Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-17
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

Aviation Editor of The Star.
Pursuit planes hanging thousands OF
feet high in the icy air above the
clouds or in the eye of the sun, waited
to dive like hawks, and vigilant out
posts on the ground below have made
the anti-aircraft maneuvers, which
come to close here today most re-
alistic war" for the pilots of the
Red bombardment and attack forces
based at Boiling Field.
Any war entails hardships and the
mimic war held over hundreds of square
miles of Maryland and Virginia this
week as test of the Nations method
of defense against hostile aircraft, has
been no exception to the ground and
air forces engaged. Day and night pa
trolls have been flown through storm,
clouds, rain, blazing sun, and in alti-
below the zero mark always.
The war has not been without its
hazards to the combat squadrons, as
was demonstrated by the fact that one
of the attack planes came home with
leaves and tWigS jamned in the under
carriage, the result of blowing through
the top Of a tree in low-altitude
maneuver. A big twin-engined bonn
bardment came back with damaged
wing-tip gained in the same way.
Some of the discomforts and diff
culties which have made the maneu-
verS real test of endurance for the
pilots were experienced by the writer
on O. high-altitude bombardment mis-
sion flown yesterday afternoon from
Boiling Field against the Blue" air.
drome at Aberdeen Proving Ground,
Md.
Pilot Proves Big Heart.
Flying equipment was drawn in the
operations Office at Boiling Field and,
since it was to be an altitude flight,
the heaviest equipment available was in
demand-heavy fur gloves, wool-llned
leather helmet, full-length flying suit,
goggles and parachute. The pilot, Lieut..
Jack w. Wood of the I'd Bombardment
Group, Langley Field, Hampton, Va,
had fieece-lined boots, leather lying
suit, also lined, and big heart, SO he
gave up his leather flying jacket to go
under the lighter flying suit, which
was the best operations had to otfer.
There were no boots, so the writer was
advised to tuck his trousers legs inside
his socks before donning the hylng SUIT,
suggestion which was accepted and
for which thanks were devoutly offered
later. =.
you'll have to act as navigator
Lieut.. Wood said, probably laughing up
his sleeve as he did so, and passed
over a scaled map of the entire battle
area, with penciled lines marking the
route to be followed on the mission.
The map was fastened to a metal panel
with heavy rubber bands and at the
top was a card bearing the compass
bearings to be followed on the various
legs of the flight.
With parachute dangling, map and
gloves in hand, we climbed into the
pilots cockpit, more than 10 feet above
the ground in these big twin-engined
planes. The pilots sit side by side, with
dual rudder bars and dep" control
which may be swung from one man to
the other. An instrument panel, plaS-
tered from end to end with instru-
ments and topped by the magnetic COM
pass, divided the cockpit from the for
ward can" round metal crows nest
in which the forward gunner or bomber
is stationed IN the very nose of the
plane. To either side were the big
Wasp air-cooled engines, idling easily.
Safety Belts Fastened On.
Safety belts were fastened, helmet
straps frightened, goggles adjusted. Lieut.
Wood reached his left hand down be-
tween the two seats where the throttles
for the two engines are located. The
engines roared, the plane began roll
ing, and almost Immediately the tail,
many feet behind the cockpit, rose The
speed increased, the shock absorber
plungers heightened out, and the wheels
left the ground. The clock on the dash
showed l pm.
The plane nosed up in gentle climb
out across the Potomac and into the
deep blue sky and scattered white
clouds. The compass bearing was noted
as 24l degrees, and Lieut.. Wood set it
climb as the miles began to roll by be-
low. The first leg of the flight was to
Calverton, Va, 40 miles to the SOUTH
| west.
The country began to spread out be-
low. the Potomac dull silver under the
left wing, the Wicomico misty ashen
gray in the distance beyond. The alti-
valley of Occoouan Run the plane was
nearly a mile above the green and
brown of the farmlands below. The
hottoms of the lower level of clowdS
were inst above with blue sky and warm
Sunshine between their scattered masses.
At 5000 feet, Manassas off to the left,
the first whiSps of clouds began to
stream away below. 1t became very
evident bv checking on the map and
with the clock that we were battling a
rather stiff head wind. The miles be-
low were rather laggard. At 1:5O, how
ever. the plane was above. its first goal.
Calyerton. the point set for the begin
ming of its mission:
Calverton was a few miles beyond the
first line of blue observation outposts.
100 miles from Aberdeen. we could
sense that there were watchful eyes
down there. now nearly two miles
straight down. waiting to send by field
radio To Aberdeen the word we, hos
tile" plane, had passed over. nm
Lieut.. Wood spiraled up to 5000 feet,
above the lower cloud level, and headed
of on the new compass bearing, 40 de-
grees, almost due northeast, toward
Belair, Md, nearly 100 miles away; AT
1855 the, plane, still climbing, enter req