The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-09-02
An unsung ConqucrOr Of Ocean Skies
(Minneanolis .To,,rnan


Colonel Lindbcrgh has won from the world an
acclaim unprecedented in our times. Byrd and
Chanbcrlin and the othcr who this year have darrell
the winds and fogs and storms Of ocean skies have
rightly worn lustrous laurcls.
Eut the cheering public does not even know the
name Ct the man VIII, made these exploits poss bic.
the man called by the Review Of Reviews the hero
IF all ocean flights" tho unslng conqucror of the
problems that had baked past efforts to bridge the
seas with wings
This man is Charles Lanier Lawrence. designer
.! the whirlwind motor the engine used by all the
American transoccan flyers.
Since avatons infancy it has been apparent to
all aero;lautca engineers. ard to laymcn and even
schoolboys as we'll that tho arplanc's utility would
increase in direct ratio with tho spread between
power and dead weight. That is to say, regardless
ct Improvement in wing design and arrangement,
the advance Of aviation has depended largely o.
progress in engine desgn-on making the motor
deliver more power for each pound of its own
weight.
The first e all successful airpancs, that flown
~ the Wrghts at kittyhauk, was driven by 4
four-cylindcr watcr-coolcd motor. And for many
years no effort was made to get away from water
cooling to switch to type of meteor from which
the heat Is dssipated directly to the air from "ns
on the cylinders.
Even tho end Of tho world war. with all the rev
dictionary developments in airplane construction.
which that conflict had forced. found aviation almost
entirely dependent watcrcoolcd engines.
And so long the airplanc had to carry thu
wsi*:.t Of It's motors water jacket radiator and
water transoccarjc flying necessarily Jagged, for
the reason that the cooling system cut into carrying
capacity that was needed for fuel for long distance
voyagin..
But all this time Charles Lanier Lawrence was
busy. Beginning in 1916, hc worked for six years
IN an air-cooed airrlrne engine before he had
brought it to point that warranted the beginning
Of commercial c. nloitat.ca.
1t was this n,oteror. at least it's direct descend
ant-that drove tho Spirit of St. Louis to Paris,
that Drove Chambcrl;n and Levine to Germany. thai
drove Commander Byrd t, France. that drove the
Army and civilian planes. from California to Hawaii;
II is this man. Lawrence. who is,cntiticd a. least
to honorable mcnti0n in that chartcr of the history
of aviation which deals with the marvellous achieyc
mcnts If TIE year 1927.
Ard how the doggcd work that led to the
Mhirlw.:d motor made possible? What sustained
l.awrenc. pcrsevcringly ut his task until he tri-
umrhcd? Whence came the whcrewthal for tn.
purchase Of materials and labor? Whence came
the bread and mt a. that kept him alive throush thu
years & SOW progress toward his goal? , :,
Chiefly the.c things camo fran tho United States
government, from the navy saslG war departments
in the form Of experimental contracts. And tho ie.
partmcnts continued giving this. aid in the face OF
the almost unanimous views Of other civilian OK
perts that air cooling would prove successful
"a motors yielding as hi.h as = sAsndrcd sand fifty
horsepower
| A good thing TO remember the next time the
abatement is made that the war and navy depart.
ents have been asleep At tho switch in the natte,
Of aviation. r.