Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-25
CHAMPION WRITES
HIS OWN STORY OF
ALTITUDE FLIGHT
Continued from First Page)

Upon arrival at the naval air station,
! at Anacostia, this morning. | dressed in
! two suits of heavy underwear, wooden
socks. a doWn-filled suit and Il light
| fur-lined leather one. My feet We're
protected by sheepskin.lned mecca
sins, and my head and face by a
| heavy fur-lined helmet, with the face
mask made into it. My hands were
| covered with light fur-lined gloves.
| with a large Uncovered mitten on the
| outside.
Oxygen Equipment Simple.
The oxygen equipment used was OF
! the simplest. Two small TASKS of
one liter capacity each contained
oxygen gas at a pressure of about
| 1000 pounds per square inch. The
oxygen was led through small tube
| to an ordinary commercial pressure
| reducing valve, such as is used for
| oxygen welding equipment and many
other purposes. This valve permitted
| me TO regulate the flow of oxygen at
will. From the reducing valve the
| oxygen was passed through a small
| flow meter on the instrument board.
| from which / could determine the eX-
! act amount of oxygen being used.
From the flow meter the oxygen
| passed through a small rubber tube
| to a mouthpiece, which / held in my
| teeth.
A little before z o'clock I took
off from the air station field. Every.
| thing f,lnctioned perfectly and the
plane climbed rapidly and smoothly
| for about 40 minutes. On the way
up | turned on a small supply OF
| oxygen when at about 5000 feet.
| Oxygen is not necessary at any such
altitude, but | have found from ex-
tyrrr
| above moderate attitudes. it is en-
| tremely desirable to start the oxygen
| considerable below where it's need will
| be felt
Saves Reserve Strength.
This first oxygen prevents the pilot
| drawing on his reserve strength for
some time before he becomes con-
| scious of that fact and permits the
| lungs to readiust themselves to taking
| oxygen in the pure form by the time
| that an excess amount will be needed.
l. In climbing l clrcled the field in
| spirals of increasing diameter until
at height of about 10000 feet l
| found a southwest wind which would
| compensate for my forward speed.
| BY flying directly into this wind |
was able to continue climbing with
out making any very great advance
| over the ground. In this altitude
| I had nothing to do but watch the
| City of Washington become smaller
and smaller and Chesapeake Bay
| and the Eastern Shore of Maryland
| appear to come closer and closer.
These conditions obtained until I
had reached some altitude which pro-
badly will never he determined. /
could judge my altitude only by the
| especially accurate test altimeter
which was mounted on the instru
! ment board With the experience of a
great number of fights to attitudes
| above 10000 feet, am able to form a
rough idea only of altitude by the
| amount of oxygen required for normal
conditions. The true altitude is deter
mined after each flight by the records
brought back by two Paragraphs
mounted for the purpose in the air
plane. Immediately after starting
down I noticed that my altimeter indi-
Gated $4,000 fee. Before reaching the
maximum altitude. 1 remarked the un.
usual condition which existed. /. e.. it
required more oxygen than the service
supply would furnish.
Exertion Tells on Him.
When at some altitude which am
confident | have never attained before
things began to happen so rapidly
that | cannot be sure even in my own
mind as to exactly what took place.
My first indication Of trouble was Sc
we're vibration in the plane. l imme-
diately began to investigate. every
thing within sight from the cockpit.
While engaged in this investi-
CATION the exertion Incident to it
told Immediately. / realized that I
was not in full possession of my facul-
ties and Immediately opened the emer-
gency valve on the instrument board,
which by single motion admits large
volumes of oxygen from separate
tank to the mouthpiece. This seemed
to do no good whatever, and l found
myself in various unusual positions,
first with the plane headed straight
upward and then headed straight
downward. I did my best to grasp
the situation and only succeeded in
realizing that it was necessary for me
to descend without further delay.
For a while 1 was not aware of
what happened and cared little about
it so long as I knew that / was de-
scending rapidly. l then realized that
there was very severe Vibration
throughout the entire plane and TINT
the oxygen mouthpiece was hanging
by the rubber tubes in the cockpit.
First Realization or Fire.
can only assume that the first
shock of vibration or that my move
ments in inspecting the plane pulled
the mouthpiece away from me ana
that therefore neither the service nor
the emergency oxygen was reaching
it's intended destination. l managed
with some effort to get the mouthplece
back through the helmet into my
teeth. A big blast from the enel
gency oxygen supply quickly restored
me to my normal faculties, only 10
discover that the vibration was much
more severe than / had realized pre-
viously and that there was a hre
around the engine.
A violent sidesip, followed by a
dive, was successful in blowing out
the fire. At that time / was at an
indicated altitude of $4,000 feet. Inc
dive nearly proved the undolng OF
the whole performance, as the Vlbra-
ton in the engine, when driven by the
propeller acting as windmill, seemed |
that 1t would tear the engine from us |
mOuntinSs.
With the fire out. and the gaso-
line supply shut off at the tank, |
was able to again take stock of the |
situation. The whole plane continued
to vibrate badly, but to fly normally.
at least the controls were working |
very satisfactorily from my point or
view.
After that experience, I glided |
toward the field as slowly as l deemed !
necessary to miQ&nize the vibration |
Immediately tMseafter. the engine |
again caught ohFfire. I was forced
- Ia ns,I 1isysv~e