The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-01-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HA6KIN, Director,
Washington. d. c.
THE VOICE OF THE AIR.
Washington. d. C

great DEVELOPMENT of non-nIilitary fly
ing which is now beginning in the
United States. will in all probability be
greatly stimulated by that newest of
aerial inventions-the radiophone.
No longer is the flying man a being
cut off from all the rest of mankind
| by distance and the noise of his roar
| ing motors. 1t is now possible for him
to converse with persons on the ground
or in other airplanes even when they
are miles away. He may call for help.
ask about landing conditions, below,
send back information about the
weather.
! In that national system of landing
| fields which is the dream of all con-
structive-mihded avtators and which
| the army flyers are now beginning to
| outline, this radiophone will play
part, the Importance of which can
scarcely be exaggerated. For it means
that passenger and mail planes will
| be in almost continuous touch with
ground stations.
The military value of the radiophone
! is even more obvious, and indeed was
| demonstrated in France before the
| armistice was signed and before the
secret of the wireless telephone was
| revealed to the public.
The great value of the radiophone
| in military flying, of course, is that it
/ enables great Squadrons of planes to
act in perfect unison under a COM
mander. When eighteen planes going
at a rate of 1 80 miles an hour dip or
turn, or rock like one machine in per-
| feet response to an order given by
| their leader in a machine two miles
| above them. and the order is stimuli
taneously audible to man at the
aerial station 5000. feet below the low
est plane, one must admit that here is
a new wonder of the world. There is
something quite uncanny in the whole
proceeding to the non-scientific listen
er and onlooker who is at the ground
aerial station.
1t is a proof of the perfection of the
wireless telephone that in all the tests
and drills which have been held, an
order from a commanding officer has
never been misunderstood by a man
under his command, and no accidents
| have occurred to machines under the
control of this new and powerful in
strument. This is great satisfaction
in itself, and it also shows the splen-
did discipline and faith of an American
aviator. AS the airplanes, when in
battle formation, fly very close to each
other, the slightest misunderstanding
j or disobedience on the part of an air.
man would quite likely mean the COL
4 lision of two planes and the probable
death of both pilots.
When in battle this invention en-
ableS the commander of a fleet Of
planes SO to maneuver as completely to
surround enemy planes hidden in
clouds, and sometimes even those in
the open On the training field, the
wireless telephone saves skilled pilots
from unnecessary risks while directing
and correcting their pupils. The in
structor on the ground is enabled by
this device to make his commands per-
fect1y audible to the pupil in the air
without risking his life in the hands
of a recruit. Moreover, it has been
TFsn Il ~
less telephone is OF supreme value in
directing air gunners and bombers.-
+ Chief credit for the invention is
given to Colonel Clarence c.. Culver,
OF the department of military aero
nauticS and Colonel Samuel Rees of
the Royal Flying Corps. The idea
first took definite shape when these
two officials were on duty at the In
tternational Aviation Tournament at
Belmont Park in the fall Of 1910.
Earlier that year Colonel Culver and
Capt. H. M. Morton had established
radio-telegraph communication from a
flying airplane to an aerial station at
Sheepshead Bay, New York. Capt.
Horton is credited with having built
the transmitting set and Col. Culver,
the receiving set.
1t was six years later that the first
message was transmitted from one
airpiane in flight to another on Sep
TENDER 2, 1915. Col Culver continued
his inventive work. and early the next
year a radio-telephone trial was held,
which resulted in the first transmits
sion of the human voice from an air
, plane to the ground. Then, in May
1917, General George o. SQuier, Chief
Signal Officer. led a conference which
included Colonel Rees, Col. Culver,
and. DIR. F. B. Jewett of the Western
| Electric Company. Later, master tele-
phone engineers were called into the
conference and the following fall Col.
Culver carried sample receivers and
transmitters abroad with him for trial
, work in France, which proved very
| successful. Since February 1918,
American airplanes here and abroad
| have been fully equipped with wire
less telephone apparatus.
Ever since the successful completion
of this invention the secret has been
5 wonderfully well kept, and it has been
asserted by government officials that,
| altho German airmen were cogniZant
of the fact that the Americans had
some unusual method of communica-
ton, they were entirely ignorant of the
/ exact nature of that method.
The flyers of Great Britain and
France have attempted the use of the
wireless telephone. The former met
with better success than the latter, but
, the most marked success has come to
American aviators.
Both the receiving and transmitting
L sets for wireless telephoning are very
: simple and compact in appearance
Moreover, they do not attract attention
when in place on a machine. With the
consent of General Kenly. Colonel Gull
, yer has given out the following in
| formation concerning the mechanism
of the radiophone:
THE transmitting set consists of q
power plant, set box, transmittei
: or microphone and an antenna sys-
Y tenn. The power plant consists of d
: generator driven on the windmill prin-
ciple by the passage of the airplane
thru the air. 1t is placed somewhere
I in the open-usually on the running
t gear or on one of the wings, and its
tiny propeller blade whirls vigorous
ly as the airplane travels along.
The so-called set box receives the
. Ia