Evening star., 1927-08-21
LIEUT.. SCH|LT ENDS
22,oIID+M|LE TRIP
IAaine Pilot in Air $40 Hours
in Six Months Doing
Photo Work.

nhOtOEGAnnN, StdLlciiSh az IL Wv -
Field. Quantico. Va. has just accom-
nlished 4 wears work for an am
bitious aviator by flying 80 hours In
six months.
During this period, which began the
middle of February and ended two
days ago, he flew distance OF 22,0oV
miles. photographed 5000 square miles
of coast line in the Caribbean Sea
and the Gulf of Mexico, photographed
JAG seapIane bases and lighthouses
and took 5000 pictures from a con-
stant altitude of 10000 feet.
The achievement fell under the
heading of routine service" for the
pilot, who was selected to assist the
photographic Office of the Navy in
its task of recharting the coast lines
of Cuba and adjacent islands and
making aerial maps for seaplane
routes along the Atlantic and Gulf
Coasts. Lieut.. Schilt was ordered TO
prepare for the expedition shortly
after the Schneider international sea-
plane races at Norfolk last November,
in which he won second place in the
Army Curtiss racer now in the Smith
sonian Institution.
Work Done i'm Short Time.
Without the assistance of the air
plane. the photographic Offices task
would have been laborious and years
and wears would have been required to
complete what Lieut.. Schilt, lowering
about miles above the earth and
water accomplished in few weeks
actual flying.
The expedition was composed of two
Looming amphibian planes with
Liberty engines, and four airmen
Capt. J. E. Davis of Quantico was in
ax-.pv h inn g
Master Technical Sergt. B. f. Belcher,
also of Brown Field. Accompanying
Lieut. Schllt was Sergt. II. H. Dogan,
attached to the Photographic squad
ron at the Quantico base.
Capt Davis took charge of the en-
tire details of the trip, while Sergt.
Belcher looked after the planes,
leaving Lieut.. Schilt and Sergt.
Dogan to do the actual Photographic
work.
Leaving Philadelphia. where the
planes were obtained at the naval
aircraft factory. the survey project
few down the Atlantic seaboard. MAX
ing photographs of IS lighthouses
and seaplane anchorages and bases,
which will form the principal land
marks on seaplane airway maps now
being made by the photographic
Office. Key West was the base of
the expedition. Here gasoline and oil
had been cached and Photographic
films were stored '"on ice"
Used Ship as Base.
From Key West the two amphibians
flew to the U. S. S. Macomas, based
at Cayo Fragoso, on the northern
coast and lying about midway on the
Island of Cuba. The Macomas was
engaged in making soundings for de-
tails of the charts and the photog-
raphers made that ship their base.
Four hundred miles of Cuban coast
line, extending from Havana to Cayo
Sabinal. stretched out before Lieut..
Schilt and Sergt. Dogan. This rep
resented the actual coast line. while
keys to 10 miles from shore ran
almost parallel for the entire dis
tance. Both the keys and the coast
line were photographed.
AS Photographic officer and pilot of
the plane, Lieut.. Schilt was respon-
sible for the proper focus, while
Sergt. Dogan did the mechanical work
Of opening the shutter on signal from
the pilot in the front seat Taking
off from the water, Lieut.. Schilt first
had to climb to the 10000 foot level
and then figure out as close as he
could estimate, the force of the wind,
iiOW AZ was HClpAiS VI
the plane back: whether it was from
the port or starboard side; all with the
view of getting a correct range" on
the target. His speed with relation
to the ground depended upon the tim
ing of the exposures which ranged
from 13 to IS seconds.
Held Difficult Course.
In addition to keeping on a per-
fectly straight course and co-ordinat-
ing the cameras exposures with vari.
ances in the speed of the plane. Lieut..
Schilt at all times had to keep the
amphibian at the 10000 foot altitude
level Any degree of change from this
position would have a tendency to
disrupt the scale of the charts as they
are prepared from the photographs.
An allowance of so per cent overlap
on the photographs had to be consid
cred by Lieut.. Schilt. as the pictures
are joined together in a mosaic mar
when assembled. From 10000 feet
the camera included an actual area
1900 feet square, allowing for the
overlap. Each film was numbered and
lettered. and by these identiflcations
no trouble was encountered in as
sembling them in their proper places
The films were 6la by 8k inches in
size.
Day in and day out the amphibian
cruised high above Cuba's coast line.
The plane carried fuel sufficient for
four and a half hours flight, and for
while was able to return to it's base
on the original supply. Later, how
ever, as it got farther and farther
away from the Macomas It was forced
TO depend on emergency bases along
the coast.
The longest days work was eight
and a half hours, while the Others
averaged around four and half and
five hours flying. Three months were
spent on the northern coast, and dur
ing this period eight flights were
made back to Key West for fresh
Photographic films.
Then the expedition cut across the
island and few down to the Isle OF
Pines and spent week photograph
ing the coast line Of that island anC
over two score keys" running east
about so miles. Upon completion ol
this, about 90 miles of coast line be
tween Cayo Blanco del Sur and the
city of CienfuegoS were covered thor
ouGhly This area is in the Province
of Santaclara. While in the Isle Of
Pines region the planes based on the
beach and the personnel quartered or
the l.. s S. Hannibal, another hydro
graphic ship.
On May the airmen said farewell
TO Cuba and moved back TO Key West
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