Evening star., 1929-12-15
HHE necessity for continued
and augmented research
and experimentation in

anu duRulGIlGGQ ISHGdICil
and experimentation in
= aeronauticS is stressed in
one after another of the annual
reports of the many governmental
departments and bureaus which
deal with aviation. The number
of these reports which discuss
aviation matters is astonishing
They show that nearly every
branch of the Federal Govern
ment makes use of aviation in
some form or another or is con-
cerned directly or indirectly with
the physical or social problems
created by flying.
The need for Increased research
runs like a keynote through the
reports, civil and military alike.
Various problems of airplane and
motor structure, materials, air
traffic control, aerial navigation,
aviation weather forecaSting and
reporting, radio and other CON-
municationS methods and aircraft
instruments are being considered
in nearly a score of different
branches of the Federal service.
It would be heavy task to go
through all of the scores of an
nual reports and, like Little Tom
Horner, to stick in an eXplorative
thumb and pull out the plumS of
aeronautical information. If one
man were to do that conScien-
tiouSly he would have time for
little else during the pre-ChriSt-
mas period when annual reports
are in their prime.
Even the most casual eXamina-
ton of any bundle of reports Sc
lected at random will show that
aviation has indeed taken hold in
the Federal Government and is
widening it's sphere Of influence
into nearly every phase of gov
ernmental activity.
Such unrelated branches OF
Government as the Smithsonian
Institution, the Naval Observatory,
the Bureau of Mines and the Navy
: photographic Office are found at
work on aeronautical problems.
Many Bureaus at Work.
The Bureau of Mines is working
on helium production for airShipS;
the Naval Observatory is heavily
involved in the designing and eX-
animation of aeronautical naVga-
ton instruments; the Smithsonian
Institution long has been actively
interested; the Navy Bureau of
Yards and Docks is engaged in
public works for aviation; the va
riouS Federal medical officers must
concern themselves with aviation
medicine, especially the surgeons
general of the Army and Navy;
the Washington Navy Yard and
the Bureau of Construction and
Repair are at work on aviation
studies in wind tunnels and tow
ing basins; the Army Air Corps
and the Navy Bureau of Aeronau-
tics, naturally, submit reports on
many phases of aeronauticS; the
National Advisory Committee for
AeronauticS covers the broad field
of research, with the Bureau of
Standards as its lesser rival; the
Coast and Geodetic Survey, the
Navy photographic Office and
others are handling aviation map
ping; the Department of Com
merce is involved in aeronautics
through some 10 or IL of it's sub
divisions, including the Bureau Of
Lighthouses, the Federal Radio
Commission and the National
Committee on Wood Utilization;
the Treasury Department has un-
der its supervision the United
States Coast Guard and its grow
ing aviation activities; the De-
partment of Agriculture operates
its own airplaneS for cotton dust
ing and the Forest Service main
tains aerial forest fire patrol; sur
vey work of the Interior Depart
ment is conducted from the air;
the Alaska Bureau of Public Roads
works on airports and uses the
airplane for inspection; the State
Department has its own aeronau-
tical WorrieS-it would be possible
to go on along this line for some
time yet, but this paragraph al
ready is grown beyond all dictates
Of newspaper discretion.
N. A. C. A. Urges Research.
The latest of the Federal de-
partments to become interested in
aeronautical development is Labor,
JI14OOBAI 4Jo Oh4Cc VA &A4AA4AA6ASN
ton, which is concerned with the
smuggling into this country by air
of unlawful aliens.
One of the ShrewdeSt appraiSalS
of the aeronautical situation yet
to come from the governmental
agency is included in the fifteenth
annual report of the National Ad-
visory Committee for AeronauticS,
which closes with pressing ap-
peal for more research.
1.-THE committee" says DR.. Jo-
Seph S. AmeS, chairman, believes
that the continuous and Sys-
tenatic study and investigation Of
the basic problems of flight is the
most fundamental activity Of the
Government in connection with
the development of aeronautics,
and in the discharge Of its re-
sponSibility under the law recon-
mendS the continued support OF
its work in the fields Of pure and
applied research in aeronautics."
In transmitting the report to
Congress, President Hoover en-
phaSizeS again the necessity for
continuous scientific research"
on the fundamental problems OF
AiOhf