The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1922-01-24

Ofl08e-Uke STRUCTURE mounted On !
turntabie upon which there Ii the
usual car which carries the airplane.
and this car is propelled by COM
pressed, air. Frequent tests have DEM
Onstrated that it is possible to launch
by such mechanism any of the types
Of airplane or sea lane which would
be carried upon a hattleship.
1.-THE problem of launching an air.
plane in a Shor, run by means of the
catapult Dope. ds upon several factors.
The first and primary ole is, Of
course. that at the. end of the run the
catapult should have gwen the plane
speed sucl that when the plane Is
released from the car the wings will
lift 1t into the air and flight has be-
gun. This requires that the launch.
ing velocity shall he somewhat in ex-
cess of the minimum flying speed of
the plane. SerOn it is necessary
while the pla IS being brought up
to this flying speed that the plane be
held securely to he launching car
rage in order tin Il will not leave
the track too 500. finally, it is nee
eSSary that the acceleratiOn of
launching shall MOI be so great or
so violent as to injnre the pilot, who
must ride in the plane and preserve
all his senses aler- in order to take
charge as soon as lie is released at
the end of the run.
HT1n60r n,n6ifiOnC fhp sea-
plane in it's preseI state Of develop
ment is entirely practical, although In
very rough weather landing upon
the sea is likely t. mean the damage
If not the loss of the seaplane, al
though it Is to be expected that the
aviator can be rescued. The cOndi-
tons of the weather. However. are not
believed to offer any Inconvenience to
launching by means of the catapult.
and i'm time Of war the commander In
chief will launch his planes in the
air where they may accomplish their
mission regardless of whether or not
the planes may be salvaged intact
upon their landing"
Federal Law Needed.
In summing up the development of
aviation in 1921 the Scientific Ameri-
can says:
"The outstanding fact in American
aerOnaUtics is that the United States
is still awaiting the passage of fed
eral law for the licensing Of pilots.
the inspection of machines and the
general encouragement and control Of
the industry. As matters stand, any
man is at libertyI to buy or build an
inferior machine, take up passengers
at so much a head, and kill both them
and himself Gas not infreQuently hap
.pens) without q word Of official pro-
test Thus, the art is discredited and
the public discouraged. If aeronautics
Is not illegal, 1t is at best nonlawful
and will remain so until congress does
its duty. While foreign governments
are encouraging aviation, commercial
progress in the United States is due
entirely to the unaided efforts Of the
manufacturer and the individual In
yent0r. All honor, to them. 4
"Some truly remarkable records
have marked the efforts of the past
week. In France, Sadi Leconte in
training for the Deutsch cup contests
achieved a speed of 2061s miles an
hour in a biplane, and came pretty
close to that mark in the race itself.
This was for short distance, straight
away.
1.-THE record over q 15O-mue closed
circuit was gained in the Pulitzer
trophy by Bert Acosta in Curtis
Navy racer. when he covered the dis
lance at an average speed of 1867
miles per hour.
Another startling feat was that Of
Lieut.. John A. Macready, who on Sep
TENDER %, rising from McCook field,
Dayton. O., attained height of .40,OOS
feet. He used electrically heated
clothing, the oxygen tank, and the gas
turbine supercharger. His La Pere
biplane was the same in which Schroe-
der climbed to $3.50 feet in the pre-
ceding year.