Evening star., 1925-10-16
NAVY RADIO ERROR
BROUGHT FAILURE
Of HAWAIIAN FLIGHT
Report to Show Wrong Posi-
ton Given When Goal
Was Within Range.
ONLY TWO VESSELS GAVE
REAL AID TO PLANES
Planes Chief Kept Expedition
From Greater Failure bv
Own Navigation Skill.

Comdr. John Rodgers and his crew
of the PN-9 No. l would have been
spared the hardships of floating
adrift on the Pacific Ocean for nine
days and would have flown gloriously
| into Honolulu if somebody on the
Aroostook had not made an error In
| giving radio bearings to the Pacific
Coast-Hawaiian flyers
This fact will occupy a prominent
| position In the report Of Comdr.
Rodgers to the Navy Department, It
| was learned today on reliable author
| ity
Comdr. Rodgers, according to his
friends here. is content to let the
| statement that the Aroostook was re7
| sponsfble for failure of the flights
| ultimate achievement to stand for
what 1t Is worth. While he has dis
missed the entire expedition from his
mind, in general way. it is known
ne has given some thought to that
error which cost naval aviation the
| victory after it was virtually in sight
; 1t was also made plain that Comdr.
i Rodgers has not sought to shift re-
! sponsibility, but merely to emphasize
+! the lack Of dependability of radio
| bearings.
Only Two Reports Right.
From the same authority it was
learned that every ship stationed on
the line of fight with the exception
of the Langley and the Doyen gave
/, erratic bearings to the PN-9 and these
| averaged so miles off the base course
Comdr. Rodgers skilled knowledge of
navigation, however. kept him on a
course irrespective of the positions of
these station ships. After he had
passed the Farragut, however. and it
was ascertained that the fuel supply
| was low, it became necessary to find
the Aroostook in order to land. refuel
and continue the flight for the re-
naming 230 miles.
| Comdr. Rodgers. it is known, had
/ the deepest confidence in the Aroos-
1 took to bring him in because the COM
manding officer of that ship was his
classmate at the Naval Academy and
a close personal friend. He had been
in correspondence with the ships COM
mander for many weeks prior to the
fight and had learned that that
vessels radio was very enthusiastic
and diligent in its practice work. The
| captain Of the .PN-9 No. !, however,
endeavors to recognize the lack of
complete development in plane-ship
radio communication as an outstand-
ing point of the entire project.
Revealed Error When Found.
| When Comdr. Rodgers arrived in
| San Francisco aboard the U. S. S.
Idaho from Hawaii he and his crew
were rendered a lunchen by the cit
liens committee at the San Francis
| CO Commercial Club. Seats were re-
served, and it is understood it was
nf n
sion." The captain of the PMS No.
l in a brief address before that body
! stated the ultimate failure Of the
fight was due to incorrect bearings
received from the Aroostook. This
information was brought to Washing
ton a short time ago by one who had
been in attendance at the function.
Comdr. Rodgers pilot. Lieut.. By
ron S. Connell, told the Presidents
Air Board that the failure was due
to misunderstanding of the radio
bearings" from the ArOostOok, but be-
| yond that statement he offered no
| elaboration.
While the flight originally was de-
| signed to be nonstop, Comdr. Rodg
ers had taken precautions to refuel
at sea In the event he ran out of
gasoline and conclude the flight to
the islands. He still is confident that
had not the tail wind, on which so
| much was depended. failed him, he
! would have set his plane down at
Pearl Harbor for the greatest nom
stop seaplane flight in the history of
aviation. Even when he went down
| with empty tanks. however, he
achieved this honor, having landed
! a little more than 200 miles from
the objective.
Accuracy Impossible.
With present radio compass equip
ment on ships Of the Navy it is i'm
possible to tell accurately a bearing
given by radio. With mobile stations
such as are placed on ships Of the
Navy they would receive a compass
| signal, but there is no way Of telling
whether the signal is coming from one
side or the other of a compass quad
rant.
For instance, If ship picked up a
bearing of $50 degrees it might be the
| reciprocal for $50 degrees.
The only accurate way of determin-
| ing a position at sea from mobile sta
| tions is to get nearly simultaneous
! signals from two ships. These may be
! plotted, and where the two bearings
| cross would be FIX" or the position
of the ship at the time the bearing
| was taken. One bearing merely gives
a line of position. which shows that
| the vessel is somewhere along the
| line.
| The last bearing that Comdr.
Rodgeds' ship is understood to have re-
ceived was bearing of 1S1 degrees
which was just south of the Aroostook.
Could Have Found Position.
| This bearing might have been a re-
| ciprocal. or 361 degrees. In that event,
| with only this line of position, the
proper thing to have done to test it
| out was to change the heading of the
ship and get another bearing. In that
| event, the changing angles from the
original bearing would have shown the
navigator whether he took the true
bearing or the reciprocal
1t is admitted by experts on radio
| compass that In the event another
| such fight was held they frankly
| could not in any way improve on the
arrangements that were made. 1t de-
| pends entirely upon the navigator of
| the ship as to how many bearings he
| takes and where he takes them. There
| is a radio compass being developed
which will give only a true bearing,
| but it was said that its operation is so
complicated that j. would be more
| dangerous to use than tilo Iy'aaant
| compass, which does not pick out the
true direction.