Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-14
PROGRESS NOTED BY u. S. NAVY
IN IT'S AIRCRAFT BUILDING
Situation Described as Presenting Various
Problems, But Construction Program Is
Being Successfully Carried Forward.

battleships for several years is being
| replaced by more efficient type, with
greater speed, greater load and greater
operating range. There are only two
or three of these in existence and,
while they are understood to meet all
needs, final tests have not been COM,
pleted and no large production orders
have been given.
''Battleship Fighter Needed.
Then there is need for battleship
fighter, a class of plane which has
not yet made its appearance. The
carrier-pursuit ships, fighters from the
nose to the tail, are not adaptable
to battleship duty because of their
weight, so something almost as eff
cient but suitable for catapulting
must be obtained. A competition for
such a type opens at the Naval Air
Station at Anacostia in q few DAYS,
and three aircraft manufacturers have
submitted samples, which will be given
thorough service test before any
further steps are taken.
While no authorization was given
for increasing the personnel to any
stipulated figure, except in the case
Of enlisted pilots, the training center
Of Pensacola, Fla. is being augmented
by schools. at Hampton Roads and
San Diego for candidates from the
Naval Academy. A larger flow of
candidates is pouring into Pensacola,
and these two subsidiary stations
necessitate the increase in training
planes. To this end design compe.
tition recently was awarded. but it
will be a considerable period before
production is begun on the winning
nIonn G IT
first must be built and then given
a thorough test.
New Types to BE Tested Out.
In connection with the acquisition
OF new types Of planes, three airmen
on duty at the Naval Air Station
here, comprising the test section Of
the station. will have a predominant
part to play. They are Lieuts.
George r. Henderson, chief of the
section: James d. Barner and S. w.
Galloway.
The duty devolves on these three
men to take new planes submitted to
the Navy, fly them in every con-
ceivable manner and fashion and then
report whether they are fit for Navy
service or not. These three birdmen
who were constituted into the section
January l Of this year, check and
recheck each other until there is little
opportunity for errors of consequence
to creep into their findings.
Days are spent on determining the
maximum altitude a candidate for
Navy adoption can reach. Lieut..
Henderson, for example, will go aIoft
with Paragraph and a chart, record
ing on the latter the rate of climb
in minutes and the time required to
reach the planes ceiling" This rec
ord will be checked against the baro-
graph, which registers itself, and then
Lieut.. Barner. without knowing what
his colleague has found. will go aloft.
Upon his return to earth Lieut. Cal
laway will take the same plane.
Differences Noted.
Often the plane does not perform
exactly for all three pilots, who
are regarded as of the best in the
service by virtue of their experience
and demonstrated ability. So the
whole thing will start over again until
satisfactory agreement is reached
among the three on the planes capa.
bilities in that respect.
Then will follow tests for maximum
speed up and down a%course laid out
along the river. after which will come
tests for minimum speed, minimum
time required for the take-off and
maneuverability and pther perform
ances.
Similar tests also are run on en-
gineS and plane accessories These
three officers will take over the can
didates for the battleship fighter COM
petition, just as they have passed on
or rejected other types Of craft.
Test work Of this sort in the Army
is carried on at McCook Field, Day
ron Ohio hU q pr1sp IF Toirlyad MI
The Army section has had the duty
for years of determining what types
are best suited for Air Corps work,
while the Navy's activities in this mat
ter have been scattered Since the
first of the year, however, a larger
concentration of test work has been
made at the air station here, which
in test work alone is comparable to
the McCook Field detail.
Bureau of AerOnautics Busy.
While the Navy barters with the
aircraft trade for more efficient mill
tary planes, the Bureau of Aeronau-
tics also is continuing the development
Of air-cooled engines begun a couple
Of years ago under the direction of
Comdr. e. E. Wilson. From the state
Of affairs today, it appears that even
tually all service planes, with the
exception of the very large and heavy
types. will be fitted with the air-cooled
power plants. Already all observa-
ton planes carry the Wright J-5 or,
as 1t is known in commercial aero
nautics, the "Whrlwind' engine.
Many of the pursuit planes and a
few of the larger observation planes
are being fitted with the Pratt &
Whitney Wasp" Of 400-horsepower,
and there now is being developed two
still larger air-cooled engines. the
Wright Cyclone" and the Pratt &
Whitney Hornet" both of which are
close to 600 horsepower.
More than SO. 900 900 American eggs