Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-01

waddle toward the field operations ONCE.
An oficer grabs the first hulk by
fiipper and peers through the whoer-
ness Of leather and fur.
at is" says he, Lieut. Roland Birnn
of the chiefs ONCE"
The hulk begins to peel of layers Of
castings, and as it reduces to the sem
bIance of a handsome, q Sprlgntiy,
Young man, we see that 1t Is, indeed,
Lieut.. Roland Birnn, ONCE, CHIEF OF tine
Army Air Corps. -.
And SO. after q most enjoyable visit.
made yet more pleasant by the smlling
phizes and genial words OF MAJ: n. a
Dargue, Capt. Frank HackeTt ana Lle s.V.
Jimmy Adams, all good fellows despite
the fact that they are bombardment
pilots. two hulkS, once more 1ncased IN
protective layers, Chamber back into the
cockpitS of a BT-2B, its motor all
warmed I'D by a mechanic who climbs
out of the front cockpit to make way
for Lieut.. Roland Birnn, oft1ce, CHIEF OF
the Army Air Corps.
Business of settling two hunks &C
complished, q loud souno enS1l ~.
from the nose Of the BT-2B, AL pIue
and yellow, and 1t gets up and goes
away across the dun-colored Virginia
country and the vivid waters and finally
lands once more at Boiling Field. Two
hulks descend somewhat stitny ana
scuffie into operations. The frst one
peels his wrappings and, believe IL OF
not. it's Lieut. Roland Birnn, once
chief Of the Army Air Corps.
Battling Nature.
TRANSPORTATION by dog teams, strug-
Cling against winds attaining Veloclties
of 10 miles per hour, overcoming tne
handicap of SHOWS scores OF Feet oeep
and building on rocks in which tounoa-
tions could not be dug were among Cne
handicaps which had to be overcome Dy
the Department Of Commerce alLWays
division in establishing q raoio ra
7,135 feet high, near the CaIuorfAa-
Nevada line.
The Bonner Summit station and bea-
con stations established at two other
dificult points In the Sierra Nevada
Mountains were required to guide AVA
tors over the rough, mountainous course
between Reno, New, and Oaklano, CaLI'
The other two stations are at Fernley,
New, and Auburn, CALI. Az an tnIee
noints weather stations and automatic
teletype stations have been established.
Though the Fernley and Auburn sta
tions presented difficulties, the one at
Bonner Summit was created only after
1 struggle against obstacles which STANDS
as an epic in the history Of the airways
division. The station is located at
point overlooking Bonner Lake, Wncn
Is ut an elevation Of 5000 feet. It was
here that an Inflated party OF emil
grants was snowbound IN the Winter OF
1916, SO of the 80 members OF the party
perishing of starvation. 1t is a wild
tangle Of mountains, deep gorges and
mountain lakes.
Two buildings had to be erected to
house the Weather Bureau and the
radio range beacon outfit. Because OF
the solid rock surface and the difnculty
of bringing adequate tools to the site
1t was necessary to build UP the foun-
dations Of the houses on top OF the
rock and to blast holes for the radio
masts. The houses had to be built 8
feet above the foundations on piles as a
protection against the heavy SHOWS
which In the gorges have reached depths
of more than SO feet and which last
seven months each year. The buildings
had to be anchored with steel cables as
q safeguard against the winds.
The station is nearly three miles from
the nearest highway and the five heavy
steel radio masts, in sections, had to be
hauled this distance by dog team. 1t
was impossible to use wooden poles be-
cause of the presence Of wood-boring
termites In the locality.
A radio range operator and an air.
ways keeper comprise the personnel OF
the station. They are on duty con-
stantly throughout the year, each living
in the building intrusted to his care.
Radio Tests Progress.
Encouraging progress in the work Of
developing equipment for the stimuli
taneous broadcasting of radiotelephone
and visual type radio range beacon sig
mails Is reported by the research division
Of the Aeronautics Branch, Department
Of Commerce.
Effective combination Of the two types
Of broadcasting viii permit pilots of
planes equipped with visual type range
beacon receivers to continue the use of
the direction indicator while receiving
weather reports by radiotelephone.
Adjustments necessary to obtain clear
speech reception while the range sig
mails were being received, however, re-
suited in a reduction of the beacon dis
lance range to about rs miles Steps
now are being taken to increase the use
tul distance range to $50 miles.
Broadcast Time Changed.
The atrways weather broadcast sched-
ule Of Station WWX, the National Capt.
tai station, has been changed as follows:
On the hour, Washington to Pittsburgh
and Cleveland; 80 minutes after the
hour. Washington to Norfolk, and so
minutes after the hour, New York to
Richmond.
Other weather information broadcasts
Of benefit to pilots flying the airways
out Of the Capital are scheduled as fol-
lows: Station WWU, Hadley Field, N. J.:
New York TO Washington and Rich
mond, As minutes after each hour: sta
ton WWAP, Pittsburgh, Cleveland to
washington, five minutes after the
hour, and Station WNR, Richmond, Va,
Pittsburgh and Norfolk, on the hour:
Washington to Norfolk. 35 minutes after
the hour, and Washington to Green
ooro, N. c., IS minutes after the hour.
District Of Columbia Legion Honored.
The District OF Columbia Air Legion
mas been designated by the American
society Tor Promotion Of Aviation as
the Nations outstanding flying club be-
cause Of the record made by the local
organization in the training of stu
dents, ptling up Of flying hours and
purchase Of planes by members. A ST.
yer trophy, emblematic Of the leRion's
leadership among flying clubs in 1880,
will be presented by the society.
The local flying club was organized
ID months ago by Alva Sole and j. C.
Shaw of this city, the national or
ganization pointed out in announcing
the award
1t is interesting TO note" the an
nouncement continued, that neither
Mr.. Sole nor Mr.. Shaw had previous
| aviation training. Mr.. Sole was q
former locomotive engineer and Mr..
Shaw Is Q practicing lawyer in WASH
ington. From the small group of
members drawn together by this unit
the organization advanced rapidly, par
ticular1y in the last IL months.
During 1880 the legion raised its
membership to 1876 active members and
OF this membership sent 80 men and
women on their first solo. The legion
purchased two air planes and two
gliders and members who have learned
to fiy have Jointly purchased seven air.