Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-01-09
Perfect WIRELESS TELEPHONE IS
AMERICAS GREATEST WAR SECRET
For Months American ApIanes Here and Europe Have Been
Equipped With Apparatus by Which Their Movements Were
Directed by Voice Comma nd-Hardest Tests Fail to
Impair Its Complete Efficiency.
Lieut.. Hudson r. Seering took the air
in q De Havland at Hazelhurst field.
NJ m nrdar from Gauoro1 Kanlv

Looks Like Ordinary Transmitter.
Colonel Culver took what looked to
be an ordinary telephone transmitter
in his hand. This transmitter was
connected by wire with small wire
7 less plant built on the field. Lieuten.
ant Scoring had receiver in his hel.
met but no transmitter, so he had
been instructed to indicate "yeS" by
! a slight forward tip of his machine,
and mo" by waving his plane from
side to side, much the same as boat
rocking in the water.
When Scoring was $500 feet in the
air and perhaps half a mile from
where the party was standing Colonel
Culver, speaking into the transmitter
in tone only slightly above normal,
said
"Can you hear me, SeeringT"
Instantly the machine took for
ward dip.
"Do you hear me clearly3" asked
Colonel Culver.
The machine took another forward
dip.
"Are you cold?" was. the next Ques-
tion.
The machine instantly began rock.
ing from side to side.
"Well, climb bit higher" ordered
Colonel Culver.
Without a second Of delay Lieuten.
ant Scoring started up.
"That's high enough" said Colonel
Culver.
The machine flattened out.
Then followed a bewlldering series
of "stunts," each in response to a
vocal order from the ground, the flyer
doing nothing on his own Initiative.
During Lieutenant Seerings fight, 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
~
where the performance given was so
remarkable that it 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 f. Rossell, acting
as squadron commander. Eighteen of
the pilots were equipped with receiv-
ing apparatus. Major Rossell alone
had transmitter equipment.
This air feet shot off into the south
at a speed of 130 miles an hour, but
soon returned in V formation. Major
Rossell flying higher and well behind
his squadron. Passing over Roosevelt
field the squadron went through sew
eral maneuvers, forming right lines
and left lines, breaking off in differ
ent directions and swinging back into
line again. Everything was done with
perfect precision.
Colonel Culver explained that Major
Rossel was giving every order by
word of mouth and that every man III
the feet was getting orders at the ex-
act instant.
"NOw if you want to you can stand
here on the ground and hear Major
Rossell give these oraers, and you can
at the same time that you hear them
see them carried out" said Colonel
Culver.
He Nd us to small shack from the
roof of which dwarf aerials project.
ed, put receivers over our ears, and
q moment later heard a strong voice
say:
"By the right flank" Then there
was second of hesitation, followed by
q stentorian, long drawn-out "GO," and
away off in the eastern heavens l saw
the long line Of small dots swing off
to the right, and for the moment, out
Of sight. And those words came from
Major Rossell, spoken in an ordinary
tone, 5000 feet in the air and fully
five miles from where l was standing.
And l 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 aeronautics Is not reveal.
ing just now.
For more than an hour I heard
Major ROssell put his squadron
through q drill and at the same time
that l heard his orders l saw them
executed. These things took place
while these 10 airplanes were rushing
along at more than q hundred miles
an hour at an altitude ranging from
4,000.to 5000 feet, and with the man
giving the order fully two miles from
the nearest of his men.
The apparatus used for wireless
telephOning 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 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.
Description Of Device.
The transmitting set consists Of a
power plant. o. set box. q transmitter