Evening star., 1934-05-13
Post VIII Pilot Winnie Mae =
In Assault on altitude Mark
5O.OOOFeetIs Minimum,
Ascension Planned at
Oklahoma City.
Globe .GirdIer Visions
High Plane Speed
in Upper Air.
BY WILEY POST.


NEW YORK, May II (N.A.NA).-
Within the next three weeks, the
Winnie Mae, which took me around
the world twice to new records, once
with Harold Gatty and once alone,
will be called upon to take me at
least $4,000 feet into the air.
We're not going up for a thrill.
This flight will represent one more
battle in the campaign aviators all
over the world have been waging to
raise mans ceiling and increase the
amount of space he can put to prac-
tical use.
According to present plans. we'll
take of from Oklahoma City Airport.
That's my home town and ! never
have given the boys there a good
show.
The unofficial altitude record for
airplaneS is 47,500 feet. The Winnie
Mae, at the most conservative esti-
mate, ought to beat that by half a
mile. I think it probable we shall
get to $1,000 feet and highly possible
Winnie may 60 even higher. Ill
not stop going up until stop feeling
comfortable, or until Winnie can't
climb any more.
Practical Purpose Seen.
Altitude records are not entirely
like sporting records. There is a good
deal of the idea of being first and best
in it, but there is also a practical
purpose and high. even noble, vision.
Planes of the future will fly out OF
sight of earth. Up there in the
thinner part of the earth's atmosphere,
there's a new world seemingly made
for airplane travel. No head winds,
no storms, no rain, no snow, cloudless
limitless visibility. Bullet speeds are
normal u there. A ship with an
average cruising speed of $50 miles an
hour could do 800 there without
breathing heavily.
That new world has been pene-
trated, but it is by no means tanned
to our purposes. On my flight with
the Winnie Mae-the first of a Ions
series I am planning-I am bringing
into the war against space four new
guns.
The problem of breathing up there
has been solved by the oxygen tank.
But pressure remains unsolicited. I
think I have something that will chop
it down to our size.
Pressure has taken its toll of pion-
GERS. Many have lost their lives to
it. And up to now every man who has
gone higher than 10000 feet in an
airplane has given years of his life
to do it. He has suffered hurts to
his body medical science cannot re-
pair. 1t has been bitterly true joke
that high flyers die young.
Pressure at sea level is IS pounds
to the square inch insidI the body and
outside. That enables us to exist COM
fortably. At 10000 feet, there are
three pounds of pressure to the square
inch outside the body and Is pounds
inside. That means every muscle, every
tissue. every organ in the body is
strained and agonized. Pictures #
Maj. Rudolph w. Schroeder'S heart,
taken a few hours after his ascent
to $3.50 feet, showed it dialated to
three times its normal size. Eventually
it came back to shape, but he is nd
the man he used to be and I fear
he never will be.
Special Suit to be Worn.
On my fight 1 am going to use a
rubberiZed silk suit designed to equal
ize this pressure. Thi- suit will work
exactly opposite frol-I a diving suit
that is, it will push down on the
body instead of pushing out from it.
In order to insure complete flexibility
of movement, am going to get five
pounds of pressure from the suit, al
though it is designed to give me any
AMOUNT up to 25 pounds. The five
pounds coupled with the three pounds
of the atmosphere will give me a
pressure I can expect at $4,000 feet.
have often flown at this altitude
without any discomfort.
The second new device am trying
out is a specially built propeller with