Evening star., 1933-11-23
BY T. G. w. SETTLE,
Lieutenant Commander U. s. N.

Fordney, U. S. M c.
BY T. G. w. SETTLE,
Lieutenant Commander U. s, N.
Now, many hours removed from the
| peak of my fight with Maj. Fordney
into the strato6phere, we find ourselves
| face to face with the one detail Of sew
eral thousand for which we failed to
! provide in advance: The totally un-
foreseen public curiosity concerning our
scientific observations and conclusions.
| We have been asked only casually
| about the mechanics of the flight or the
more personal elements of risks and
discomfort, but communications from
widely scattered parts of the country
have one point of unanimity in a de-
| mand for more complete information
on what we saw and what we thought
about it.
In answer to this, at present I can
say only that we did all that the time
would allow us to do in the different
fields for the investigation Of which we
carried instruments. We have no idea
now of the value of our records. They
must be transferred to the universities
and scientists for whom we made them
particularly the University OF Chicago
and Prof. Compton and Prof. Millikan,
who will study. analyze and tabulate
them in comparison with previous rec
ords. Consequently some time must
elapse before the results of the flight
can be interpreted.
Study Will Take Time.
In some fields the work of organiza-
ton may take months; in others less
time will be required. But in no case
can there be any immediate comment.
nf norSOn9l
observations. For example, Maj. Ford
ney and I both noticed a variation in
the clicks by which the coSmic ray
machine registers the passage OF a ray.
Both of us can say with certainty
that the rays are more numerous and
of greater intensity in the stratosphere.
In the hangar the machine might
click once in 10 or IS minutes Up at
the peak there was virtually constant
and much louder clicking. But the
exact rate of the increase is the matter
which interests science, and that can
be announced only after laboratory
checks.
That it can be determined is obvious,
of course, when one considers the ma
chimes we carried. DR.. Millikan's ma
chine is fully automatic All we had
to do was provide space for it in the
gondola and turn it on. DR.. Comp
tons recorder is Semi-automatic, but,
like DR.. Alvarezs machine, which re-
quired good deal of manipulation, it
produced record capable Of analysis.
Spectrum Photographed.
If were going to be so rash as to
make any forecasts, I should say that
the results likely to be made public first
are those deducible from the specto-
graphic photographs made by Maj.
Fordney. He made detailed photo
graphic record of the solar spectrum
during the two hours in which we were
at maximum altitude. The pictures
will have to be developed before much
can be said about them, but I expect
that the scientific translation will re-
quire less detailed research than in the
case of the cOSmic rays.
One of our personal observations was
that the sky in the stratosphere seemed
10 be q deep blue, rmged with white
where it met the horizon. 1t was mist
less save for some cirrus clouds about
the white zone and lacked the brilliance
of MONDAY sky. as seen from the
ground. Previous reports described the
sky above the stratosphere as purple,
but our unassisted vision detected no
red in it.
Another report which may be made
at an early date is that of DR.. Meier
of the Department of Agriculture. The
spores of plant diseases which he sent
aloft with us have been delivered to
him, and inasmuch as the informa-
ton he seeks has nothing at all to do
with such complicated matters as cos
mic rays and optics he may be able to
state his conclusions after a few days
with his microscopes. He was inter
ested mostly in the behavior of the
spores in region OF low pressure and
low temperature.
Radio Proved Success.
One of the things that caught popu-
lar fancy In the flight was the work of
the National Broadcasting Co. in the
study of radio wave propagation at high
attitudes. And, whatever radio engi-
neers may determine about the scien-
tif1c result of the experiment, it was
surely a practical success. We main
tanned three-Way communication be-
tween the gondola and two widely sep
arated ground stations-at one time
New York, Chicago and the strato-
sphere-until we jettisoned the bat
terieS on our descent.
The observers in this case were not
with the balloon, but with test stations
established by the N. B. c. and We
have not heard what conclusions they
were able to draw. We noticed for our
selves, however, that as we assembled
from 1000 feet to the peak there was
virtually none Of that static which one
could describe as atmospheric. Once
in while we picked up bad crashes
but those seemed to originate in ground
interference and studio noises.
As may be seen from this brief out
line, we were party to many different
experiments in variety of fields. Our
program was so full that it could be
carried out only by the exact timing of
each step in advance and careful
division of duties. We had no time to
eat.
We hardly spoke to one another save
in the radio broadcasts. Our imme-
diate vision was concerned not with
such results as were Immediately ap-
parent as with a mass of dials and con-
trolls. Even if we had the impossible
versatility to be expert in all the fields
in which we were making inquiry we
could have reached no conclusions in
the air AS it is, we were merely the
agents of interested scientists, operating
their machines as we had been directed
to operate them. Their researches take
up where ours left off.
(Copyright, 1e33 by North American News
paper Alliance, Inc)
(The third article of this series will
appear in The Star tomorrow
FORDNEY DESCRIBES TRIP.
Says First Balloon Voyage Destroyed