Evening star., 1923-12-09

SoLiihlttee ana 1dNoraDly reported too
late to get through in the last .es-
sion of Congress. 1t was enc Of the
first bills reintroduced In the new
Congress.
1t provides for the disposal of
obsolete property and abandoned
fields of the air service of the Army
and would use the proceeds toward
the development of the field and
equipment for the engineering divi-
sion of the air service now located at
McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. There
all the research and experimental
work is being carried on unde: the
direction of the government. both b.
Army and Navy officers and by
civilian experts.
Some Late Inventions.
/ There the most wonderful discov-
cries and inventions have been
already made and problems worked
out, while the promise for the future
is startling and wellnigh incred-
ible. Some of the achievements
are as follows:
The earliest references to the use Of
the mariners compass are to be found
, In Chinese history about 121 A. d. A
| knowledge of the compass was COM
municated to the early Arabs, and
through them introduced into Europe.
During the regime of Charles of
Anjou. the King of Naples, Flavio
Gioja, the Neapolitan mariner, i'm
proved the compass. making 1t prac-
tically Indispensable to mariners. 1t
was, of course, used by Columbus
when he sailed west across the At
lantic. but no substantial change in
the compass was made until the per-
sistent effort of those engaged in re-
search for the air service. Now there
has been devised what is known as
the ground indicator compass. where
by the course of the plane in the air
may be determined and set and the
| reading taken by the pilot In the
cockpit with the electrical and mag
netic apparatus at a remote part of
the plane, where it can not be af-
fected, as heretofore. by the metal and
electrical equipment Of the motor.
That is tremendous advantage. No
where in the world before has 1t been
possible to read compass except
vention the reading of the compass
is made at a distance and accuracy as
never before is obtained.
There has also been invented a
bombing sight far superior to any
thing known during the days Of the
war, whereby bombs are dropped
with extreme accuracy from a height
of 10000 feet and more. At that
height the plane is above the reach
of any anti-aircraft defense.
Work OF superchnrser.
The supercharger, the finest ex-
ample of which has been invented in
the United States, weighing but few
pounds, congresses the rare atmos-
phere of high altitude so as to enable
the motor to function with its full
horsepower as at the sea level, which
without this instrument, would be
impossible.
The list of inventions and dis
coveries includes electrically heated
clothing for use at high attitudes.
oxygen breathing devices, coating
for the goggles, and electrical wiring
which prevents the formation of frost
from the moisture of the human eye
in the extreme cold. which is fifty
degrees below zero at 100000 feet in
the air; a device for changing the
pitch Of the propeller SO as to op
crate more effectively in the rarefied
atmosphere.
An interesting plane is the battle
plane, with it's three e-sixteenths- inch
will fuyp
machine guns and a three-inch can
non, a five-inch gun having been
successfully fired from an airplane.
Photographic apparatus has been
so perfected that pictures showing
details can be taken from such an
altitude as will keep the plane out
of sight of those on the earth's sur
face.
The Almen, or barrel-type, motor is
being perfected. which promises to
revolutionize the power system of
airplanes. While the engine of a
motor truck on our streets produces
but one horsepower for twenty
pounds Of weight, motors have now
been developed which will produce
one horsepower for less than two
pounds of weight. The Almen motor,
operating with eighteen cylinders set
horizontally, nine on each side of
a wobble plate, bids fair to be revo-
lutionary in securing enormous power
for little weight in the smallest and
most compact motor yet devised.
The Barring is the greatest airplane
ever built in the world-sixty-five
feet from nose to tail, twenty-seven
, feet high, 10 feet in wins spread
and with a weight. loaded, of more
than twenty tons. 1t has six motors
of $50 horsepower each. 1t rises into
the air and lands as easily as small
ship. The Barling is capable of
carrying 10,000-pound bomb of
INT, the effect of the explosion Of
which would wipe out city, a 1000
pound bomb having been sufficient
to sink the Ostfriesland, the boasted
| unsuitable" ship of the Germans, off
the capes in the demonstration a
year ago. 1t is said that the Barling
is but the beginning of great ships
for both the national defense and
transportation in the great era of air
navigation which Is almost upon us.
There is also an appealing human
side to this aviation experimental
| ton. as stressed. by Representative
Fitzgerald. During the best year the
United States ever had in aviation
s per cent of the Army aviators
were killed. The retirement law for
those courageous men requires thirty
years Of service. the same as for
other branches of the Army. Casual
computations shows that on an aver
age an aviator is entitled to re-