The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-08-28
PERILS OF The
filters GREAT
IN the CLOUDS
Pressure Causes Many
Freak Troubles To War
Aviators.
BY Capt. B. C. Hucks, of the British
Navy That Flies"

Navy TnaL flleS
II may not generally be known,
that chere have been large number
of fatal accidents during the last
three years entirely due TO Tying
I through clouds. In some cases pi-
I lots emerge from the clouds in a spln'
others are known in which the planes
have collapsed under the strain oi
the sudden pull-up from the Vertfcal
1 nosedive. few days ago, SQUAD
4 ron commander told me that on one
,ccasion when in France everything
loose in his machine fell out while In
q cloud. A week or SO ago, on the
south coast, a machine disintegrated
! in a cloud, and the main planes land
I, ed half a mile from the fusehge.
Z From my. own experience, this is q
very unpleasant state of affairs, and
in consequences avoid clouds when
possible.
Z, The most marged development In
the modern machine is its extraordin-
airy capacity for climbing to a great
height In a short time, n
AT the beginning Of the war the
,avarare liaight flown on active SER
vice was 4.0Oo-5, 900 feet. simply be-
cause few of the machine then in use
With the impediments carried could
get much higher. Today a height OF
10000 feet is, believe, on certain
4 occasions reached, and 1t is fairly
certain that If progress continues at
its present rate heights a great deal
beyond this figure will be reached
as a usual. thinA These great alti-
tudesc bring forward many difficult
ties whtch will have to be seriously
considered.
Comfortable at $4,000 Feet
The first trouble in the winter will
be the extreme cold to which the oc-
cupants will be subjected unless they
are protected by special cowling.
which win gather in the warmth CIV
an off from the engine. This, to a
nartaiy, extent is the natural advan-
- -. sS,lbtz med In. the tractor The
ie,,1' ,sSs sf,j TIP fheT differefice in the
coy,fort of machfne~ In this respect
was shown to me in very marked
rnanner last, winter. / was testing the
Z fall-off of engine power at "a height
I. ION a tractor two-seater, in which II
.'kvas specially arrangeo tnat the WI -
air rom the raoia.o, "a. :,
passed afong the iuselase " me -
\ lot and men 70 the passeneei, a ~
although at a neisnt 81 over 49,
feet, with the tnermometer
freezing az Rrounn ieVe1 u ~
surfer In tHS lcaSL 1ioAu ~oAee
neither did my passenger who sat be-
hind, complain until we shut of tc
descend. 49,.
As contrast to thia, few days
later + was on single-seater Scout
at an altitude of 1900 feet. and al
though 1t was a tractor with ro-
tary motor, suffered intensely ron
the cold, and became SO numoed tna'
my vitality must have been some
thing akin to dormouse under tne
snow, and, in spite OF being well
I,g1pved, had frost-bitten finger tips
which panied for many days after'
wards. Surely. this very inefficien
state for a pilot at the front to have
70 Jake on an T an IS So ~ -
1900 .1tff,,de. nne gent wei Nyvarmef
"a 7ror,fortahle, the other hAlf-deat
-,;th rold and n wouId he easy t.
.,,r--,,ss v,,,,.t, vvonld he most lilxel,
~ A. -. h..t york
-
a n1pt -
know from my experience Wnei
flying int<France In the cold Weaene
that the discomfort owing TO the ex
IRENE cold bscame intense when Fly
ing dDay at 5000 feet on a twp O
three hoIrS reconnaissance flight
This is a point to which designer
should give attention, especially a