Evening star., 1925-11-29
BY FREDERICK II. NEELY.
n HE end Of the flaming coffin
era of aircraft Is in sight,


In years to come pilots Of
L Americas air force whether
it be united or as at present
constituted) will look with amaze
ment on the old DeHavilland ABB that
Capt. st. Clair Street, flew from New
York to Alaska and return and the
Douglas world cruiser Chicago that
Capt. Lowell II. Smith piloted around
the world as they repose in the Ma
tional Museum here. They Will Won
der how not only these two men, but
thousands of others who flew during
and after the war. ever escaped death.
The ground work for an ideal plane
equipped with devices that will guar
antee a heretofore unheard of safety
factor now Is being laid by aero
| nautical research institutions and the
aircraft industry. This plane is not
of the type pictured by the fantastic
minded persons with little or no
! knowledge of aircraft design, con-
struction or aerodynamics. There Is
| nothing tangible as yet about this
plane, none has been produced that
the average man. with a few min
| utes instruction, can take up and fly.
Yet ii is in the making.
Mitchell Barred Danger.
The industry, in cooperation with
various governmental institutions, has
developed many improvements and
plans either actually or on paper. but
| the task is to assemble these pieces
into an efficient airplane. 1t is not
possible to go to an airplane sitting
! on the ground, hang numerous instru-
! ments and devices on it and expect
an improvement in it's performance
and an increase in its safety factor.
These changes must be made in the
drafting room.
! Col. William Mitchell, during his
testimony in his own behalf before
the Army general court-martial. star
tied the layman, who has been led to
believe the plane has reached its maxi
mum development, with d sweeping
condemnation Of the safety factor of
the craft in use by the services today.
While specifically referring to two
types-the war-built DeHavilland OBJ
servation and the Curtiss JN train
ing planes-he made II clear his OBJ
jections to these planes applied to
others as well. In other words, he
declared the service craft of today
embodies merely the base or founda-
ton for an ideal planet
Military planes today can be handled
only by extraordinary men. The plane
doesn't fy-it is flown and II Is not
a question of handling controls and
dilo"inS 1ne IoTCe OF the engine 10
pull the ship through the air. 1t is
foregone conclusion that a ground
man could not get into a plane for the
first time, take 1t off. fly around the
airdrome and land 1t again without
damage to the craft or himself
Months and months Of theoretical and
practical training acquire this feat,
| and even then @ student, with sufi-
! cient Information in his head, kills
himself on his first flight. All because
the plane as constituted today is the
| base or foundation. the general idea
and scheme of manfltght.
Many Safety Devices
Col. Mitchell emphasized in his
/ testimony that if the aviators killed
| in crashes. even where there was no
| structural or mechanical failure, had
| had equipment embodying a few of
| several known safety devices, they
I probably would be alive today These
| devices are many, some are practical,
! have been tried and proven true,
others never have been off the ground
| but in theory they are excellent.
Two obstacles stand out for con-
| quest by the designer and builder of
airplanes, the stall in the air and the
fire on crashing. These two alone
would almost bring the plane up to
1850 standards, conservative airmen
believe. Time after time a plane has
crashed and on the impact with the
| ground the pilots head has been
| thrown onto the cockpit edge, render
| Ing him unconscious for a few min
| utes. Where no fire occurs he is
| none the worse off for the accident
On other occasions. he is rendered
senseless Temporarily by the crash but
at the same instant the highest
aviation gasoline eXplodes, the plane
! is a roaring furnace and even with
| help close by he cannot be removed
An airplane has a certain flying
! speed. or speed sufficient to carry it
, through the air. When 1t falls below
/ that figure, say 60 miles an hour, the
apparently feather-like object imme-
| diately is converted into thousands Of
| pounds of iron, steel. wood, fabric
! and human weight. It's natural tend
ency Is to plunge downward, and by
! the construction of the craft it spins
Expert aviators can "cut the motor"
| at 10000 feet or less. allow the plane
| to fall into a spin, and by the mo-
| mentum 1t gains on the fall recover
| sufficient flying speed to pull 1t out
and glide safely to earth. But with
! 500 or even 1000 feet between the
plane and the ground when a stall
occurs, and with no motor to bring
| back the lost speed. doom is written
| across the ground Immediately.
Faulty Equipment.
| Many of the accidents and fatal
| ties recalled to Col. Mitchell by the
| prosecution during the cross -exami-
nation were due to stalls, spins,