The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-01-07
new DEVICES TO
HELP AIR PILOTS
Radio Direction indicators Are
improvements to Save
Life and Time.
NEED FOR Cash IS ACUTE
Eight Planes Used In Mail Service In
United States and 81 in English
Channel Service Compared
Fog No Longer Menace.

New York.-New devices to SAFE
guard mail pilots and assure the sure
guidance Of mail planes through all
kinds Of weather are now being in
stalled on mail planes and Mt the New
ark end Bellefonte flying fields. accord
ing to a statement by Otto Praeger,
second assistant postmaster general
In charge Of aerial mail. Radio direc-
tion Indicators and a new compass are
among the improvements which will
save both life and time.
In his statement Mr.. Praeger goes
carefully into the aerial mail situation
In this country, pointing out that much
depends upon the attitude Of congress
toward appropriations for the extern.
sion Of the service. He contrasts the
eight airplanes in daily mail carrying
operations throughout the entire Unit
ed States with the 81 Transporting.
mail each day in Great Britain and
across the channel.
1.-THE fact that European countries
are operating more extensive air mail
services than the United States is due
solely to the reason that the post office
department has not been able to obtain
appropriations for the desired devel-
opment," he says. Concerning the Inn
provements in air mail carrying, he
says:
with the cooperation Of the bureau
OF standards, the signal corps of the
army and the radio section Of the
navy, the aerial mail service has de-
veloped a most powerful loop radio for
communication of mail planes and
their guidance through all sorts Of
weather, even fog. This equipment
Is now being Installed on the new mail
planes and landing fields at College
Park, Newark and B%ellefonte, Pa.
The radio set has a tremendous
range for sending. Its possibilities
have not been fully determined. In
stead of requiring masts from 200 to
tOO feet high, the aerial wires are be-
ing raised on masts only % feet high.
Field Marking Equipment.
Included In the equipment is a field
marking radio device which enables a
pilot to steer exactly for the center Of
his landing field, although it may be
Invisible and obscured by clouds, rain,
snow or fog. The tremendous import
ance Of this invention, which has been
perfected by the bureau of standards
on the Initiative of the aerial mail
service. can be barely realized by those
unfamiliar with the art Of flying.
Fog is the aviaror's most dangerous
enemy. A majority Of crashes and bad
landings are caused solely by the in
ability of the pilot to determine his
position and the location of a suitable
landing place.
"a new compass has been devised
and put in service on the small planes,
but one Of the most important contri-
buttons to aviation being worked out
by the aerial mail service, with every
prospect Of success, is q nonmagnetic
and n~ongyroscopic compass which will
overcome the unreltability Of the mag
netic compass caused by vibration and
other disturbing features Of an air
plane in motion.
Through the announcement and
actual assistance Of the aerial mail
service an American inventor has
created a self-cleaning spark plug for
the powerful high-compression type of
Liberty motor.
w have every reason to believe
that these new inventions will do much
for the transcontinental service when
1T Is installed. Heretofore the only
argument against the aerial mail plane
was that railroads were more depend
able than flying machines for long
:hauls, that planes could not make
transcontinental or long cross-country
flights with a surety Of success be-
cause the weather might either delay
the start or force a landing on unde-
sirable ground.
There was much In that argument
until the wireless va called into play
In behalf Of the air mail plane"
Cut Down the Time.
Air service across the continent from
New York to San Francisco will cut
down the time of transmission Of mail
by almost two days, according to Mr..
Braeger. He says:
1.-THE proposed transcontinental air
mail from New York to San Francisco
Is the result Of u inability to get the
railroads to give the Pacific coast
cities. notably Los Angeles, San Fran
N{o0o md cn0%t11 nm @6Hnl~-L ~.n~l0
service. A letter mailed in New York
and making all connections takes 30
hours to reach San Francisco.
If you write a letter Monday it will
leave New York at $40 o'clock that
night, and If the trains are on time
will arrive in San Francisco at II 80
O'clock Friday afternoon. During rs
days in October the mail reached San
Francisco on schedule only five times.