Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-06
AVIATION.
Continued From Fourth Page0

A liquid-cooled engine with retractible
radiator is used. and their best speed
Is obtained at about l2,00e/feet, with
the radiator pulled in out OF the wind
stream. The airplanes are we'll stream
! lined, but liquid-cooled engines are
highly vulnerable to gunfire and are by
no means as reliable as our American
| air-cooled engines, which have given
30 many recent exhibitions Of their de-
pendability under adverse conditions.
There are at the present time planes
under contract in the United States
which. it is believed, will equal the per-
/ Torrance of this foreign type, and
which will be admirably suited for the
very arduous tasks assigned them
when operating over the open seas
! from carriers which do not remain In
the vicinity of safe-landing fields.
The money to be spent in high
speed development in the United States,
! therefore, does not mean the actual
turning out of a product to win
specific race, involving an outlay OF
| approximately 100000, it means the
collection of data lover much longer
period of time than it takes to rush
! to completion a purely racing project)
on each step taken in service deVel-
opment program. This data will be
used to maintain the efficiency OF our
service aircraft which, at the present
time, Is unsurpassed by any other coun-
try in the world, and at the same time
keep abreast all other nations on the
subject of speed development"
The funds which now are available
for high-speed development. Admiral
Moffett explained, will make it posi-
BILE for the Bureau of AeronauticS &C
lively to carry on a development pro-
gram which has been impossible under
the former system which required that
all funds be used for the provision OF
fighting planes for this active squad
rons.
TT is now possible" he continued.
Ito 60 into the actual procurement OF
q high-powered engine. and dependent
on the results obtained eXperimentally,
to determine in what degree modern
naval aircraft with extremely high
powered engines might be useful In
the naval aviation program.
Since 1923 comparatively little has
been done in the United States along
the line of development of speed alone.
As has been pointd out, speed has ex-
tended into the question only as was
necessary to each particular type OF
airplane. With the 1882 appropriation
available, the experimentation and re-
search necessary to the developmtnt of
high speed will be carried out 1t Is
acknowledged that this study will in
tensify creative thought, and the re-
sulting developments should be directly
applicable to service aircraft
In the development Of lightweight,
large horsepower aircraft engine, which
is contemplated. certain ideas will be
worked out which should be applica-
BILE to the service engines now in use.
The research to be carried out on aero
dynamic forces of high-speed planes,
on structural materials Tin which
weight will be reduced to a minimum
] and at the same time strength retained
! to withstand the forces to which it will
be subjected), and on the studies of
shapes thought suitable for high speed,
will certainly bring out ideas which
can be incorporated into our military
aircraft and. Of course, become available
| to the manufacturers who build COM
mercial aircraft as we'll
The research work on the propeller
will open up broad field in the de-
yelopment of high speed An improved
propeller will certainly increase the
efficiency of aircraft, as will also the
studies Of aerodynamic forces
THE incorporation of increased high
speeds in fighting and modified bomber
| types would give them greatly aug
lmented possibilities as offensive
weapons"