Evening star., 1930-06-15
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH s. EDGERTON.

IF the Army Air Corps decides
to adopt the two-place pursuit
plane after this revolutionary
n type of military aircraft is put
to the test this Summer, there
will come the troublesome prob
lem of determining the effect of
the plane on military aviation.
There are several schools of
thought in the Air Corps on the
two-Seaters and the results of
their arguments are going to
make very interesting watching
for every one interested in aero
nauticS, especially military aero
nauticS.
There are some who predict
that the two-seater will alter the
whole fabric of military aviation;
that the dog-fight of the World
War will become a thing of the
past and that the very makeup
of groups and wings must be
changed to meet the new condi-
tions.
One group in the Air Corps is
Of the opinion that the two
scatter will make the pursuit plane
OF today as extinct as the famous
old Jennie" training plane, which
Is plenty extinct. Another group
admits that the two-seater will
run the single-Seater out of the
middle air, but that at extreme
attitudes the Single-Seater will
reign supreme, as it does today.
A third group has naught but
sneers and jeerS for the two
scatter, saying that it will find no
place whatever in the military
structure.
Plane Ready Soon.
The Army's first experimental
two-place pursuit plane now is
nearing completion in the Balti-
more plant of Berliner-Joyce Air
craft Corporation. It is slated to
go, upon completion, to Wright
Field Dayton, Ohio, the Army Air
Corps materiel division base. Here
test pilots will put it through
series of flight tests, which may
have a profound effect on the fu-
ture of Army aviation. Or, per-
hapS, no effect at all.
The Navy also has two-seater
troubles. There is at the Anacos-
tia Naval Air Station a two-seater
Curtiss fighter, which corresponds
to the Army pursuit plane. This
plane, officially designated by a
horrible conglomeration of letters
and numerals, to wit, "XF8C-4," is
in process of flight testing, and
the opinions in the Navy regard
ing its place and worth are many
and varied
Apparently in the Navy, how
ever, there is not so much doubt
over where two-Seater should
fit into the existing structure, ow-
ing to the fact that Navy fighters
are not confined to pursuit work,
as in the Army, but also are used
for light bombardment. This di-
versity OF use for single type of
plane makes it easier to adopt
into the happy family such
struggling founding as a stray
two-seater or other variation Of
the conventional.
His Majesty, Pursuit.
In the Army, however, the sin
gle-Seater pursuit plane always
has had its niche on the heights,
serene and alone. All pursuits
have been Single-Seaters since the
beginning and all pursuit planes
are pursuits and nothing else.
The very idea of a two-seater
pursuit, quite conceivably, may
come as something Of a shock to
the righteous and high minded
pursuit pilot, accustomed from the
year l P. A. pursuit aviation) to
flying alone and protecting his
rear elevation from inimical, hos
tile and unkindly enemy fire by
superior manipulation Of rudder
bar and control stick.
1t may be that pursuit pilots
feel, deep in their belligerent
boSomS Cbelligerency at all times
is the first duty of the pursuit
pilot, that the pilot of pursuit
plane who needs a gunner on the
back porch to protect his tail is
a pretty low sort of fellow and
one with whom it might not do
to mingle too much socially, at
least not until he had been tried
in the crucible of duty and found
not wanting.
A Sedate Pursuiter.
1t would appear that the two
scatter will not be called upon for
quite the same strenuous aero
battles the pilot of the single
scatter must invoke for safety.
Guns in rear cockpit may be re-
lied on to make a much more
stately lady out Of the two-seater
than her hoydenish sister, the
Single-seater.
When man must depend upon
two guns fixed so that they may
be pointed only by pointing the
whole plane, he requires what
agility his plane may muster to
bring those guns to bear on
twisting and elusive target. BY
the same token, when he is the
pursued. that same pilot, sans
guns behind, welcomes any kind
OF maneuver, no matter how
giddy. to get him out Of reach Of
his foe and into position to press
a trigger and make said foe a good
Indian inStanter.
Consider, however, the two
scatter. In the front seat is a