Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-13
WILLIAMS SINGS
NAVY SWAN SONG
WITH NEW "STUNT''
Continued From First Page

CONTINUED From First Page)
ing said that he had had no notifca-
ton of Williams intended flight and
further expressed doubt as to whether
the Navy would subscribe to such a
flight, characterizing it as personal
publicity"
The inverted or outside falling leaf is
thought to be the last aerial maneuver
possible with the present-day airplane
which never has been successfully per-
formed. Many pilots have accidentally
fallen into the first phase of the OUT
side falling leaf only to find themselves
almost instantly in an Upside down
spin, which in a number of cases has
proved fatal. In no case, however, so
far as Is known, has any pilot who has
started an inverted falling leaf made
more than the first slip before he has
begun to spin.
Williams feat Saturday is the re-
suit Of many months of planning in
advance. He had worked the maneuver
out to its last detail mentally and by
the use of a model airplane. Every
control surfaces and every movement
of the pilots controls was figured to
the last detail.
Taking off in the little silver plane,
he roared up in breath-taking climb.
circled sharply, rolled over and was
flying along upside down. There fol-
lowed a remarkable demonstration Of
upside down flying, of which Lieut.. VIII
liams was one of the earliest pioneers
and is the most successful exponent to-
day. He was warming up" Half an
outside loop, from the inverted position,
followed by d SNAP roll" also from the
inverted position, and the warming up
was completed. The snap roll from the
upside down position also Is decidedly
new. In this nnaneuver the plane rolls
rapidly like q barrel. Normally the roll
starts and stops with the plane right
side I'D. With williams 1t began and
ended with his head hanging toward the
ground.
Completes Inverted Falling Leaf.
Then he began to climb up into the
blue Summer sky. AT 5000 feet or more
the ground, the wheels Of his plane up
to the sky. The motor was throttled all
the way down, the propeller spinning
lazily. A wing dropped and the plane
slid sidewise and forward, gathering
speed sickeningly, It paused, just on the
verge of the fatal spin. The lower wing
began To raise rapidly to the level and
above. The ether wing dropped and the
plane began sliding to the other side,
and again was checked just on the
ragged edge Of the opposite spin. Back
and forth the slashing sidewise swo0ps
continued, the plane falling rapidly, up.
side down toward the earth, which VIII
lams saw above his head.
Suddenly, after q half-dozen slips in
either direction, Williams checked the
f1Aneuyer, though remaining still head
down, leveled of, and. still upside down,
showed the stick forward and began to
climb with wheels to the sky. The In
verted falling leaf had been completed.
A slow, climbing roll followed, ana
williams again began to climb high
into the sky to repeat the strange and
startling fnaneuvef. Coming out Sec
ond time, he cifclsd Boiling Field and
the NAVEL Air Station twice upside
down, banking the turns e easily as
the average pilot does right side UP.
Head down. ne dove toward the field,
rolling over close to the ground ana
setting the little plane down like d
feather. His career as naval hyef was
at o close.
Aims % Make Flying Safer.
Conquerins Of the inverted falling
leaf Ii q part Of the long struggle Of
Lieut.. Williams to make flying safer.
He believes that mastery of this ma
neuver by pilots, especially military
pilots, who must resort to acrobatics,
would decrease the danger from outside
or inverted spins.
Saturdays display marked the close Of
his 11-year study of inverted flying,
in future military combat operations.
It is the last remaining maneuver
which had not been performed from
the inverted position and completed the
cycle of possible acrobatics with the
planes and motors now available, Lieut..
Williams believes.
There still remain two maneuvers
which never have been performed, he
said, but these are impossible until
much more powerful motors are avail
able than are found In the airplane Of
today.
Born in Bronx County, N. T.. Lieut..
williams was graduated from Ford1Am
University with his A. B. degree in 1916.
He had starred In college foot ball and
base ball and was signed up as pitcher
by the New York Giants, with whom
he played until the outbreak of the
World War, when he entered the naval
aviation service.
Risked Life to End Spin.
Only five months after receiving his
wings he performed his first great
contribution to the progress Of naval
aeronautics. Students were being
killed with appalling frequency in the
then standard type of Navy training
plane because Of its tendency to 20 into
nat spins from which the students could
not recover. These were the days be-
fore parachutes were used and the
student could do nothing but spin into
the ground or water.
Williams, as q test pilot, puzzled over
the problem, working It out in his mind
during leisure i1otirs with the help Of
model He decided that the spin
could be broken and, though he had no
parachute, took up one Of the training
planes and deliberately put it into the
spin which had been fatal to q number
OF pilots. His theory worked. He broke
the spin, regained control and landed.
He taught his method to the pilots on
the station and that particular trouble
was eliminated. This achievement Of
williams, Navy chiefs said, undoubtedly
was the means of saving many lives
and increasing morale in the service.
Inverted flying always fascinated
Lieut.. williams and in 1919, when he
demonstrated that an airplane could
be controlled while on It's back. he be-
gan to study out the problems of in