Evening star., 1936-02-16

a portion Of the field may be put into
service before the end of the Summer.
Eventually the new field will have
southwest northeast runway nearly
1000 feet long. This will permit full
load take-offs, which may in time
make Washington favored starting
place for endurance and distance rec
ord flights. In place of the present
fatally short cross-field runway at
Boiling Field there will be at the new
site a cross width of about 5000 feet.
Boiling Field personnel has been
moved into barracks and quarters at
the new field, about mile south of
the building area at the old field,
committing" to and from work.
The War Department construction
program. submitted to Congress for in
clusion in the new appropriation bill,
covers $606.075 worth of construction
at the new field Priority is given to
barracks construction totaling 100000
to accommodate personnel expansion
! in keeping with the increased duties
devolving upon Boiling Field under the
new General Headquarters Air Force
program. Completion of the field heat
ing plant, at a cost of $4,000, also is
listed as priority item.
Six construction items at Boiling
Field are in group of the Army
| priority list and two in group 6.
Those in fifth place are completion
| of hangers. at a cost of S335 900; COM
| pletion of field shops, $4,000: compile
ton of a field warehouse, $4,000: COM
| pletion of a Photographic, radio and
parachute building. $4,000; telephone
construction, $2,875, and completion
of facilities for storage Of paint. oil
and airplane dope, $3.50. The sixth
priority projects are completion of
| gasoline and oil storage facilities,
s1650. and warehouse construction,
$4,000.
Hangers must be constructed at the
new field before it can be put into
regular use as a military airdrome.
/ The only Army hangers in existence
here are the sheet-metal structures
of World War vintage at Boiling Field.
Several of them have burned.
There is an urgent need for hangers
large enough to house the giant new
airplanes now under construction for
the Army Air Corps. A contract re-
Gently was awarded for 13 Boeing
four-engined bombardment airplanes.
In the absence of hangar space else
where. these huge ships will be de-
livered to Langley Field, Va. for
housing in the airship hangar there.
The hangar now is empty, the 18th
Airship Company having been moved
from Langley Field to Sunnyvale,
Calf, to be housed in the giant Navy
airship dock recently transferred to
the Army.
Washington probably will be visited
frequently by the giant flying
| foTtreSses."
The trend of aviation development
in general is toward larger, faster
airplanes, with increased wing load
ing and toward aircraft engines of
Increased horsepower, it is reported
by the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics in its annual report
to Congress.
Increases of size in SeaplaneS and
landplanes offer the advantage of
increased aerodynamic and structural
efficiency, it was pointed out. Speed
stressed as one of the most i'm
portant factors in increasing the rela-
tive Importance of military aircraft
and in extending the field of use
flllnacc of ajr
The outstanding performance of
large airplanes constructed during the
past year, it was stated, reflects
advances in engine development and
development of the controllable-p pitch
propeller. Further increases in speed
will depend upon improved engine
nacelle-wing and wing g-fuselage ar
rangements; more satisfactory high
lift devices, permitting higher wing
loading; reduction of parasite drag;
operation at high attitudes, and in
creased engine power.
There is at present strong in
dication of demand for development
of liquid-cooled engines of from 1000
to 1,5O0 horsepower, the committee
reported. Large airplanes probably
will be of either the two-engine
or the four-engine type, in the opinion
of the committee.
In the development Of small air.
craft for sports and family use, de-
signs must incorporate greater safety
and improved economy, the commit
tee reported. Takeoffs and landings
must be slower and the rate of climb
, improved. Control at low speeds must
be improved.
; Catapulting of land airplanes from
airway terminals is regarded by Je-
rome Lederer, chief of the engineer
ing division of Aero Insurance I'm
; derwriters, as promising future field
of development This would be
return to the earliest practices. The
first Wright airplanes were launched
> by catapult; the practice is common
> in the Navy and it is used by the
; Germans in their ship-shore services
The gross weight and therefore the
pay-load of transport airplanes could
be increased through use of the
!, catapult method of launching, it was
: pointed out Engines would no
have to be boosted to maximum to
provide take-off power, thereby saw
ing some wear and tear.
Of even more importance would
|. be the fact that the airplane would
:. leave the catapult at speed above
the critical take-off speed and would
have control and performance if one
engine should quit. AirplaneS with
retractable undercarriages could take
of from a catapult with the under
! carriage retracted, thereby giving ad-
ditional single-engine performance
at the critical time, Lederer said.
An air transport plane could be &C.
ceierated to a take-off speed of 100
! miles per hour within about $50