Smyrna times., 1919-02-05
RADIO TELEPHONE
FOR AIRPLANE
USE DEVELOPED
BY BELL
ENGINEERS
Baker Praises Work of
Wonderful Engineering
Organization
Apparatus Used by American
and Allied AViatOrS
ReVOIutiOnized Plane Control

With the coming of peace, many OF
the well-guarded secrets OF the IN
strumentalities which have helped in
winning the war are being learned. Not
least among them is the wonderful
Radio Telephone Set, which it is now
said contributed to such a wonderful
extent in the victory. The Importance
of the work of the Bell System in
developing the Airplane Radio Tele-
phone Set is shown by the letter which
follows from the Secretary of War,
Newton d. Baker, to T. N. Vail,
President of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company.
"The Chief Signal Officer, General
Squier, has called to my attention the
splendid spirit of cooperation and help
fulness which has been evinced during
the war by the wonderful engineering
organization of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company. The Air
plane Radio Telephone Set, which has
proven so satisfactory to the Air Service
and which has brought about entirely
new methods of military use of airplanes,
is a particular example of the result OF
this cooperation. The evolution and
DEVELOPMENT of this and other impOr-
tant apparatus was made possible only
because your engineering staff freely
furnished the highly technical knOwl-
edge and skill necessary in the develop
ment, design and manufacture of the
sets.
please express to your engineers
my appreciation of the splendid service
rendered"
The fundamental work in connection
with wireless telephony was done by
the engineers of the Bell System prior
to the entry of this country into the
war, as reported in that COmpany's
annual reports for the years 1915 and
1916. Upon the methods and apparatus
there referred to is based all of the sue
cessful war applications of wireless
telephony. Here are the later facts
substantially as given by the Bell
System engineers:
A considerable time before the
United States entered the war our Navy
was supplied by the Engineering De
partment Of the Bell System with
wireless telephone outfit designed for
communication between an airplane
and station on land or on a ship.
From this time on until we entered the
war the Western Electric Company,
the manufacturing branch of the Bell
System, as a part of its general study,
continued its work of perfecting light,
compact sets which would be available
for use on small vessels and on airplanes.
1t is significant to note that the first
successful wireless test between an air
plane and the ground, made on Langley
Field after our entry into the war, was
made with one of these sets designed
and completely built prior to our entry
into the war.
At the time of our entry into the war,
as has been subsequently noted, as far
as the facts are known, all of the Bell
Systems development work has been
at all times far in advance of that OF
others, and others undertaking to dc
these things have employed apparatus
and methods similar to, if not identical
with, that of the Bell System.
On May %, 1917, about month
after our entry into the war, General
Squier, Chief Signal Officer of the
United States Army, sent for DR.. Jew
EFT, Chief Engineer of the Westerr
Electric Company, to come to Wash
ington to confer with him in reference