Evening Star Newspaper, June 15, 1930, Page 68

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 15 1930—PART FOUR. AVIA BY JOSEPH S. to adopt the two-place pursuit I type of military aircraft is put to the test this Summer, there| F the Army Air Corps decides | TION . EDGERTON. all pursuit pilots must. Finding trouble, pursuit plane to assist him in dealing with trouble as seems to will come the troublesome prob-|him most fitting. lem of determining the effect of the plane on military aviation. There are several schools of thought in the Air Corps on the two-seaters and the results of their arguments are going to make very interesting watching for every one interested in aero- nautics, especially military aero- nautics. There are some who predict that the two-seater will alter the whole fabric of military aviation; that the dog-fight of the World War will become a thing of the past and that the very make-up of groups and wings must be/ changed to meet the new condi- tions. One group in the Air Corps is| of the opinion that the two- seater will make the pursuit plane of today as extinct as the famous old “Jennie” training plane, which is plenty extinct. Another group admits that the two-seater will run the single-seater out of the middle air, but that at extreme altitudes the single-seater will reign supreme, as it does today. A third group has naught but sneers and jeers for the two- seater, saying that it will find no place whatever in the military| structure. Plane Ready Soon. The Army’s first experimental two-place pursuit plane now is nearing completion in the Balti- more plant of Berliner-Joyce Air- craft Corporation. It is slated to g0, upon completion, to Wright| Field, Dayton, Ohio, the Army Air | Corps materiel division base. Here test pilots will put it through a series of flight tests, which may! have a profound effect on the fu- ture of Army aviation. Or, per-| haps, no effect at all. The Navy also has two-seater| troubles. There is at the Anacos- | tia Naval Air Station a two-seater | Curtiss fighter, which corresponds to the Army pursuit plane. This | glane. officially designated by a orrible conglomeration of letters| and numerals, to wit, “XF8C-4,” is | in process of flight testing, and the opinions in the Navy regard- ing its place and worth are many and varied. Apparently in the Navy, how- ever, there is not so much doubt over where a two-seater should fit into the existing structure, ow- ing to the fact that Navy fighters are not confined to pursuit work, as in the Army, but also are used for light bombardment. This di- versity of use for a single type of flane makes it easier to adopt nto the happy family such a struggling foundling as a stray two-seater or other variation of the conventional. | His Majesty, Pursuit. | In the Army, however, the sin- gle-seater pursuit plane always| rections atgne time, and so need | Behind him, in a rear cockpit, | he has two good guns! plane after this revolutionary | mounted ahead as in the ordinary LEGON STUDENTS PUT N BSY W Six Members of District Fly- ing Club Go Up Alone in One Day. is a bloodthirsty young gentle- | man, also seeking whomsoever he may pump full of lead. To assist | him in carrying out his lethal in- | tentions there are two machine| guns, on a universal mounting, 0 they may be swung nimbly around, this way and that. Staring De Luxe. Where the pilot of the single- seater must twist his poor head | round and round like an owl on a branch, gazing now up, now down, now ahead, now behind, the | pilot of the two-seater can leave| a goodly share of this staring and | spying about to his companion or accomplice in the rear cockpit. The pilot of the single-seater| must be prepared on the instant| to flip around like a nervous her- ring in a dip net to meet trouble | from any point of the compass. He must be on the qui vive, twisting this way and the other, like a doubting Daniel in a lions’ den. The pilot of the two-seater,| however, if he be an optimist,| may place some trust in the man | behind to pop away at any enemy | who may try to sneak up from | the rear. He need have less worry about dislocating a rib by squirming around in his seat or| tying up his neck like a pretzel | while peering and prying in the| danger area behind the tail of his plane. Thus he may be able to save himself not a little mental irritation, with the probability that some day he may make a| more soothing sort of major or| colonel, providing the Air Corps| promotion bill passes, or he lives| to enjoy active duty at the age of 55 or 60 years. The Mission of Pursuit. The statement of the funda- mental principles for the employ- ment of the Army Air Corps has| this to say about the pursuit air- plane: “The main characteristic that must be embodied in this design | is that which will encourage the pilot always to attack, whatever may be his mission, as the offen- sive spirit is the very essence uf‘ pursuit employment.” Those who favor the two-| seater point out that two gentle- men of a pursuit outfit can be | much more offensive than one, no matter how marked his capabili- ties in this line, and that there- fore a two-seater pursuit plane | should fairly bristle with pug-| nacity and may confidently be| expected to swagger around the| sky seeking foemen upon whom to test all the theories of war at once. Because of its rear guns the two-seater may make itself thor- oughly obnoxious in several di- | and The past week has been one of the busiest in the history of the District of Columbia Air Legion, local private fly- ing club, including the soloing of six students in one day and the flying of more than 11 hours of instruction time in the-single training plane on another day. A new record for airplane flying time in a single day since the Legion was established, more than two years ago, was piled up when the OX-5 Bird training plane, the third ship the Le- gion has owned, put in 11 hours and 35 minutes in the air in dual and solo ing time between dawn and sunset. Twenty-three students flew periods of a half-hour each. Booked Ahead for Flights. The plane is booked ahead for flights, which are run off like a dentist's sched- ule, except, of course, that the “victims" contend that the sensation is much more delightful. During the two months since the Bird was purchased the little plane has been in the air more than 170 hours, Flying time begins at sun-up on good mornings, the “early birds” turning out at the Legion field, near Alexandria, Va., at 4:30 am. to put in flying time before reporting for work in Govern- ment offices or business houses in this city. The Legion solocd its third girl stu- dent during the week when Miss Har- riett M. Sackett, an employe in the State Department, who lives at 1330 L street, took the tr for the first time after 8 ho minutes of dual instruction. off at 4:30 am. one morning during the week and made three very good landings before her half hour was up. Narrowly Escapes Crack-Up. When she landed, Edward Dew 1650 Irving street, took off solo for the first time, and after a narrow escape from a crack-up in the take-off, when an extension pedal on the rudder bar slipped out of place, made a good flight landing. ~ Instructor Willlam C. Buell then checked out two students who had soloed once before, but had dropped flying and had to be resoloed They are Philip Alter, 1733 Twentieth street, and James Kausen, 229 Penn- sylvania avenue. Charles A. Mason also was checked out on the Bird after a single solo flight last November, since when he had not flown. The day came to a close when Alfred Haigley, 1444 W street, was soloed in the evenirg after about seven hours of dual instruction. NAVY AVIATION OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO NEW POSTS and 15 Capt. Berrien Ordered to Navy Yard Here—Capt. Whiting Goes to Hampton Roads. The Navy Department has an- nounced a number of transfers of naval aviation officers which affect those on duty in_the National Capital. Capt. Frank D. Berrien, who has been ordered detached from the com- mand of the U. S. S. Lexington, air- craft carrier, is to report about July 5 | for duty at the Washington Navy Yard as captain of the yard. Capt. Kenneth Whit'ng, who as chief of staff of the Aircraft Squadrons, Bat- tle Fleet, led the two reviews of the as had its niche on the heights, | not fillip and curvet all over the|130 planes of the squadrons over the serene and alone. All pursuits have been single-seaters since the beginning and all pursuit planes are pursuits and nothing else. strategy which favors the two-| sky, as must the single-seater when appears the wily foeman. This, according to the school of | National Capital and up the East, Coast, | will be detached from that post about ! June 23 for duty at the Naval Air Sta- | tion, Hampton Roads, Va. His post as chief of staff will be filled by Capt. The very idea of a two-seater seater, makes this type of plane|Arthur B. Cook, commander of the pursuit, quite conceivably, may peculiarly fitted to convoying { U. 8. 8. Langley. The Langley will be come as something of a shock to bombardment, attack and obser | commanded by Capt. Rufus F. Zog- the righteous and high-minded pursuit pilot, accustomed from the year 1 P. A. (pursuit aviation) to flying alone and protecting his vation planes. In order to do any sort of a job of fighting the sin- gle-seater must adopt dog-fight- ing tactics. While so doing he | baum, jr., formerly in command of the | U.s." 8. wright | ~Lieut. Robert H. Harrell is to be de- tached from duty in the Bureau of | Aeronautics here about June 24 for rear elevation from inimical, hos- | can't do much convoying of any|duty with VP-9B_Squadron, Aircraft tile and unkindly enemy fire by | superior manipulation of rudder bar and control stick. | It may be that pursuit pilots feel, deep in their belligerent bosoms (belligerency at all times is the first duty of the pursuit pilot), that the pilot of a pursuit lane who needs a gunner on the ack porch to protect his tail is a pretty low sort of fellow and one with whom it might not do to mingle too much socially, at least not until he had been tried in the crucible of duty and found not wanting. A Sedate Pursuiter. It would appear that the two- seater will not be called upon for quite the same strenuous acro- batics the pilot of the single- seater must invoke for safety. Guns in a rear cockpit may be re- lied on to make a much more stately lady out of the two-seater than her hoydenish sister, the single-seater. When a man must depend upon two guns fixed so that they may be pointed only by pointing the whole plane, he requires what agility his plane may muster to bring those guns to bear on a twisting and elusive target By the same token, when he is the pursued, that same pilot, sans guns behind, welcomes any kind of maneuver, no matter how giddy, to get him out of reach of his foe and into position to press a trigger and make said foe a good Indian instanter Consider, however, seater. is a pilot. He t p and therefore looking for trouble, as EUROPEAN AIR TRAVEL SYSTEM IS SIMPLIFIED Oncreasing Trafic by American the two- Plane Owners Leads to Diplo- | matic Questionnaire Scheme. As a result of the increasing disposi- tion of American private plane owners nts of American manufac- to gain a foreign market planes, to ver continental Euro- an countries, a simplified system of ling _the diplomatic arrangements h flights is being worked out, the | Department of Commerce has been in- Jormed. sort of airplanes. Suited to Convoy Duty. The two-seater, however, can put up a good deal of a row with its rear guns and still keep on with aerial watchdog over bombard- ment, attack and observation while these more lowly forms of its business of acting as| Squadrons, Battle Fleet, | “*Lieut, ilbert M. Lockhart, who has | been on duty in the Massachusetts In- ! stitute of Technology, which is con- | ducting exteMsive aeronautical research work, will come to duty in the Bureau of Aeronautics here this month. AIRCRAFT CORPORATION PURCHASE APPROVED aircraft are doing their best, each | in its own humble way, to dish up to the enemy overflowing portions of havoc and horror. The designing of a two-seater, however, as with all airplanes, is| a matter of compromise. In or- der to get the extra man and guns aboard more weight must be carried. The plane must be larger and heavier. Its speed may be reduced and its maneuverabil- ity probably will be reduced quite | noticeably in comparison with the single-seater. climb also probably will suffer. It is likely that single-seaters will be able to outclimb the more heavily-armed two-seaters, and in aerial fighting altitude always is one of the supreme advantages.| Therefore there are many in the | Air Corps who believe that, no matter how successful may be the two-seater, there will remain ne- cessity for the light single-seater to patrol the icy reaches far “up- stairs.” And so those who see the new experimental two-seater going through its paces may be inclined | to think at first blush that it is merely another airplane. But it really is more than that, in all probability. It may even be a new era, so far as Army aviation is concerned AMERICANS TO EXHIBIT ill Be Flown at Swedish International Show. Planes W Its ability to| North American Aviation, Inc., Of- fers to Acquire Berliner-Joyce Group of Baltimore. Special Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, June 14—An offer of the North American Aviation, Inc., to | acquire the Be oyce Aircraft Corporation of this city has been ap- proved by the board of directors of the Baltimore corporation. The plan calls for the formation of & new corporation and the exchange of Berliner - Joyce Aircraft Corporation | class A stock, share for share, for class A stock of the new corporation. In ad- dition to this, stockholders in the local company will receive an option to con- vert their new stock on a basis of two nares for one of North American Avia- Inc th American Aviation, Inc., is one holding own: any of the and operating in addition to own- formerly known as the Pitcairn Aviation Corpo- ration, | Byrd Aide Reports for Duty. wing the return of the Byrd fc expedition to Panama re- Ensign Joe De Ganahl, Navy ed for 30 days' Air Station, Coco , according to a re- t v Bureau of Aeronau- tics. Ensign De ‘Ganahl returned with the expedition from New Zealand. cently Reserve American airplane and engine manu- | facturers who are attempting to bufld up foreign markets are to be among the exhibitors in an international aeronau- | tical exhibit to be held at Stockholm, Sweden, September 6 to 28, under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Institute for ntific Research and the Royal Sw Club According to r Department of Commerce, t nies will be n an opportunity to dem- onstrate their planes by flying them from the Stockholm airport. As a means of obviating unnecesary | delay ‘and confusion regarding such| Plane Gets Gear Tests. flights, a questionnaire has been made up unofficially at the suggestion of Hugh | Navy monoplane fighter, which has R. Wilson, United States Minister to|been undergoing flight tests at the Switzerland, to assist owners of United ' Anacostia Naval Air Station, has been States planes in Europe. ,but through arresting gear tests at the The questionnaire, according to the | Hampton Roads Naval Air Station department, applies only to existing Completion of the tests was delaved by Bwiss regulations, but in the main ap- | the breaking of a tail skid in landing plies also to rpqulxémn's of most. Euro- pean countries, and if followed wou! . 2 = greatly expedite the diplomatic transac- Canadian Air Lines Active. tiong it 15 believed. The questionnaire| MONTREAL (#).—There were nearly eovels points of information regarding | 100 commercial air lines operating in the plane, insurance, equipment of the | Canada on April 25 last. Of these 10 plane, purposes of the trip, approxi- | were operating regular, schedule serv- Wnate itinerary, status of the pilot, and | ices over routes having & total mileage guarantees of responsibility, of 6,944, experimental Boeing F5B-1 Worn-out spark plugs cause hard_starting, slow pick-up, poor idling, loss of power. A new set will in- sure easy -nn.infi. fast pickup, bril- liant performance. See yourdealerto- day and insist upon A8 Spurk Pioge PO VYV VIV VPV VPV VYV VVVPYY YVVVVVVVVVN ing plane up alone | She shoved | | | THE GIRLS I | Sackett soloed during the past week. SPROUT WINGS Three girl members of the District of Columbia Air Legion, local private flying club, have joined the aviation elect this year. two have won their private pilot licenses. Miss Frances L. Jackson and Miss Harriett All three have soloed and Left to right are Miss Mary M. Craig, ackett, all Federal empioyes. Miss —Ce O. Buckingham Photo. Will Begin Flight Training on First of Next Month. A total of 33 enlisted men, 31 from the Air Corps and 2 from other branches of the Army, have been ap- pointed flying cadets, and will begin flight training July 1. Twenty-three primary flying school, San Antonio, Tex., | and 10 to the primary school at March Field, Riverside, Calif. | "All but two' of the candidates are | members of the Air Corps, the excep- | tions_being Pvts. Edgar B. Franklin, 3d Cavalry, Fort Myer, Va., and Norman K. DiXon, 2d Medical Regiment, Fort | Sam Houston, Tex., both of whom will ‘Rfi to Brooks Field. 33 FLYING CADETS NAMED will go to Brooks Field, the Air Corps|simple apparatus which GLIDING MADE EASY Simple Device Eliminates Neces- sity of Launching Crew. One of the greatest drawbacks to the adoption of gliding as a private sport has been the necessity for a fairly | large crew for shock cord launchings This difficulty has been overcome by a permits one man in a car to do all the work ofl launching. The tail of the glider is fastened to a releasing device staked to the ground. A single shock cord is used, and is stretched by the automobile until a certain predetermined tension is reached when the tail ‘s released automatically and th~ glider is catapulted as in the normal shock cord launching. active | The moted Ansaldo Trophy, premier prize of European motordom, Awhich has been won for tawo suc- cessive years by Hudison built cars THIS YEAR continent. cars built by the same company. formance, economy and value. McDevitt Motor Co. 2017 14th St. N.W. Tel. Col. 8347 3206 M St. N.W. Hudson-Essex Sales Co., Brandywine Moreland Motor Co., Waldorf Warner Motor Co.. Hamilton R. L. Joffe, Bowie Warrenton Hudson-Essex Con Midway Gardes, arrenton e+ Saunders Motor Co. . West 0144 ¢ Monocacy Gars Beallsville AIR LINE EQUIPPING PLANES WITH RADIO | Eastern Transport Also WilI: Install Artificial Horizon on Mail Planes. Installation of radio equipment in the airmail planes of Eastern Air | Transport in_anticipation of the com- pletion by the Department of Com- merce of radio range equipment on the New York-Atlanta-Miami airway pass- ing through this city was begun during the past week. \ The first mail plane to be provided with _the complete radio installation was flown to Boonton, N. J.. where the equipment is being installed at the | company’s radio frequency laboratory | under direction of F. E. Gray, radio engineer. The plane, which was fer- ried to the laboratory by Pilot Walter J. Shaffer, also is equipped with the Sperry artificial horizon, which assists the pilot in keeping the plane in level flight in the densest fog. Air Station Officer Subject of Amusing Error In Document Amusing typographical errors sometimes creep into the most official of Government documents. Naval aviation people have been getting a chuckle out of this one, which slipped into the Bureau of Aeronautics news later under the notes from the Naval Air Station, San Diego, Calif.: “The station force completed the concrete paving of the new seaplane hangar and started work on the superstructure of the dis- bursing officer at the West Beach.” Perhaps they thought the “D. O.” was holding out on somebody. MAKE MAIL AGREEMENT United States and Germany Trade Plane Privileges. | | A reciprocal agreement between the United States and Germany covering | ship-to-shore airplane service has been reached through the efforts of the aero- | nautics branch of the Department of Commerce, The branch, in return for | its action in permitting airplane fiights | from the steamship Bremen to New | Service Tests To Be Made. The first plane to be radio equipped will be put in regular service and will | be used to acquaint each pilot on the line with the combined operations of the radio range beacons and the Sperry horizon. After it has been put through service tests under all condi- tions and the necessary changes and calibrations are made, every mail plane | flying the New York-Atlanta section | will be equipped with both radio and | artificial horizon. When all the planes on the New | York-Atlanta section have been equip- ped, work will be started on those in use on the southern half of the line. Following the radio installation work, Mr. Gray plans to co-ordinate the Eastern Air Transport private teletype system, the radio system and other | means of communication used by the contract airmail line into a model communications unit, which will be of value not only to the airmail service but to air passenger services which may be flown along the line. Aids Blind Flying. The Sperry horizon is regarded by pilots on the line as one of the most | valuable aids to blind fiylng yet in- | stalled in the mail planes. An arti- | ficial horizon line is provided and is maintained in a constant position with relation to the earth's surface by gyro- | scopic control. The relationship be- York on eight runs of the steamet this | Summer, exacted assurances that Amer- ican aircraft would be accorded similar privileges in German territory. The flights from the Bremen to New | York are being made by a Heinkel HE- | 12 plane, which is to be launched by catapulting from the vessel. Jobst von Studnitz is pllot and Karl Kirchhoff radio operator of the plane. One of | | these landings was made during the past week, and the others are scheduled | to be made June 6, June 25, July 14, | July 31, August 19 and September 4, | according to the German embassy. tween the position of the airplane and | the earth is indicated by a small afr- plane silhouette painted above the ar- | tificial horizon. The painted silhou- ette moves as the alrplane moves: the horizon remains fixed with relation- ship to the earth. By “fiying” the sil- | houette on a level with the artificial horizon, the pilot keeps his plane in | level flight. | The installation is being made for | aural beacon signals, the pilot's ears | telling him whether he is on course, off course, and to which side he is off. | Installation of the beacon stations i in progress all along the line except in the National Capital, where location of | the site has been delayed because of uncertainty regarding the local airport situation. | AIR POST IN TEXAS WILL BE DEDICATED Randolph Field, at San Antonio, Is Designed as Center of Army Corps Treining. SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (#.—Randolph | Field, where the Army Air Corps will center its training in the world's largest flying school, will be dedicated June 20 and 21 Citizens of San Antonio officially will | donate a site of 2,300 acres on which | the Government has begun construction of a station designed eventually to have lon of between 4,000 and 5,000 rSons. Two units of the field will be con- structed at a cost of $8,000,000 for the training now given at March Pield Riverside, Calif., and Brooks Field, near here, Later the Air Corps plans to complete its air academy with an additional unit to take the place of Kelly Fleld, where advanced training is given. a L GLOOA R0 We are equipped to recon. dition your car thoroughly throughout. We are experts at MOTOR WORK | BODY WORK BATTERY PAINT WORK WORK FENDER TOP WORK WORK SEAT COVERS Finest material and work- manship at very reasonable |} prices. Made to order for any type car. QUALITY AUTO PAINT- ING AT REASONABLE RATES 11,000 Sq. Ft. Floor Space Rowe Auto Body Co. Decatur 4438 57 N St. N.W. HUDSON’S REAT EIGHT Wins Again Hudson scores 100% in winning the highest | honors in the nine-day Tour de France, most cele- brated of the annual tests staged on the European Against eighty-seven cars from every country com- peting, Hudson’s Great Eight won the Ansaldo trophy for starting on cold motor, most efficient braking and greatest hill-climbing ability. Italso won the Gold Medal for completing the Tour and its many tests for speed, acceleration, hill-climbing, economy, brake tests and all-around reliability, with- out a single penalty. The Essex Challenger was also awarded the Gold Medal for flawless performance i throughout the Tour. Hudson and Essex also won the Dunlop and Spido Cups, offered the two leading The second successive winning of the Tour de France is important chiefly as it confirms what these cars have everywhere proved in reliability, per- DISTRIBUTORS—PHONE WEST 1134 METROPOLITAN DEALERS 1496 W St N. 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