Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH s. EDGERTON.

! thunderstorms, not only because OF
| lightning hazard, but more because OF
! the excessive turbulence of the air in
such storm area. A reasonable area
from thunderstorm viewpoint, MI.
Van Orman finds, extends from Tren-
! ten to Richmond, in which the average
| is 80 to 40 thunderstormS 8 year.
Must Avoid Snow.
Snow may weight down an airship
| and also destroy visibility, and therefore
| is to be avoided. The study shows a
marked decrease in the number OF
snowStorms per year south and south
west of Philadelphia. From the stand
point of heavy rains, the area SO to 100
miles inland from the Atlantic coast Is
the best.
Fog is an important factor to be
considered. In this respect Washing
| ton, Philadelphia and Richmond are
| in the minimum area.
On the basis of winds which affect
the handling and docking of airShips,
Washington is fortunately situated
being included in small belt found to
have the most desirable wind condi-
tions. This belt extends only from
Washington to Philadelphia, according
to the Van Orman studies.
"It should not be inferred that ideal
conditions will be encountered 100 pei
cent of the time in any section OF
che Middle Atlantic Seaboard," said
Van Orrnan in a report based on his
study Of the weather survey. by
using the weather conditions encoun-
tered at the Naval Air Station at
Lakehurst, N. j., as standard OF
comparison, it is apparent that the
operating conditions to be encountered
az the proposed locations of Rich
mond, washington, Baltimore and
I Philadelphia will be very much better
than those of Lakehurst.
I'm conformity with the conclusions
of this study, we recommend that the
locations of Richmond, Washington
and Baltimore be considered for a
transatlantic airShip base, and also
that Philadelphia be included as rep
resenting the most northerly point that
we can conscientiously recommend fol
consideration"
New CoIors Ordered.
It should be easy to identify air
planes of the aeronautics branch OF the
| Department of Commerce at a glance
when repainting in the new color
scheme Just ordered has been com
| pleted Maroon, international orange
black and aluminium are to be used
The tops of the wings on mono
planes and of the upper wings on BIZ
planes and the upper surface of ele-
vators and stabiliIerS will be inter-
national orange, selected because OF
its high visibility against any type OF
ground surface. The metal motor
cowling and wheel fairings will be
maroon. Landing gear and under
struts will be painted black The
! fllselage and lower wings en- biplanes
will be aluminium. The wings, in addi-
ton to the license number, will display
| the letters ~. s."
! The new combination is said to be
more durable than the present colorS
and to form better pressrvatlve for
! fabric. Present colorS are red for fuse
! lage, empennage and cowling, black for
| landing gear and sand color and inter-
national orange for wings. Changes
| in the color scheme on present planes
will be made only as repainting is re-
| quired.
Britons Study Wings.
The British air ministry has built
| two monoplaneS with which to study
airplane wing pressure, according to
information received here by the De-
partment Of Commerce. The wings are
mounted so as to be movable under
drag and lift preSsures, movement be-
ing restrained by strut connecting
them with dynamometer in the fuse
| lage.
The load on the wing is commune
Gated directly to the dynamometer and
is indicated on a recording dial,
The pilot may stop the propeller with