New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1930-06-28
NEW AIR RECORDS
ARE ROUTINE WORK
Lieut.. Apollo Soucek Unezcited
Over Altitude Marks

Washington, June IS. When
Lieut.. Apollo Soucek, USN. put mis-
seaplane down on the Potomac with
dead stick" just before dark a
few DAYS ago he had completed
more high altitude flying than any
other human has done before him,
In a year and a half he had set
four world altitude records, two
for land planes and two for sea-
planes, and had made countless
test flights above $4,000 feet,
region where humans seldom go.
Although Soucek is famous the
world over for all this higher re-
search" the public actually knows
very little about the man. The
reason is simple. He is just the
kind of a man the public wouldn't
know much about. He is quiet,
sincere, modest, and not given to
ballyhoo.
The other day, having accom-
phshed more in the Bureau Of
Aeronautics than even his most
optimistic superiors had expected,
he was assigned for duty with the
aircraft carrier Lexington on the
! Pacific coast.
Men Regret Transfer
! An enlisted man at the Anacos-
tia Naval Air Station who has
been putting in time on battle
ships and land stations for 20
wears. summed up this flyer pretts
we'll when he remarked one day:
Il sure hate to see that man leave
Washington There isn't more
perfect gentleman in the navy than
Soucck."
They call him "Soakum." He
is an Oklahoma farm boy. of me-
dunn height and build, good LOOK
ing and a good fellow. He has
been in the navy 10 years, inclnd-
ing his four years in the Naval
Academy. He is 33.
He was graduated from the
Academy in 1921, served three
years aboard the battleship Mis-
sissippi as junior officer, and went
to Pensacola, Fla. in the spring of
1924 for flight training.
Later he served with the air
craft squadrons of the battle flc",,
thcn aboard the battlcship Mary
land. where he served as junior
aviation officer until May Of 1921,
when he was transferred to the
. Naval Aircraft Factory at Phila-
delphia. He stayed there only a.
couple of months, then went to
Washington, where he was assign
ed to the Power Plant Design Sec
ton Of the Bureau of Aeronautics.
Fitted for High Flying
He sat at the desk of Lieut.. G.
c. Champion, who had been the
altitude flyer before him. Souc"ll
wanted TO continue the work. He
was put through the "re-breather"
test, to see if he was fitted for
altitude flying. He was. The test
showed that he could 90 10 $4,000
feet without any oxygen at all,
which is indeed unusual.
For the last year and a half he
has been doing altitude flying.
First the world altitude record
came to him. Then the world sea-
plane record. Then Germany took
the first one away, and he deter
mined to get it back. He worked
for almost a year on his plane be
fore It was ready for the trick.
He had all kinds OF troubles
propeller, supercharger, carbu-
rotor, oxygen. Everything went
wrong, but one by one he ironed
ont the difficulties. When he fin
ally was ready, he flew 1000 feet
higher than he ever had been be-
fore, and brought the record back.
SouCek is thoroughly navy"
He never opposes what he has TO
do. He believes in the orderly
upward progress of a naval Off
GERS career, without hullabaloo or
friction Of fanfare.
Considers Hops as Routine
He has remained absolutely I'M
changed throughout his years of