Evening star., 1932-11-27

and officers and men are required to
| give their time and efforts without pay
| except during such brief periods as they
may be called into active duty.
VN-6R is fortunate, In the face of
the loss of so splendid commanding
officer as Rounds, that 1t was able to
obtain the services of another excep-
tionally good and able officer to take
his place.
Unique Pursuit Plane Tested.
A new low-wing pursuit monoplane
| equipped with automatic slots and flaps
to cut down landing speed and to re-
duce the danger Of spins and loss OF
control when flying near the stalling
speed, is being subjected to full per-
! formance tests at the Air Corps Ma
terrell Division, Wright Field, Dayton,
Ohio.
| The use of slots and flaps Is without
precedent in the case of Army pursuit
| planes and the results of the tests,
which will determine the suitability OF
the new plane for Army use, are being
awaited with considerable interest by
Air Corps officials here.
The new purSuiter is a single-seater
of very high speed. 1t is Of al-metal
construction having a monocoque tuSe-
lage. or fuselage without internal cross
| Drac1ng, JIle STRESSES UtAIlS IeAACA 0P ~
the fuselage shell.
The single low wing Is braced by
struts. The slots and flaps are designed
to come into full operation Of their own
accord at speed Of approximately 10
miles per hour above the stalling point.
| The pilot, however, can lock both slots
and flaps in any position by operating
a handle in the cockpit. Thus he is able
to use them at will in obtaining re-
duced landing speed, and at the same
time can glide faster than the speed at
which the slots and flaps would other
wise operate automatically.
The slots and flaps operate to change
the Gambler of the wing and the flow OF
air over the wing surface, enabling the
high-speed plane to fly at much lower
minimum speeds than would be possible
| with a normal wing, while not 1nterfer-
ing with the maximum speeds. These
aids are expected to materially increase
the safety Of what otherwise might be a
tricky and dangerous plane to land or
handle at anything but very great
speed.
The landing gear of this plane is Of
fixed type, with shock abSorber mount
ed behind the wheel. The cockpit, as is
the case with many of the new Army
and Navy high-altitude combat planes,
is fully inclosed in flight to protect the
pilot and to improve the streaml1nlng
of the ship.
The new slip, officially designated
the XP-934, was produced by the Cur
tisS Co., and is powered with Curt1SS
V-1570 geared, liquid cooled engine, pro-
ducing nearly TOO horsepower. The wing
span Is SO feet and the length, from
nose to tail, 26 feet.
New Air Sport Planned.
All sportsmen pilots and private air
plane owners in and near the District OF
Columbia are invited to compete In
sand-bag bombing contests at the Col
llege Park Airport, College Park, Nd
every Sunday afternoon at o'clock, be
ginning today Aviation gasoline Will
be given as prizes.
The contest is open to all licensed
pilots and the bombs will be provided
at the airport. The rules require that
the contestant must be the sole occu-
pant of his plane and must drop the
bombs himself, in addition to flying the
plane Bombing must be done from
level flight at an altitude Of not less
than 500 feet.
Each pilot Is given six sand-bag
bombs with streamers bearing his con-
test number Each is allowed one prac-
tice shot and the following five shots
count for points. The target is 100
foot white circle with white 3-foot
bullS-eye.
AS a sport, the contest is arouSing
considerable interest among local flyers
and number of planes are expected to
take part this afternoon.