Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-04
LEAP FROM AIRSHIP TO GLIDER,
DANGLING IN SPACE. DESCRIBED
First Test of MotorIess De-
scent Is Detailed by Lieut..
Ralph S. Barnaby, US. N.
Ground at LakehurSt Reached
in 13 Minutes From DirigibIe
Los Angeles, 5000 Feet Up.
BY CORINNE FRAZIER.

The thrill of climbing down a ladder
that dangled into space 5000 feet above
the ground, the momentary uncertainty
of leap from the ladder to his glider,
a feeling of intense relief and cold
freezing, biting cold-these were the
sensations of Lieut.. Ralph S. Barnaby,
the United States Nays only licensed
glider pilot, when he made his first test
of descent from dirigible in glider
over the Lakehurst IN. j. Field last
Friday morning.
"Once I had cut loose from the Los
Angeles, realized that the worst was
over and the thing had worked" said
Lieut., Barnaby in an interview yester-
day. MY chief sensation was one of
immense relief; that is, for the first five
minutes of the drop. After that I was
too cold to feel anything much. It was
midnight before I thawed out thor
oughly. The air was icy, and keen
wind didn't help matters much"
Heavily Clothed.
Lieut.. Barnaby was unable to wear an
electric flying suit because there is no
current in glider. He was clad in his
regular blue service uniform, with
sweat shirt underneath and wind
breaker on top. He wore two pairs of
socks and helmet.
So eager was he to return to Wash
ington to his bride after the test-he
has just been married a few months
that he took an airplane back that day,
arriving home in the evening.
The object of the test, Lieut.. Barnaby
said, was to test the practicability of
attaching gliders to dirigibles as a part
of their regular equipment for the pur-
pose of sending down an officer in case
of emergencies to assemble and super
wise landing parties in unknown ter
ritory.
Complete Control Provided.
"In the past one of the greatest haz-
ards of large dirigibles has been the
danger of landing where no prepared
landing field was at hand" he said
'Parachutes are not very practicable
for such purpose. as one is more or
less at the mercy of the winds in a
parachute, while in glider the pilot
can direct his landing to the spot he
chooses. He has complete control Of
the situation.
THE controls of a glider are identical
with those OF an airplane, so that even
an inexperienced officer, if he be an
airplane pilot, could effect landing If
the emergency arose.
THE idea of adding the glider to
airShip equipment originated with Ad-
miral w. A. Moffett, chief of the Blu
reau of Aeronautics, who called me into
conference on this matter in December.
He asked me if thought it could be
made practicable, and / said I did. I
was sent up to Lakehurst two weeks
ago to work out the idea, and devised
my equipment and had it placed on the
Los Angeles during that time.
First Practical Use.
"Our test, we think, proves conclu-
sively that gliders have a definite and
practical use as aids to airships. 1t is
the first practical use we have found
for the glider in the Navy"
Asked to describe his descent, Lieut..
Barnaby said:
I'VE took off from Lakehurst at about
10:45 o'clock Friday morning and
gained an altitude of 5000 feet by