Evening star., 1936-08-16

| aircraft and engines occupied tne aIten
| of other factors. Today speeds are
within the -200-mile-per-h hour
range, and speed gains in the future
are likely to be more gradual than the
tremendous gains of the past two years,
which utterly disrupted old schedules.
Today, with the attention of the in
dustry focused on the improvement OF
reliability of service, instrument flying,
popularity known as blind flying" and
instrument approaches to airports are
very much to the fore. There are pre-
dictions from aviation leaders that
when this type of flying is fully de-
veloped air transportation will be the
steadiest and most reliable form OF
transportation. Rail and highway
transportation still are subject to in
terruption by heavy SHOWS and HOODS,
and water transportati now is more
subject to delay by reason Of storm
and fog than air travel, they contend.
Advantage in Flood.
During the Spring floods of this year,
it was pointed out, air transportation
was the only means of travel between
many points in the flood areas and the
rest of the word.
In connection with the development
of instrument flying, which has gone
along more or less independently in
civil and military aviation, the August
issue Of the Air Corps News Letter, a
mimeographed bulletin OF aviation
notes circulated among Army Air Corps
pilots by the Office of the chief OF the
| Air Corps, stands as memorial TO the
efforts of Army pioneers in instrument
flying, especially Lieut.. Col. William C.
Ocker, Air Corps. and Maj. David A.
Myers, Army Medical Corps.
Accounts of the achievements of
Army pilots flying under the hood"
give sharp emphasis to the second half
of an article by Maj. Myers on the
medical contribution to the develop
ment of instrument flying.
One of the most notable of recent
Air Corps flights was that Of Maj. Ira
C. Eaker. former operations officer at
Boiling Field, who few across the
United States entirely by instruments.
He made the entire fight in a hooded
cockpit A little later, on the West
Coast, Col. c. L. Tinker, commanding
officer of Hamilton Field. Calf, left
that field in Martin BLOB lombard
ment airplane to test blind-fying
hood designed by the 10Th Bombard-
ment Group. Col. Tinker used Depart
ment of Commerce airways radio range
beacons as far as Burbank, and then
continued by dead reckoning to March
Field. He then returned to Hamilton,
also under the hood. The flight re-
uuired four hours, all under the hood,
and covered 500 miles.
Feasibility Demonstrated.
This flight" it was explained.
demonstrated the feasibility of in
strument flying training for military
personnel in tactical airplanes. 1t
clearly showed that in bombardment
aviation can and will be able to move
out under the most adverse weather
conditions. Thorough training III
instrument flying will be accomplished
by the 7th Bombardment Group in
its tactical airplanes and will no
longer have to depend on its one BT
for instrument flying training"
The first instrument to be mounted
in airplanas which contributed to
making blind flight possible was the
bank and turn indicator. Probably
one of the first pilots to become in
terested in this indicator was Col.
Ocker, Maj. Myers says in his review
He tested the original turn indicator
and when the combined bank and
turn instrument came out he tested
it and fought to convince his fellow
pilots that only through the use OF
such instruments could they hope to
fly safely in thick weather.
Col. Ocker and Maj. Myers have
been given credit by aviation author
tiles for proving that pilots cannot
rely upon their own senses to keep
them in normal flying position in fog
and that they must rely completely
upon instruments. They concluded
tests in 1926 which demonstrated this
fact beyond any question and so laid
the foundation for present lnstru-
ment flying.
In 1926 Ocker and Myers came out
with the fat statement that no one
could do blind flying without artificial
aids" and the announcement that
they had discovered how blind flight
could be performed safely by use OF
instruments. The resulting contro-
versy ragged for several years before
their views were generally accepted.
During that period many pilots, many
of them famous aviators, died as
result of crashes in fogs and thick
weather because they lacked blind
flight training and instruments.
The airman, being vitally con-
cerned in his ability to sense his po-
sition, change of position and rela-
ton to the earth's surface, has called
all his special senses into play and
has developed flying sense" Maj.
Myers said. What is flying sense?
1T is not an inherent sense. 1t is
an acquired sense. 1t is something
the airman has that others do not.
Special Senses.
"In its entirety it is composed OF
the special senses of sight, hearing,
taste, smell, touch, or tactile sense,
muscle sense and vestibular or inner
ear sense.
There are airmen with varying
degrees of flying sense. Being an ac-
ouired sense and dependent for its
development on the ability. adapt
ability, aptitude and knowledge of the
person, it is evident that, everything
else being equal. the airman who cor
rectly understands and interprets the
sensations received from his various
senses will have the most flying
sense"
Constant repetition Of the Ocker-
Myer experiments finally convinced
pilots that they could not tell which
way they were turning if they could
not see and they gradually extended
3ha;r ,v,ariy,anfe ond 1oyy,onStro fiops