Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-18

medical research laboratories were placed
in the flying fields
The work of these laboratories DEM
onstrated that 81 per cent were capable
Of flying to 10000 feet or more, Is
per cent should not fly above $4,000
feet and IA per cent were unsafe above
5000 feet.
When selection and classification
were completed the great problem Of
the Air Medical Service was TO main
tain the flyers on a basis of high
physical efficiency. After a certain
amount of continuous service the flyer
would begin TO show unmistakable signs
CT deterioration. Until the Air Medical
Service went to work flyers were per-
mitted TO continue until they broke
Their breaking was signaliZed some
times by simple failure to return from
behind enemy lines: sometimes by be-
coming mentally and nervouSly ex-
hausted to the extent of permanently
uniting them for flying.
There are only three means by which
the flyers usefulness may be termi-
mated in war: First, by the enemy; sec
ond, by the failure of the machine,
and, third, by the failure of the flyer
himself
While it was not possible to arrive
at the time of our entrance into the
/ war, based upon information from
Italy. France and Great Britain, indi-
Gated that not more than per cent
. OF the aviation losses in active service
were caused by the enemy. Failures of
the plane were responsible for only
slight losses, due, Of course, to the rigid
inspection of the machines. State
| ments from all sources agreed that of
the total number Of flyers permanently
incapacitated during the war, not
more than per cent could be attribu-
ted to mechanical shortcomings Of the
plane or engine.
Injuries Were Reduced.
The remaining 30 per cent loomed
large when 1t was realized that this
proportion represented trouble in the
flyer himself
1t was observed that more than half
Of the injuries in crashes were caused
by the flyer striking his head against
the coWl. The cowl was cut out to
give the flyer more room in front, and
this change practically eliminated the
head injuries. A safety belt was dashed
| TO the machine by a simple rubber
| shock absorber, and the number of
| injuries to the upper abdomen and ribs
WAS TeuuCeQ QSClueQiy. lie problem
of protecting the flyer against the ex-
treme cold of high attitudes in Winter
| was solved by designing electrically
| warm clothing. The Dreyer oxygen ap-
| paratus was used TO compensate for
lack Of SUFFICIENT oxygen in high alti-
| tudeS.
/ 1t became evident during the last
months of the war, through activities
of nutritional survey parties of the food
division of the surgeon generals ONCE,
| that there was great need in each avia-
ton camp for nutrition offlcer. The
| nervous system Is more highly Diff
| ferentiated than the muscular system
and more easily upset by improper food.
| Under date Of November 20, 1918.
Gen. Pershing said in a report to the
| Secretary of War:
| Our aviators have no equals in
daring or In fighting ability and have
left record OF courageous deeds that
will ever remain a brilliant page in
4 the annals of our Army"
Tomorrow. final chapter-Inside story
Of the Liberty engine.
(CopyriEht, 1881 by North American News
paper Alliance