Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25

began to experiment with gliders. A
few weeks ago one of them broke
the worlds glider endurance flying record, held
by German since 1927, by remaining saloft 16
hours 38 minutes in glider designed by one
Of the trio.
Far more important, from knowledge gained
by experimenting with the record breaking
glider, the youthful designer has built plane
which sore of his associates call "the perfect
flying wing" Others describe it more romanti-
cally as 1.-The perfect man-made bird" En-
bodied in it are principles that are revolutionary
In the field of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS which
may "step up" the speed Of modern airplanes
60 more than twice their present capacity. So
far, the inventor has only model of the per
feet man-made bird" to prove his theory, but
the model has successfully passed the most
grueling tests, and as soon as financial backing
% forthcoming the young officer will present
his novel perfect wing to the aviation world.
ANY did they do it9 why did these person
Wv able young men voluntarily forsake the
many social pleasures that are the lot Of young
Oficers i'm Hawaii to slave on gliders month
after month during off-duty hours? Why did
they risk their lives daily in mimic aerial war
fare, military acrobatic maneuvers and other
equally dangerous flying that Is required of all
pursuit pilots, and then eagerly trundle their
fFaiI glider out of its hangar and spend the
remainder OF the day and part of the night
placing their lives in even greater jeopardy?
The three officers smiled sheepishly and
sQuirmed uncomfortaby in their chairs when
the writer shot those questions at them. Then
Lieut. John C. Grain, who few the glider to a
new worlds record, spoke up:
why did we do it? Well, guess none of
us has had enough leisure during the last Is
months to sit down and figure it out" His
boyish grin was returned by his two comrades.
But since you bring up the question" he
halt v@1Afv
my own reaction-and I'm pretty sure it will
apply to Cooke and Scott here as well-by the
simple statement that we wanted a thrill Oh"
ne waved a careless hand as he noted the i'm
pending interruption, "I know that Army
flyers are supposed to live on daily thrills in
the air. But try it yourself some time After
you get thousand or more hours in the air,
and even before that flying becomes business
like and monotonous, just like any other daily
chore. Not that we don't enjoy it; especially
some of che tricky formation flying and combat
acrobatics But after while even that loses
its thrill So we-and a lot of other flyers
turn to gliding for new thrills. Isn't that about
the way you fellows feel about it?" Lieut. Grain
concluded, appealing to his confrereS.
THAT just about sums it up" agreed Lieut..
William A Cooke, jr, who designed the glider
and the perfect wing"
you've hit the nail right on the head"
seconded Lieut. William j. Scott, who assisted
in building the glider and who had charge of
iauncnlng IL INTO the ar on lts various trials
and. finally, on the ecord-breaking flight.
II think you'll find it q fact" Lieut.. Grain
continued slowly that aviation more so than
many other professions owes its constant and
rapid development to the thrill hunger of the
men and women who follow it. Many improve
ments on modern planes directly attribut-
able to a pilot attempting a seemingly fool
hardy maneuver, Just to get new thrill When
flying begins to get humdrum, then watch for
n sensational new discovery. The primary
motivating impulse in the type of man who is
flyer is the eager desire to initiate the birds.
Gradually he is adding to his lore, until today
pilot and fast plane can actually outfy
bird Think of the many dificult maneuvers
he can make, the tremendous soaring and
A.