The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-12-18

80 ~'~hfa taboiitShGFs
Colonel Culver took what looked to
be an ordinary telephone transmitter
In his hand. This t%ransmitter was
connected by q wire with a small wire
less plant built on the field. Lieuten-
ant Scoring had a receiver In his he'll
met but no transmitter, so he had
been instructed to indicate 'yes'' by
a slight forward tip of his machine,
and no" by waving his plane from
side to side, much the same as a boat
rocking in the water.
When Scoring was $500 feet in the
air and perhaps half q mile from
where the party was standing Colonel
Culver, speaking into the transmitter
in a tone only slightly above normal,
said
Can you hear me, S~eering?"
Instantly the machine ooh a for
ward dip.
do you hear me clearly?" asked
Colonel Culver.
The machine took another forward
dip.
Are you cold?" was the next ques-
ton.
The machine instantly began rock
ing from side to side.
well, climb a bit higher" ordered
Colonel Culver.
Without a second of delay Lieuten-
ant Scoring started up
That's high enough" said Colonel
Culver.
The machine fiattened out.
Then followed a b%ewildering series
of stunts" each In response to a
vocal order from the ground, the flyer
doing nothing on his W initiative.
During Lieutenant Seering's flight, he
ranged from $500 feet to $500 feet
altitude. AT no time was he more
than three miles from where General
kenly and Colonel Culver stood.
Neither his altitude nor his distance
from the ~transmitter, however, affect
ed his ability to hear whatever was
said to him.
From Hazlehurst field General Ken
~ took his party to Roosevelt field.
where the performance given was so
remarkable that 1t threw into the
shade the test made with Lieutenant
Scoring, astonishing as that seemed
at the time. Nineteen battle planes,
the swiftest of the De Havilands,
equipped with Liberty motors, took
the air at once. They were command
ed by Maj. Joseph Il. Rossell, acting
as squadron commander. Eighteen of
the pilots were equipped with receiv-
ing apparatus. Major Rossell alone
had a transmitter equipment.
This air fleet shot off into the south
at a speed of $50 miles an hour, but
soon returned In a v formation. Major
Rossell flying higher and well behind
his squadron. Passing over Roosevelt
field the squadron went through sew
eral m~aneuvers. forming right lines
and left lines, breaking of in differ
ent directions and swinging back into
line again. Everything was done with
perfect precision.
Colonel Culver explained that Major
Rossell was giving every order by
word of mouth and that every man IN
the fleet was getting orders at the ex-
act instant.
snow IL you want to you can stand
here on the ground and hear Major
Rossell give these orders, and you can
at the same time that you hear them
see them carried out" said Colonel
Culver.
He bed us to q small shack from the
roof of which dwarf aerials project.
ed, put receivers Over our ears, and
o moment later / heard a strong voice
say:
by the right flank" Then there
was a second of hesitation, followed by
a stentorian, long drawn-out 60" and
away of in the eastern heavens / saw
the long line Of small dots swing of
to the right, and for the moment, out
of sight. And those words came from
Major R0ssell, spoken in an ordinary
tone, 5000 feet In the air and fully
five miles from where / was standing.
AnG / was informed that it would
have been just the same If he had
been further away. However, the
range of the new wireless telephone
is one of the secrets that the division
of military a%eronautics is not reveal
ing just now.
For more than an hour I heard
Major Rossell put his squadron
through a drill and at the same time
that / heard his orders l saw them
executed. These things took place
while these 10 airplanes were rushing
along at more than a hundred miles
an hour at an altitude ranging from
4,00O.to 6,O0O feet, and with the man
giving the order fully two miles from
the nearest of his men.
The apparatus used for wireless
relephoning is so simple and so com
pact that one would never notice
either the transmitting or receiving
devices on an airplane unless his at
tention was called to it. With the
consent Of General Kenly, Colonel
Culver gave me a great deal of in
formation about these devices and the
following facts are the first published
about what perhaps is the greatest
invention of the war.
E.