The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-04-22
WAR TIME INVENTIONS IN AVIATION

Hello, central. give me Mars
ought to be comparatively easy now
that The radio telephone has been per
fected When It is possible TO stand
on The ground and hold a converse
ton in normal tone Of voice with
an aviator SO high in the air that his
pian'~ Is Invisible 10 the naked eye, IL
doesn't require great deal Of optim-
ism 10 look for still greater achieve
. menis
I Thanks to This miracle OF science
the commander Of an air squadron
is able to stand on terra firma and
direct the movements OF his men in
: the air just AS easily as the captain
OF company gives orders 10 his men
on The ground.
a number Of remarkable and inter
estng inventions that resulted from
the war are described by Major r,
Alexander Powell. L. $. A. in a mum
Der Of bulletins recently issued by the
govern ment
/ At the very first Of the war. before
! the first contingent had sailed for
! France the enormous advantage of
such an invention appealed SO strong
, ~ TO certain electrical engineers and
a few scientifically minded officers OF
the signal corps that work was begun
} part OF the problem. that was solved
! in "a comparatively short time. but
making this practical for q fast-nov-
ing and extremely noisy alrpisne was
y different matter.
Finally a form of aviator's helmet
WAS designed which fitted the head so
closely that it excluded all sounds ex-
cent those coming through telephone
receivers inserted ~ the helmet TO fit
he ears Then there was The trans
| mitter~-how wa8 his to he arranged
so that the engine noises would not
drown out the voice? 1t was largely
| through the tireless efforts OF j. p
I Minton. of the Western Electric Com
pany that this difficulty WAS solved
through the invention of a telephone
rraasmitter or microphone which was
, inscn$ihle to engine and wind noises
and At The same time highly respou-
sive 10 the tones OF the voice.
/ Even with the technical solving of
all the difficulties of radio telephoning
several more months of unremitting
work were required to perfect the APP
paratus to n state so that II was prac-
! ticahle for use by others than experts.
| II was not until December, 1917. that
everything was ready for the final
! trial OF the invention, and officials of
/ the aircraft production board and the
joint army and navy technical boards
were invited TO witness the exhibition
at the Maraine flying $eid at Dayton.
Ohio
! Only those who had iabored so
long and tirelessiy TO perfect the in
vention, who had talked. eaten and
dreamed in terms OF it. believed that
it would prove successful Upon the
arrival of the exalted ones, among
oil t,y IF - aEt
scientists and inventors Of America
they were shown the apparatus in
stalled in the two planes and were
told what it WAS expected TO do They
were then escorted up TO the little
station on the hill where a loud
II speaking receiver had been connected
with the wireless apparatus, SO that
all could hear without the use OF
head-sets. The planes left the
ground and after what seemed ar
interminahie length of time there
: came from the receiver the first fam
sounds. which indicated that they
were ready to perform.
The officials, with their coat collar r.
' turned up about their ears appeared
tonly mildly interested, and severa
! gave unmistakable signs of being
bored. Suddenly, without the slight
est warning, out OF the horn of tn,
) fond speaker came the words. Hello
, ground station This is plane nun,
iber one speaking do you get mo al
, right" The bored expressions on tn,
? faces OF the officials changed to ones
of amazement tingcd with awe. In
, stead OF the confusing dash dot dash
, (which they associated with wireless
here was human voice coming on
- Of space clear and disunct-~yet tn
, speaker was two miles in the air
Soon The same signal came from tn,
a other plane. and the exhibition wa
ION
Under command from the grouu,
r the planes were unanswered all owe
that part OF the country. The,
climbed and volplaped and circled
They were sent on scouting expedi
tiOns and reported what they saw a
a they travelled through the arr Con
+ tinfious conversation was carried on
even when the planes were out o
= ght, and finally, upon command, the.
came tearing down the skies like TIVE
huge homing pigeons. and landc'
' whore directed The radio telephone
was reality. From that moment i
was sold TO the government its man
{ ufacture 20 he started at once.
The Parachute Jumpers
. There are two ways OF getting or
[ Of Il burning airplane. One is t.
fan out-the other Is to descend b,
para chute, When a aviator reache
4 terra tfrma after a fail he is picket
up~-otten in baskets. When h
alights by parachute he picks him
self up. That's the difference. Their
| is one other difference, too--~the maj
II who fails out isn't able TO tell us hov
il felt, while the parachute jumper Is
invariably
Little did anyone thing few year
ago that the thrilling county TAI
parachute jumper in pink tights an'
sleek hair presaged any thing NOR
l than a freak attraction TO swell tn
admission fees. But that was befor
the war had converted the familia
into the unfamiliar, as, for instance
the farm tractor into a fighting tank
After observation balooning becam
e a most important branch OF actua
= warfare the parachute was found t
he practical for bringing the observe
: safely down in case OF the burning %
the balloon. But this did not eav
r the valuable maps and records
= hence the basker parachute came int
p being, This was considerably large
= than the Individual parachute and
> when cut away. brought the baslc
! with all ii contained, men. records