Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-31
BY Lieut.. COrley McDarment

BY Lieut.. Corley McDarment
The attempt Friday of Lieut. John
A. Macready to set up a new worlds
altitude record for aeroplane flight
and the announcement that the
French airman Calico is about to
climb Mount Everest by airplane
have a very keen interest for all
aviators, because the men who fly
does not know-the weird sensations
and experiences involved in altitude
flying. 1t offers the severest test
in aviation for both men and ma
chimes.
An aviator going up for an alti-
tude flight must wage Il continuous
battle with the vacuum.
1t seems paradox!cal to carry on
duel with nothingness, but this
vacuum of space Is a deadly com
Blatant. 1t cries to every cell in the
body to release its gas. 1t pulls at
every corpuscle in the blood in an
attempt to draw out the little par
ticles OF air that are carried therein.
drawn out through the skin. Even
are called upon to release their quota
Of air and help I'LL the immense
emptiness of space.
Winds Of Whirling World.
An unsual element that an aviator
encounters while trying to climb to
the highest shelf of the atmosphere
and pluck the altitude trophies. Is the
terrific wind. An easterly wind Of
about 200 miles an hour blows con-
stantly out near the rim Of the air.
This Is the wind that the earth
makes in its rotation. At the equator
the earth drags the air around with
1t at the rate Of 1000 miles an hour,
but this speed slows up near the poles.
1t Is about 700 miles an hour in mid
die North America. But as the air
is going with the earth, the velocity
is not noticed in the lower strata.
Out at the edge. however, where there
Is nothing to make friction, the air
whips with great velocity. One avi-
atCr trying for an altitude record In
September, 1918, was blown 200 miles
of his course in about an hour and
half. II an aviator stayed up long
enough. and there was cloud strata
below obScuHng the earth. he might
be IN danger Of descending IN the
Great Lakes or the Atlantic Ocean.
Lets Air Oooze Out.
BY climbing up into the rare atmos-
phere slowly-and most airplanes
climb more and more slowly the
higher they go-an aviator can
gradually let the air ooZe from his
body without serious discomfort. But
a too rapid ascent will cause rupture
Of skin and blood vessels.
Just how far a man can be de
natured' or aired out" in this way
nobody knows. But 1t is certain that
fight must be put back on coming
down. The return to earth causes
more discomfort to aviators than the
going up to great heights. The rule
now is to come down to about the
20 900 foot level and cruise around for
a while IN order to get accustomed
to earthly atmosphere again. Even
from this altitude an aviator cannot
descend at once to earth without ser-
GUS consequences.
Air Is Very Thin.
The kinetic theory of goses indi-
Gates that one half Of the earth's at
mosphel-e is contained within the first
3h miles above the surface, and one
half the remainder is within the next
3Ia miles. With the atmosphere ex-
tending to less than 100 miles at the
most. it is apparent that when an avi-
ator gets over 80. 900 feet he Is plow-
ing through the skimInings.
In making flights to great attitudes,
the horizon continually climbs up to
a level with the airplane. 1t looks
like the rim Of a giant punch bowl.
and it becomes wider and a little dim
mer the higher a flyer ascends.
A man would have to go up about
1000 miles before the bowl rim would
drop away and an arc of the earth's
circumference could be detected. OF
course, there is no immediate prospect
Of an airplane flight to this altitude.
AS an example Of how close to the
earth the highest altitude flight is: If
the earth We're ball 8 inches in
diameter, a height Of 100 miles, or
$4,000 feet, would represent dis
lance of only one-tenth OF an inch. If
q man on the moon could see an air
plane making an altitude record flight
he could probably not see daylight be
tween the plane and the edge of the
earth.
The human body would probably
burst at an altitude of 100 miles. 1t
would certainly do so If taken to such
a height quickly. for the air pressure
there is only about one four-hundred-
rnillionth Of that at the surface of the
earth.
Loneliness of Heights.
The loneliness of great heights is
oppressive. The few clouds that
sometimes creep as high as $4,000
feet are like icy ghosts of another
world Sometimes a spectral snow
storm Is encountered, the snow com
ing from nowhere and never reaching
the ground, as the fakes turn into
cloud mist thousands of feet below.
Flying through heavy snowstorms
in July or August is not an uncom
mon experience to aviators who go up
to unusual heights. The fash of the
propeller blade, the up-and-down dance
Of the rocker arms on the engine. the
snowy coil of frozen gas from the eX-
haust pipes and the culver of the
slim white hands on the instrument
diaIs are the only movements that an
aviator sees when he goes after an
altitude record. and all these things
are a part of himself. He lives with
the machine. 1t Is the only other liv
ing thing in that void realm. The
steady drone of the motor trails off
into space, and not the slightest echo
of reverberation Is heard. There is
not enough air to hurl echoes back,
even if the sound reached anything.
This unnatural loneliness helps to
make the passage of time seem long.
From the immense heights such
earthly things as automobiles, trains,
trees, individual houses, are lost to
view. A road or a river becomes a
tiny thread, small lakes resemble
pearl shirt buttons, towns and cities
fade into little patches of squares
that have a color slightly different
from the COUNTRYSIDE.