Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1931, Page 83

THE SUNDAY SWAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 25, 1931. | —e— 9 Bored Airmen Zurn to Gliding for New Thrills Spectacular Combat AcrobaticsTooT ame for These United States Army Flyers, SoThey Step Out and Break a World Record for Glider Endurance Flight and Find Secrets for Building of ““Per- Ject Man-Made Bird.” BY KENNETH W. BARR. HONOLULU. LITTLE more than a year ago, three young second lieutenants of the 18th Pursuit Group, Air Corps, United States Army, Wheeler Field, T. H,, began to experiment with gliders. A few weeks ago one of them broke the world’s glider endurance flying record, held by a German since 1927, by remaininggaloft 16 hours 38 minutes in a glider designed by one of the trio. 5 Far more important, from knowledge gained by experimenting with the record-breaking glider, the youthful designer has built a plane which sore of his associates call “the perfect flying wing.” Others describe it more romanti- cally as “the perfect man-made bird.” Em- bodied in it are principles that are revolutionary in the field of aerodynamics—principles which may “step up” the speed of modern airplanes to more' than twice their present capacity. So far, the inventor has only a model of the “per- fect man-made bird” to prove his theory, but the model has successfully passed the most grueling tests, and as soon as financial backing is forthcoming the young officer will present his novel “perfect wing” to the aviation world. HY did they do it? Why did these person- i able young men voluntarily forsake the many social pleasures that are the lot of young officers in Hawaii to slave on gliders month after month during off-duty hours? Why did ¢hey risk their lives daily in mimic aerial war- fare, military acrobatic maneuvers and other equally dangerous flying that is required of all pursuit pilots, and then eagerly trundle their frail glider out of its bangar and spend the remainder of the day and part of the night placing their lives in even greater jeopardy? The three officers smiled sheepishly and squirmed uncomfortably in their chairs when the writer shot those questions at them. Then Lieut. John C. Crain, who flew the glider to a mew world’s record, spoke up: “Why did we do it? Well, I guess none of us has had enough leisure during the last 15 months to sit down and figure it out.” His boyish grin was returned by his two comrades. “But since you bring up the question,” he continued, serious now, “I believe I can explain my own reaction—and I'm pretty sure it will apply to Cocke and Scott here as well—by the simple statement that we wanted a thrill. Oh,” he waved a careless hand as he noted the im- pending interruption, “I know that we Army fiyers are supposed to live on daily thrills in the air. But try it yourself some time. After you get a thousand or more hours in the air, and even before that flying becomes business- like and monotonous, just like any other daily chore. Not that we don't enjoy it; especially some of #he tricky formation flying and combat acrobatics. But after a while even that loses its thrill. So we—and a lot of other flyers— turn to gliding for new thrills. Isn’t that about the way you fellows feel about it?” Lieut. Crain concluded, appealing to his confreres. “That just about sums it up,” agreed Lieut. William A. Cocke, jr., who designed thé glider and the “perfect wing.” “You've hit the nail right on the head,” seconded Lieut. William J. Scott, who assisted in building the glider and who had charge of launching it into the air on its various trials and, finally, on the record-breaking flight. “I think you'll find it a fact,” Lieut. Crain continued slowly, “that aviation, more so than many other professions, owes its constant and rapid development to the thrill hunger of the men and women who follow it. Many improve- ments on modern planes are directly attribut- able to a pilot attempting a seemingly fool- hardy maneuver, just to get a new thrill. When flying begins to get humdrum, then watch for a sensational new discovery. The primary motivating impulse in the type of man who is & flyer is the eager desire to imitate the birds. Gradually he is adding to his lore, until today & pilot and a fast plane can actually outfly a bird. Think of the many difficult maneuvers he can make, the tremendous soaring and Lieuts. William A. Cocke, jr.; John C.Crain and William J. Scott, co-de- signers of a new airplane wing following Crain’ diving power. All he has yet to learn from birds is fundamentals. He must learn how it is that the sea gull, for example, can soar so gracefully and effortlessly and with such an apparent disregard of wind resistance. Slowly we are learning Mother Nature’s deepest flying secrets through experimentation with gliders. Cocke here, we believe, has made an astounding discovery along that very line. He has per- fected a glider which has no tail whatsoever. He has dealt a terrific blow at aviation’s worst enemy—wind resistance. But he can tell you about it much better than I1,” he smiled graciously, turning to the young inventor. IEUT. COCKE was silent for a moment. Then he said: “My new plane is simple of explanatidn to one who is familiar with the fundamental principles of aerodynamics, but perhaps not so comprehensible to the layman. Briefly, it has no exferior appendage, no tail piece. ‘The purpose of this is to decrease the parasite wind resistance; in other words, that resistance which contributes nothing to the buoyancy of the plane. We refer to it as elim- inating the flat-plate area, or the part of the plane that increases wind resistance without giving the ship additional lift. “We have accomplished this by placing the ailerons, rudder and elevators on the wing itself. Ordinary planes, as you probably know, have their elevators and rudder on a tailpiece in the rear. Some ‘flying wings’ have been flown suc- cessfully, but none, to my knowledge has been without an exterior appendage. Also, my plane has a high-aspect ratio, or ratio of span to cord in the air foil. “In addition, my ‘perfect wing’ contains an- other innovation which I have never heard of being used on a plane. It is the St. Cyr type of air foil. This is a new idea on increasing the stability of a plane, in that this air foil has perfectly stable characteristics. It can best be explained by visualizing a cross-section of an airplane wing. Here you have a straight line in the center with a curved line connecting each end at top and bottom. On moderp planes the lower curve is flatter than the upper one. My principle is to give them equal camber—neither curve flattened. During Lieut. Crain’s glider flight he battled thundershowers, clouds, fog and a very “bumpy” air, due to variable winds. “You may remember a statement made sev- eral months ago by Fritz von Opel, the great German rocket-plane inventor, while he was in Hawali. In predicting that rocket plages sosu will be hurtling through space at 5,000 miles an hour, he predicted his prophecy on a neces- sary refinement in the streamlining of planes. Our planes are still much too clumsy; they of- fer too much resistance to the air. My prin- ciple is designed to diminish wind resistance and at the same time permit more wing area without making the wing too thick.” IEUT. CRAIN says he will make no attempt to bettér his endurance glider record. But both Lieuts. Cocke and Scott are going to have a try at it when the national glider contests gmum@ummu-m 5. “I have had enough of endurance gliding, said Lieut. Crain emphatically, “in spite of fact that I am convinced that I could have i mained up twice as long as I did, providing cockpit of the glider had been designed comfortably. Due to my cramped positiom, could not move. Naturally my eirculation cut off and my body became excruciatingly “Mark you this: One of these wind and weather conditions as they I made my flight, and with a plane so that a pilot can move around a bit, read of a fiyer remaining aloft for in a glider—for a week if he can remain that long. Right now several officers Fleld, T. H, are experimenting with a two-place glider for endurance. I one pilot can spell the other. All the site wes selected near Oahu. It is perfect for gliding. have read of sites used by the way have been years to establish a our site is probably the anywhere in the world. I igtissih{h Eiy fs 14 Continued on Fourteenth Soaring n;qjesli«-ally. like a great eagle, Lieut. Crain. kept his glider_in the air for 16 hours and 38 nsinutes. B weYoon )y