Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-15
FLYING statesmen
PIONEER IN RADIO
Harry M. Horton of Washing.
ton First WireIessed
From Plane.
ALSO AN INVENTOR
Four-Cylinder Curtiss Pusher
Communicated With Ground
in 1910.

Cs,,ina down to earth is about ire
hardAst Job with which the :fNi"tor
has TO contend, sometimes iiguratNe-
" as we'll as literally.
Bat they do it. At least IN "ash ,
ington. Here's IA major taken W
estate, one of Washington compos-
ing rooms boasts Tying sales
man. big printing concern has an
other ex-pilot estimator.
And.then I saw Harry NJ. Horton
on the window OF the Duesenbers
salesroom. wonder can that be the
Horton | used to know in 1910.
1t was, and he wanted to know II
/ recalled changing tires five times
on the way to Mineola. He surely
had good memory.
In Automobile Game.
Well. here he was in the automo-
bile game. but he kept as close 10
aviation as he could. for he showed
me the Duesenberg engine. with its
overhead camShait for all the WoTio
like the old Liberty and its predeces-
sor in this country. In one way oi
speaking. the Hispano-Suiza.
Like the Wright Brothers, Horton
who was a captain and pilot in the
war, Is a pioneer inventor in the field
of aeronautics He holds a basic pat
ent on radio from aircraft and. II the
government has made no mistake IN
acquiring its license. Horton will
reap his reward. for radio equipmen
is an immediate necessity the moment
commercial flying and inter city air
craft routes are inaugurattd.
Another chapter in aerial achieve
ment is recorded in the sending of
plane in flight" was the proclamation
broadcasted by John A. ID. McCurdy
from his fouY- cylinder Curtiss pusher
at the Shcepshead Bay meet in Au-
gust 1910 These were the first words
ever sent from an airplane in flight.
Apparatus Weighed rs Pounds.
The sending apparatus. which
weighed twenty-five pounds. was Sc
cured in the machine just behind the
pilots seat 1t was designed by Har-
ry NJ Horton. previously an expert
with the De Forest Company. The
telegraphic key was fastened to the
steering wheel. For a ground there
which was thrown over and allowed
to dangle below the machine. The
antepnae consisted of the guy-wiring
of the machine.
In the fall of 1909 Capt. Horton saw
his first flight on the Mineola plains
y
need for a method of sending infor-
ma atom to the rear the instant it was
obtained. Radio messages had been
sent from balloons in experiments
but it had not been possible to get
one away from an airplane. Horton.
however, did It,
Continued Experiments.
Following this first public demon
stration, Horton and McCurdy con-
tinued experiments at the Curtiss field
at Hammondsport. n. Y. and four
years later the English and French
were adjusting artillery by radio. To-
day all armies and navies use aircraft
radio for variety Of purposes. We
speak from plane to earth and vice
versa. A squadron commander com
municates to other planes in flight.
formation are flown at command of
the voice from anywhere. mail planes
are guided through fog by directional
radio and so on.
The principal great inventions have
been brought forth by men working
In this field as avocation. riding
their hobbies in their spare time. but
making. their livelihood along more
prosaic lines. Horton reversed the
procedure. He turned aside from the
rainbow and took up the even tenor
Of selling automobiles. But then, he
first made success Of the dream.