Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1919-02-20
WILLIAM 4. WILLIS
In the New York Herald.

| NelOpineiL ana pefleCtpH Oh lHS wire
| less telephone, Is no longer a secret.
Eight years OF work by wizards Of sci
ence in the United States army, aided
| by civilian workers in radio problems,
came to successful contamination last
February. Since that time American
alrplanes here and in Europe have
been equipped with apparatus which
has made vocal communication be
tween them while flying, as well as
communication with the earth, sim
pie matter.
The secret has been well kept for
! many months. Outside Of members OF
the air service few have known II.
Those few have maintained absolute
silence. The war department has re-
garded the solution Of the problem of
what now is called voice command
flying as one of the greatest and most
important achievements Of the age.
Its value in war was 50 tremendous
that extraordinary precautions were
taken to proven. the slightest inkling
of the development reached from leak
ing out.
Germans Had Only a Hint.
German aviators knew that the
American flying men had some adj
yanced method of communication but
did not know exactly what it was.
The French and British flying forces
have dabbled with the wireless tele.
! phone in connection with airplanes for
| some time, the British meeting with
| some success. 1t remained, however
| for men of the American air service
to perfect the radiophone. This they
have done.
The writer is the first civilian out
side OF Newton u. Baker, secretary of
war; Mr.. John ID. Ryan director OF
aircraft production, and one or two
other highly placed government oii-
ciais TO observe this mtes: of great
american inventions tried out. II was
on receipt Of word from Nlineola that
the hardest tests the new wireless
telephone had ever been put 10 had
failed to impair us complete efficiency
that Mr. Ryan in Washington made
public the FIRST news ever given cut
| OF the new discovery
These tests were made Ut Hazel
hurst and Roosevelt fields, near Min.
cola, under the personal direction 90
| Mai. Gen. William l.. Kenly. chCi pf
the division of military aeronaul IS,
who came over from Washington for
the specific purpose of finding out sf
there was any feat in aviation that
could break down the Voice com,
mand" system of communication.
When he quit after an afternoon Of
| hair-raislng stunts with every kind of
aircraft from the slow training planes
to those swift eagles of the air the
! De Havilands, he expressed himself
as completely satisfied that the wire
! less telephone as part of airplane
! equipment has come to stay and is in
shape to meet almost any situation
short Of an actual smashup.
No Need for Further Secrecy.
The ending of the war has made
! further secrecy in connection with this
amazing invention unnecessary, In
the opinion of Mr.. Ryan and General
Kenly. There are certain secrets in
connection with the apparatus used
! that naturally win not be revealed.
/ But the principles involved were made
! clear without reserve by Col Clarence
| G. Culver of the aviation corps the
man who has led the work Of perfect
ing the wireless telephone and who is
| credited by scientists with the major
| part Of the credit for it's success
Those who have seen airplanes in
| battle formation many thousands of
| feet in the air have perhaps wondered
how at a given moment they have all
turned or looped or dived as one ma
chine, maintaining the precision al
| most Of West Point cadets on dress
| parade. The answer is that each man
| has a telephone receiver fastened 10
I his helmet through which he has re-
ccived the order of the squadron com.
mandcr as clearly and audihly as II
/ he was an lnfantryman on the ground
( being addressed by his company cap
I tain. The roar of the motor and the
I whlr OF the propellers have no effect
whatever on his power of clear trans
mission or on the ability of his men
[ TO receive his words.
The tremendous value of the iuyen-
\ ton which Colonel Culver and those
I associated with him have brought To
/ perfection, is not easily understand
/ able by civilians. But through it's OF
| cratiOnS il is now possible 70 send
students into the air alone and d
rect their daily drill from the ground
I thus eliminating the necessity Of en-,
I dangering experienced pilots, who, o.
( instructors, have hitherto been obliged
\ 10 go up in the air with their pupils,
I 1t also is now possible % train avia-
/ tors ia advanced fying the instructor
1 on the ground being able 10 see the
/ work of his student aud instantly cor
/ rect his faults. In training and ii
recting pilot gunners and homhlng
I pilots the wireless telephone also IS
I OF ineStimable value.
The tests Of the new invention were
| conducted in the presence of General
Kenly, Colonel Culver Col Willard II.