Evening star., 1934-06-17
BY .4NDREW r. BOONE.

flew their amphibian airplane 120
miles west from Rockwell Field, the
Army air post on the edge of San
Diego Bay, to Bishop Rock, an in
visible Shoal over which break the waves Of
the Pacific There having seen the warning
bell buoy, they turned northward, climbed up
through the thick stuff while following their
plotted course 10 miles to a second objective.
swung finally toward home and dashed back
to the mainland to complete the triangle.
At no point during the long fight were they
more than quarter mile off course. although
the flyers had made the entire trip by dead
reckoning navigation.
Here in the worlds only sea going school
for Army pilots Air Corps flyers, skilled in
plotting bombardment, attack and pursuit air
planes are learning how to fly over the sea.
Having mastered the art and science of taking
off blind flying through storm and fog to an
unmarked rendezvous at sea, returning and
landing in the densest fogs. they have extended
the Nations frontier defenses hundreds of miles
out over the oceans.
In seaworthy amphibians the pilots are navi-
eating offshore with an accuracy seldom de-
manded of men who fly airplanes; so accurately,
in fact that they send back by radio their
exact location no matter how long they may
have been flying out of sight of land.
TO THE Nation this means that twin-engined
bombers, with speeds exceeding 200 miles
hour, enable the Air Corps to dispatch instantly
q bombing force to meet an enemy which may
still be several hundred miles distant!
They must be able to meet the enemy-and
to strike. The land bombers, while speed
ing through the air six times faster than the
speediest naval ship can plough through the
sea, are capable of carrying 2,000-pound bombs
for total distance of thousand miles They
can operate effectively as far as 500 miles out
over the ocean. For training, however, am
phibians used since they can land on the
sea with safety.
When Capt. H. M McClelland, commanding
officer of the 10Th Bombardment Group was
sent from the Office of the chief of Air Corps
to Rockwell Field nearly two years ago to in
augurate training for off shore flying he started
what amounts to graduate university of the
air, with colleges of dead reckoning navigation,
radio navigation, celestial navigation, blind
take-offs and landings and, finally, unbelievably
accurate plotting over long distances.
While the pilot steers the prescribed course
there sits in a comfortable passengers chair in
the main cabin skilled navigator who tells him
from time to time, after gazing seaward through
a simple indicator containing fore-and- aft and
hwart-ship lines, not only how fast they are
travelling with respect to the ground but also
how rapidly they are being blown of their
course.
Complicated procedure, yet solved in few
seconds. An accurate method. the Army pilots
have demonstrated many times So accurate. in
fact that they not permitted to wander
more than 1900 feet off course in flight OF
100 miles!
Let's fly of these missions. Lieut.
D. D. Fitzgerald, in charge of instrument flying
instruction, sits at the controls. Lieut. w. w.
Gross, another instructor, occupies the navi-
gators seat. plotter and a radio operator
Iota he To
their heads, they ready for the take-of.
The big ship rolls out onto the field stops
ut the near end of the runway. Meantime the
navigator has laid out the course, true COM
pass bearing from north to the objective. To-
day they fly to Bishop Rock.