the plane, which | ing 5 1930—PART FOUR. ‘The Navy dirigible Los Angeles will be one of the features of the Navy demonstrations Saturday in connection with the Curtiss Marine Trophy races at the Anacostia Naval Air Station. The big dirigible, shown in silhouette against a set- ting sun, will be used for a glider launching by Lient. Ralph S. Barnaby, U. S. N., shown to the left, below. Lieut. Chris- tian F. Schilt, U. S. M. '» shown in the inset to the upper right, will lead a SQUADRON'S BEAUTY PROGRAM ENDS WHEN COLONEL ARRIVES The tribulations of air corps officers are not by any means confined to avia- tion. When the 5th Observation Squad- ron moved into its new barracks at Mitchel Field, N. Y., recently, accord- to s poignant account received for the Air Corps News Letter, there was & great demand for shrubs and trees with which to beautify the immediate land- scape. “Capt. ‘Eddie’ House,” said the offi- cial scribe, “started scratching his cra- nium vigorously. “It finally was divulged that Lieut. Jack Egan had taken a correspondence course from the Davey tree surgeons and was undoubtedly the man for the job. Egan was promptly put on the scent of new shrubs, and after a day of scouting around he reported that the oners are rapidly turning it into a . SAVE Effective at once, prices of current Chrysler “77” models are reduced $200 to $350—the greatest price slash in all Chrysler history. This price reduction is occa- sioned by the fact that Chrysler will introduce—sometime in mid- summer—a new model to take the place of the present Chrysler“77”. Other current Chrysler models Buweeutive Offices asd Servies only suitable trees were those in front of headquarters. This statement re- called to Capt. House that some time in the past he had been told that those very trees and shrubs were at his dis- posal should he ever care to make use of them. “So the next morning, armed to the teeth with picks and shovels,, Egan and his gang began their upheaval of the headquarters follage. The work went on peacefully enough until all but one of the desired bits of greenery had been uprooted and transplated around the new barracks. Then a storm cloud broke with the entrance of Col. Howard on the scene. “‘Who is this infidel who has up- rooted everything which has stood for law and order?” he qu {ldly. vy three-plane acrobatic section. Enter Jack Egan, pick over his shoulder and blissfully whistling a Wi an’s ditty. ‘Sir, I did it with my wittle ax.” The gang went into reverse. Today all the little shrubs and hardy young trees rustle their leaves _tauntingly around headquarters. The 5th Squad- don's ‘promenade is barren, minus leaf and branch. As has been remarked, the tribulations of air corps officers are not confined to aviation. Woman Wins Flying Trophy. LONDON (#)—Lady Mary Bailey, in recognition of her 18,000-mile flight to South Africa and return, was a the Britannia trophy for 1929 by the Royal Aero Club. Maj. Scott Given Command. Maj. G. H. Scott, who flew the Brit- ish airship R-34 from London to New York in 1919, will be in command of the new British airship R-100 on its projected London-Montreal fiignt. AIR REGULATIONS T0 UNIFY SERVICE Department of Commerce Moves to Stabilize Newest Transport System. Regulations which are expected to bring about in the air transport fleld the uniformity of operation of railroad and steamship lines, coupled with un- precedented records of safety and re- liability, were put into effect during“the past week by the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce. These regulations, which are regarded as among the most important yet framed to deal with air transport op- erations, are designed to surround in- terstate air passenger transportation with all possible safeguards and to rantee maintenance of schedules. Under the new code of rules the De- partment of Commerce is requiring the operators of scheduled air passenger transport services in interstate com- merce to obtain from the Secretary of Commerce a certificate of authority to operate such a service. “The certificate of authority,” it was explained by Clarence M. Young, As- sistant Secretary of Commerce for Aero- nautics, “will be issued only to those operators who effect complete compli- ance with the new regulations and the interpretations thereunder. Safety to Be Increased. “When placed in full operation and effect, these regulations, which consti- tute a standard or code of minimum requirements governing the operation of scheduled interstate air passenger Toutes, are ex| to bring about un- recedented records of safety and re- iability in this phase of civil aero- nautics.” The regulations require that on or before July 15 mlluflou for certifi- cates shall be flled by air transport operators with the Department of Com- merce. Upon receipt of the applica- tion the department may issue a tem- porary letter of authority to operate pending inspection of the route and facilities of the operator by Department of Commerce inspectors. “This action by the Department of Commerce,” Maj. Young said, “has now become n in order to standard- ize the various methods of interstate E:-enm air transpor wve developed and rt_operation that will continue to develop in the future. It is in further- ance of a comprehensive, fundamental program which has been developed un- der the provisions of the air com- merce act. “Airways are now extensively estab- lished, satisfactory communications equipment is becoming available, and the required use of such facilitles and alds to air navigation in the interest of increasingly safe and reliable operation in & uniform manner is definitely “The fundamental involved in the requirements have approval and indorsement of a majority of the alr transport operators in the United States. This roval was registered at a series of conferences called by the seronautics branch with the Rfl‘lm late in January and early in Februs for the purpose of making a Ghoml‘l:z study of the subject.” Certificate of Authority Planned. Certificates of authority will be is= sued only to companies which can meet a high code of requirements. Aircraft used must be provided with suitable in= struments and equipment and must be adapted to the nature of the service ine volved. Adequate numbers of qualified pilots and other employes must be pro= vided to maintain safe operations under all conditions. All aircraft and equip- ment must be maintained to the highest degree of operating efficiency as deter= mined by thorough inspection, repair and overhaul at fixed periods. All airways or routes over which op= erations are conducted or proposed must be provided with air navigation facili- ties held by the Secretary of Commerce to be necessary in the interest of safe and reliable operation of the service. Adequate and competent ground crews must be provided and competent offi« cials must be available to authorize, delay, suspend or cancel flights as may become necessary because of weather or_other reasons. Revocation or suspension of certifi- cates may be ordered for violation of the air commerce act or regulations, failure to make required reports, mak- ing of false statements in applications or reports, conducting of operations cuntnl;y Q:hpubll;:ua“e:.y and interest or using the certificate of authorif fraudulently. " PLANE BRINGS COMICS Mail Pilot Carries Joy to Children on Isolated Ranch. SEATTLE (#).--Every Sunday morne ing as Air Mail Pllot Al Davis files eastward over the sage brush territory of Eastern Washington a group of chile gren W’lfl ‘expecn.nfly near s ranch louse far from any city or town for the drone of his motor. All is excitement in the little gre as they watch the plane roar, outma the west, dive toward them and see Davis throw out a tightly rolled bunch of Sunday comic pages. Mail Pilots Take Up Gliding. Airmail pilots are going in for glides piloting, too. Several _Eastern Alr ‘Transport pilots who each night speed through the darkness with the mall have “soloed” a glider at Candler Fiel Atlanta, among them Frank Andre John Kytle. e ———— RADIATORS-FREEZEPROOF Rediatars Tor Al Mates adiators for WHOLESALE AND RETAIL Tadiators Made New WITTSTATTS RADIATOR, FENDER & BODY WORKS e e 1w N 113 1 PRICES SMASHED CHRYSLER"77 $ 1612-22 You St. N.W, H. B. LEARY, JR., & BRO. DISTRIBUTORS Salesrooms—1612-22 You St. N.-W. and 10th and H Sts. N.E., P s i Skinker Motor Co., 1216 20th St. N.W. OTHER DFALERS Clarence Dysart Ec Newton Motor Company. Skinker Brothers Motor C Quantico Motor C Richard Wallach, —“70”, “66” and new Chrysler Six—are being continued un. changed. Here is thegreatest bargain ever offered in brand-new motor cars. At $200 to $350 off, the supply will not last long. Act now. Your present car will be accepted in trade. Chrysler’s liberal financing facilities are available. Ured Cur Svercems 1321-23 Fourteenth Street NLW,