Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-23
b|RDMAN TO MILITIA
Lieut.. Fou|ois, Army Aviator,
Assigned to New Duties.
COLLEGE. PARK DESERTED
Army Flyers Have Gone to Meet at
Nassau Boulevard-Leaky
Tanks q Peril

Lieut.. 3. D. Foulois is under orders to
report for duty in connection with militia
work Monday. He will take UP his quar-
tiers at the War Department Lieut..
Foulois is the oldest army aviator III
point of service now on duty with the
War Department He was taught to fly
in the original army Wright machine and
was present at all the tests of the aero
plane held at Fort Myer and afterward at
College Park. He was then sent to Texas
with the machine and has been since on
the Mexican border and recently has been
in charge of the aeroplane patrol there
His appointment on militia duty does
not detach him from the Signal Corps.
but puts the Signal Corps more closely in
touch with the National Guard of the
several states Some of the states. such
as California, New York and Massachu-
sets, have already formed aviation d.
visions and nearly all of them have sig
nal corps organizations of one sort or
another.
To Keep UP Practice.
1t will be the duty of Lieut.. Foulois to
aid the work of this branch of the Ma
tional Guard. and, as an experienced avn
ator, he will see that the spread of the
aviation corps through the guard is en-
couraged. lie will keep up his practice
in aviation and will he at College Park
with the army machines a considerable
part of the time.
The most of thearmy aviators have
now left College Park for New York.
where they will take part in the aviation
meet of the Aero Club of New York at
the Nassau boulevard. They are Compel
ing their private but not official capaci-
ties Capt. Charles de Forest Chandler is
now the only aviator left on duty at the
College Park camp. and 1t is possible that
he may go on to see a part of the meet
There is, considerable interest aroused
among the army aviators here over the
death of Frank II. Miller at Toledo.
Ohio Yesterday. His death was due to
another of the series of exploding gaso-
merous this year. 1t has been demon
strated that IL the overhead tank, such
as is common on aeroplanes. is leaking it
is the easiest thing for the gasoline to
be fired by the exhaust from the engine.
Plan to Avert Danger.
This evidently was what happened to
Miller. The matter of removing the over
head tanks from the army machines has
been discussed among the officers. and
putting in either force feed or removing
the tank from the immediate vicinity of
the engine has been recommended. Moth
ing mas been done so far and as the
army machines are very carefully looked
after. there is comparatively little danger
from this cause. But the change is con-
sidered important and eventually will be
made.
1t is recalled in this connection that one
of the early series of accidents to Louis
Bleriot came from this same general
IL hnl hAA 1,,.r,
plete some repairs on his machine and
had connected the gasoline tank with the
engine by rubber tubing. He overlooked
the fact that gasoline is a powerful sol
vent of rubber. and the result was that
the gasoline leaked and the machine
caught fire in the air. 1t fell and was
smashed, and for about the fifteenth time
in those early experimental days Bleriot
proved that he is the luckiest aviator
alive by escaping being killed.