Evening star., 1935-04-28
By Joyce McGhee.

ID JOpCE 1ItoHees
A LMOST miles above the
~ Naval Air Station at Ana
~ costa, an airplane circles and
"A scars. 1t is $50 in the morn
ing and pilot and observer
are heavily bundled, and necessarily
so. They are in an open cockpit type
of ship, the temperature up here is
well below the freezing point and a
furious gale is buffeting them.
Suddenly a peculiar thing happens.
Possibly thousand feet below heavy
mass of snow-white cloud turns inky-
black. There is a terrific clap of
thunder. And three or four flashes
of lightning. A veritable torrent of
rain bursts forth.
But 1t doesn't touch the airplane or
its occupants. They are having the
treat Of viewing a great thunderstorm
from aloft. For fully half an hour it
continues its spectacular downpour,
gradually calms down and finally, mov-
ing ever eastward, disappears from
view.
Such was a recent thrilling expe-
rience, in regular line of duty, of two
members of one of the least known
but most important aviation units
the Dawn Patrol, or early morning,
high flying section of the Nays
Astrological division. Every morning
of the year, rain or shine, snow or
fog, these sky riders zoom high into
the heavens, seeking information
about the wierd whims of the wealth.
er's third dimension"
AT AM. eight pilots and like
number of observers. located at
eight aviation fields throughout the
country, step into their planes. Me-
chanics tune them up. Contact"
Propellers start to whirl. The clock
strikes s. The planes take off. Soon
they're lost to view Fastened to each
ship Is an aerometeorgraph. Sounds
tongue-twisting, but it simply refers
to an automatic device which measure
humidity. temperature and barometric
pressure in the blue heavens.
Our Navy is playing an important
part In the enlarged observational
program OF the W,ather Bureau,
which was inaugurated on July l Of
last year. Regular daily flights are
being made from the Naval Air Sta
tions at Anacostia. Lakehurst, Nor
folk, Pensacola, San Diego and Sum-
nyvale, Calf, and Pearl Harbor. A
few other stations such as Philadel-
phia, Dahlgren and Coco Solo makes
occasional flights for local forecasting
purposes, the data obtained being like
wise transmitted to the Weather
Bureau In addition, the following
ships of the fleet make flights of this
nature both in port and at sea: Sara
toga, Lexington, Ranger, Wright, CAL
ifornia and Chicago.
The reason the take-off is made so
early in the morning is so that the
data obtained aloft will be available
for use in time to prepare the morn
ing weather forecasts. The average
altitude obtained on these flights Is
1900 feet, the plane climbing at the
rate of about 300 feet per minute,
levelling off at intervals of 5000 feet
in order to reduce the effect of lag in
the temperature and humidity ele-
ments of the recording instrument.
The average cruising speed of the
planes used is 80 to 110 miles an hour.
Most naval air stations are located
on airways teletype circuits SO that
the hourly weather reports along the
various commercial airways enable
Astrological persnnel to keep close
watch on the changing weather con-
ditions. Advantage can be taken OF
every hour of favorable flying and
permit the issuance of warnings of
sudden squalls or storms in time to
recall planes in the air and to secure
against damage those on the field
or on board ship.
Out at AnacoStia the personnel of
the dawn patrol consists of only one
Astrological officer, Lieut.. Comdr. ]. B.
Anderson, and four enlisted men,
designated as aerographers. How
ever, this tiny unit has fairly in
teresting time of it.
Probably no man in the United
States, with the exception of w. r.
Gregg, chief of the Weather Bureau,
but recently chief of the bureaus
aerological division, knows more about
weather conditions eloft than does
Comdr. Anderson. But he dislikes
personal publicity and is not quoted
directly Nevertheless, his observations
concerning the work of the sky chas-
srs are exceedingly interesting.
Normally. Comdr. Anderson says
Navy aerologists. As result OF their
early morning flight, can tell up to
IL hours In advance whether storms
will strike certain region. Often
times their observations will foretell
weather conditions when no other
method will, as far ahead as sc
hours.
OCCASIONALLY. when weather
conditions are particularly un-
settled, three or more flights are
deemed necessary. Several years ago
for instance, Weather Bureau reports
concerning q forecast for Washington
seemed strangely contradictory. A
Navy plane made its usual early
morning aerial tour But this didn't
clear things up. So another flight
was made at 7. There was still nc
indication of a thunderstorm which
had been hinted at in Weather Bu-
reau forecasts. Still another flight
was made at 9 and this time the data
obtained eloft began to show little
more of the characteristic storm
conditions.
Three more flights were made, and
each time the conditions became more
and more evident. During the flnal
hop, starting shortly after 8 o'clock
a storm actually developed while the
pilot was at an altitude OF about
$4,000 feet. 1t was a mild storm, but
1t had certain peculiariaes. At the
outset the plane occupants, hyine
ayer an avtroroeIv heavv hlack clOllO