Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-28
LIGHTS TO Be SET
AT BOILING FIELD
Installation of Beacons and
Floods for Mail Planes to
Begin Tomorrow.

flying base as safe TO fly in and out
of at midnight as at noon.
Revolving beacons, flood lights,
boundary lights and obstruction lights.
all the property of the Air Corps and
valued at $4,000. are being assembled
here, first to bring Boiling Field up
TO the highest possible standard as a
military flying base and second to as
sist the District of Columbia in main
tanning its relay point on the New
York-Atlanta air mail route. which
opens about November I.
Without the assistance of the Air
Corps in this respect, Washington
either would have to provide the night
flying equipment, as both northbound
and southbound planes will arrive
here late in the night. or forego the
privilege of having a stopping point
on this newest and one of the most
important airways.
Even though no mail plane stop
had been scheduled for Washington
the War Department would have car
ried out its decision to equip the field
with night flying facilities. but. it is
understood orders for executing the
project were given with an eye TO
having the field well fortified before
the inaugural flight of the air mail
service.
District Will Benefit.
F. Trubee Dawson, Assistant Score.
tary of War in charge of aviation, al.
ready has departed from an iron-clad
policy of the Air Corps by granting
the use of Boiling Field to the Pit
Gair of
delphia. holders of the air mail con-
tracts for the New York-Atlanta route,
on receipt of evidence from the Dis
trict Commissioners that every effort
would be made at the coming session
of Congress to secure authority and
funds for the establishment of an air.
port here.
Now, the District is an equal bene
ficiary of the lighting equipment
which Air Corps pilots of adjacent
fields are expected to take advantage
of instead of being forced to spend
nights away from Washington because
they cannot be guaranteed safe land
ing.
The entire project has been given
to Capt. Christian A. SchwarZwaelder,
Quartermaster officer of Boiling Field.
to carry out. The biggest portion of
the work will bs the erection of the
boundary lights, which will be placed
on the entire perimeter of the field.
Capt. Schwarzwaelder has so of
these lights, which will be spaced
about 200 feet apart. Each one, how
ever, will rest in a concrete base and
the current cables will lie under
ground, necessitating the digging up
of the entire border line of Boiling
Field, which is about 3 miles.
Boundary to Be Illuminated.
When these are lighted the actual
boundary line of the field will be bril-
liantly illuminated from the air. CIV
ing to the night pilot as good. IL not
a better, idea of the area available for
Settling down" as he is able to OBJ
tain in daylight.
The boundary lights will stand about
5 feet above the ground in most cases,
but toward the south end of the field,
which is bordered by row Of trees
acting as a dividing line between the
fields limits and the old steel plant
property, they will rise to about Is
feet. >a@i
Obstruction lights. of about the same
power as the boundary lights, which
are 40-watt bulbs, will be placed on the
hangers, and even the tennis court in
front of the officers quarters viii be
designated, The radio tower at the
field. as well as similar towers at the
naval air station and the navy yard,
already are marked with red lights.
The food lights, six in number,
themselves are sufficient to enable a
pilot to make a perfect landing. as far
as visibility is concerned. Each of
these burns q 1,500-watt bulb and has
a lens "a inches in diameter. They
are mounted on portable stands, and
already IL plugs have been established
along the line of hangers, enabling the
lights to be carried wherever desired
and connected up. One of the lights,
however, has been permanently fixed
at the engineering hangar, the last one
at the south end Of the field.
Can Designate Bad Spots.
The advantage of the portable
lights, according to Capt. Schwarz-
waelder, is to enable the night light
ing force to designate to the. incom-
ing pilot. by concentrating the illumi.
nation, just what portion OF the field
is the best to land on. Frequently a
big mud hole develops on certain
section of the field, making landings
there extremely dangerous. Should
a mud hole develop in front of the
operations Office, which is used the
most, all the lights would be concen-
trated toward the south end of the
field, where the ground usually is
solid in the wettest weather.
The revolving beacon. a powerful
searchlight pointed skyward and turn
Ing constantly in circle. will be
mounted on a tower on the operations
ONCE. This beacon, of the type used
on the transcontinental air mail serv.
ice, flashes it's rays, into the night and
would be the first evidence to an in
coming pilots eye that his port is
at hand.
An unusual feature is attached to
the beacon, which has a lens of "a
inches in diameter. 1t carries two
bulbs and should one burn out, the
other automatically lights. At the
moment the first bulb gees out, red
light, mounted on the dome of tho
beacon, goes on Immediately. serving
notice to the ground force as we'll as
the pilot that but one light is able
to function.
Lights to Parallel Road.
According to the installation plans
the little boundary lights would rur
parallel with the concrete road at the
north end of the field and inside the
road-that is, on the field itself
down to the naval air station. Then
they would skirt the outer edge Of
the stations buildings and resume the
line at the sea wall, running south
az far as the trees. A sharp lef
turn would be made, and the lights
would go in a line north as far al
the railroad tracks, and then another
left turn, down the line of hangers
and from hangar No. diagonally
across to the guardhouse, along thu
officers' row and back to the start
ing point.
Capt. Schwarzwae elder . is being as
sisted in the erection Of the lights
by Albert j. Murphy. mechanical en-
gineer of Fort Humphreys, Va. ant
engineers of the Potomac Electric
pntxyor Cn