Evening star., 1928-05-04

Continued from First Page)
above and the latter half continuing on
with the dive and looming under the
big bombers. Had the spectacle been
one of actual warfare the bombing for
nation would have remained unbroken.
unless a plane or two was destroyed. as
the formation is the best defense they
have. Today they presented a small
target and several pilots on landing
explained that they would not have
feared real bullets from the pursuit
guns. because OF the difficulty In get
ting a direct hit at such terrific speeds
and In such formation
AS a diversion. three crack pursuit
pilots from Selfridge Field-Lieuts. W.
L. Cornelius. I. A. Woodring and j. j.
WILLIAMSBURG an astonishing exhibit
ton of formation acrobatics Flying
in W" alignment the three pursuit
pilots looped simultaneously. coming out
OF the loop in perfect formation. and
then executed maneuver never before
seen here. They dived down on the
field wide open and zoomed, and as
they climbed they broke open like A
flower. the left plane rolling of in that
direction. the right doing likewise and
the leader executing a normal loop.
No one could find a name for the
maneuver. Then Lieut. Williams broke
OF, leaving Lieuts. Cornelius and Wood
ring TO execute some remarkable ma
neuvers together. Formed one ahead
OF the other the two planes executed
the difficult slow barrel roll. fast barrel
roll. loops and upside down flying. The
eNnioition drew applause from the
official witnesses.
Smoke Screen Laid.
The spectators then saw for the frs;
time new advancement in the art ot
smoke screen laying In the past. big
oomoers have been employed for this
work because OF the weight of the
equipment necessary A bomber. it is
neid, on attempting 10 shut OF ar
area against an enemy or its own
troops, would be raked with shot before
II nniSned. Four Of the pursuit craft
bearing no Identification that they were
other than fighting planes except for a
small pipe that dropped vertically from,
beneath the pilots seat, took the air
In a regular military. formation they
maneuvered about the field and then
disappeared behind the hangers.
Without warning. they suddenly ap-
peared AT the far end of the field fly-
ing over loo miles an hour and about
10 feet above the ground. Together
they opened their smoke tanks and the
white, binding chemical poured out
from beneath each plane In a fash
they were gone and the entire half OF
Langley Field was blanketed of from
the other
The smoke clung to the ground for
10 minutes. Ohlitsrating large num-
Der of planes that had been parked at
the far side OF the field. OHicerS OF all
branches OF the service were elated with
the speed and effectiveness OF the
maneuFer.
shortly before the smoke screen
demonstration, sausage" balloon. held
fast by cable, was run I'D az the far
end of the broad airdrome 10 an alti-
tude of about 1000 feet After daShing
across the field with their smoke. the
pursuit planes put ON altitude ana
climbed up into the sun. Suddenly
they were seen to be diving one behind
the other towards the balloon, and the
firing Of their machine guns could DC
heard. As the third pursuit plane
passed close Ia the balloon and Eo0med.
White smoke could be seen coming from
The tail section. followed by a red glare
Then the huge bag. falled with hydro
gen. exploded. dropping to earth in a
mass OF flames aud leaving vertical
column Of black smoke III It's wake
This concluded the morning exhibition
The entire demonstration Is under
direction Of Brig, Gen. Benia
FouloiS. assistant chief ot the Air Corps,
who also IN commanding ogrfcer Of the
LIST Air Brigade. which constitutes the
independent cir force Ills chief al
staff. who worked cut most ei the
details Is Mai Carl SpatE.