Evening star., 1931-11-22

! by tie Reserve Squadrons under his
command during the past year.
The Floyd Bennett squadrons Of the
Reserve captured the coveted trophy
: with a record Of 3441 flying hours
without accident to personnel or ma
terial. :.
Lieut.. Whitehead, who will receive
the trophy on behalf of the officers
and men Of his comnca nds, has been
assisted in directing Reserve flying at
the New York field by two RS5erve
officers, Lieut.. F. w. Priestman, Naval
Reserve, and Capt. Ben Reisweber, Ma
rine Corps Reserve. Seventeen enlisted
men Of the Naval and Marine Reserves
are attached to the base on continuous
aviators performed flying duty at the
field during the course of the year.
Commanding officers of the three Re-
serve aviation sQuadronS based at, New
York's municipal airport are Lieut..
Comdr. j. w. Iseman, VN3RD3 Squad
ron; Lieut.. C. K. Wildman, VN4RD3
Squadron, and Capt Steve Mcclellan.
U. s. M. c. r.. VO6MF Squadron of
the Marine Corps Reserve.
Many Of the so Reserve pilots who
fly at Floyd Bennett are recent grad
yates Of the Navy Flying School at
Pensacola, Fla, who have had years
duty with the Fleet. Others are war
time pilots. All are on inactive duty
status and have compiled their flying
time outside of their civilian working
hours, most of it during week end
drill periods and during annual 15-day
active duty cruises. Their Reserve
training includes aerial navigation, gun
merry, bombing, formation flying, tactical
exercises. radio communications, night
flying and extended flights.
The RASprVn hVnrG are taking the
trophy, first awarded in 1925, from
Regular Navy squadron, Fighting Plane
Squadron 3, U. s. S. Langley, which
put in 4,958 hours Of flying without
accident, under command Of Lieut..
Comdr. s. P. Ginder, during 1880.
Pickup Tests Completed.
Tests Of a portable pickup device
which may be used by Army detach-
mertS in the field for transferring mes
SageS, fuel or small amounts of supplies
from field forces remote from possible
landing areas TO aircrafts in flight have
been successfully completed at Wright
Field, home of the Army Air Corps
Material Division, according to reports
received here.
The pickup device, designed by
Godfrey l.. Cabot Of Massachusetts, foY-
nautic Association, was put through a
long series Of successful tests at Wash
tngton- Hoover Airport for the Post
Once Department
The pickup device is contained on a
small pneumatic truck, which
may be towed behind an automobile,
pulled by o horse, or moved by hand.
It includes a catapult arrangement,
shock abSorber, rope and winch, up
rights and a catan11lt triCOeY. arrop1a
ment.
The catapult Is discharged as the
airplane prepares to pick up the mes
sage bag, shooting the bag forward
at a speed Of UP to 10 miles per
hour, greatly minimizing the shock to
the plane in making the pickup.
Reports on the Wright Field tests
have been submitted to the War De-
partment, which will decide whether
the device Is OF practical value to
troops in the field.
Air Progress Described.
The more startling and important
developments In European aviation are
outlined in q new section in the news
letter OF the Army Air Corps. This
section is devoted to terse summaries
OF foreign aeronautical projects. The
letter goes to all officers of the Air
Corps and its Reserve for their in
formation.
The summary reveals progress of
lighter than air fields. Much Of the the
information contained in the summary
Is OF public knowledge; some has been
considered a little more than rlnlor
some is entirely new.
There Is a brief description Of the
new Fairey Ftrefly pursuit airplanes,