Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-01

dial air-cooled engine. Since only
half the engine is visible, there
presumably are IL of these things.
The aviator who saw q 12-cylin-
der radial engine today would
climb sorrowfully out of his flying
togS and go to consult the nearest
flight surgeon, most poignantly
aware that something was wrong
somewhere. The nose Of the fuse
lage is so fat as to be dropSical,
the middle is emaciated and hun
cry. The wing tips of the Spirit
were square cut; the stone wings
on the shield are anything but
square. And were the stone plane
to fly down off it's stone shield
and attempt to land, it's poor pilot
could expect nothing better than
a rending and grinding behind as
the whole tail disappeared, for
the plane has no tail skid at all.
At any rate, it is reasonably
certain that the aeronautics
branch never would issue an ap-
proved-type certificate for the
plane depicted on the shield
which is supposed to represent it's
activities. One official of the
branch, seeing the picture, said
that if it ever were immortalized
in stone and he saw pilot look
ing at it, he would feel like crawl
ing into a hole and coming out
disguised as a clerk in the Office
Of the wood utilization committee.
Test of New Type Fighting Plane.
FLIGHT testing of something
new in the way of Navy fight
ing planes is to begin this week
at the Anacostia Naval Air Sta
ton. The new fighter, built at the
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corpora
tons Baltimore plant, is unique
in its wing arrangement. 1t is a
biplane, with the lower wing
dropped completely below the
fuselage and the upper wing faired
into the top of the fuselage.
The novel placing of the wings
gives the pilot exceptionally good
visibility. The upper wing is on a
level with his eyes and only the
thickness of the wing interferes
with complete vision forward. The
1OWC1 W11lS 10 81 4d4 DCAOW do w
interfere very little with vision
downward. There is a space of a
foot or more between the upper
surface of the lower wing and the
bottom of the fuSelage, the two
being connected by struts.
The lower wing is very close to
the ground, the landing gear be-
ing placed just forward Of the
wing. This arrangement is ex-
pected to give the "cuShioning"
effect in landing common to the
low-wing type of monoplane, re-
sulting in easier landings and
faster take-offs.
FuseIage Stream-Lined.
The fuselage is beautifully
stream lined. The fairing behind
the pilots head, normally short in
most airplanes, is carried clear
back into the vertical fin, as in
racing planes. While performance
figures are withheld as military
secrets, the new plane looks fast.
It's precise speed and other per-
Torrance data will be determined
by the flight tests beginning this
week.
The Berliner-Joyce organiza-
ton also is building a revolution
airy two-seater pursuit plane for
the Army Air Corps. This plane
is to be ready for flight testing
this Summer at Wright Field,
Dayton, Ohio.
The "Berliner" half Of the cor
poration is Henry Berliner of this
city, first operator of Hoover
Field and founder of the Berliner
aircraft factory at Alexandria, Va.
Mr.. Berliner has just acquired a
sport plane to be used in commut-
ing between his home here and
the Baltimore plant.