The Washington times., 1937-06-21
The Human
Side of the
News
BIZ Eduin C.. Hill

0OALA 44OhA bAAG CcAV44S vAAO AOSASV
offers him freedom Of the air."
These are the words Of a very
cautious man, one not given to
extravaganza in speech, one who
has a bent for cold science and
the reticence Of 9 scientist.
His name is Charles Lindbergh.
Ten years ago he climbed into an
airplane on a Long Island field
at dawn on q May morning. He
was an unknown from the Mid
die West, a boyish-looking fellow
who thought that an airplane
, could be piloted up the American
coast, over Newfoundland, across
the Atlantic Ocean, Ireland. Eng
land, the Channel and on to Paris,
without a stop.
He believed that alone in the
cockpit he could make that trip.
Not 100 among the 100, 00O, 600
other Americans thought that he
could. They hoped and prayed
for his success, but as they did
they shook their heads in doubt.
About IS years before Lind
bergh's flight, two other Ameri-
cans from the Middle West set
up a crate-like machine on the
sand dunes of North Carolina, at
tached a motor to it and steer
ing wheel, and lifted it from the
ground. Nobody expected that
they could do it. But the Wright
brothers showed the world That
the flying machine was practical.
NO LONGER SCOFF
We have seen so much in this
country that we no longer are
ScofferS or Skeptics, even when we
are told by Colonel Lindbergh that
a rocket enthusiast Gin an un-
guarded moment might propheSy
that we will eventually travel at
speeds governed only by the &C
CELEBRATION which the human body
can stand, and that in rocketing
between America and Europe we
will accelerate halfway across the
ocean and accelerate during the
other half"
Our leading rocket man today
is Prof. Robert H. Goddard Of
Clark University, and this year he
has proved to the satisfaction OF
fellow scientists his theory that q
rocket may overcome the pull OF
the earth land, thus breaking
through, become a meteor ana
wander through space until the
end Of time.
For five years Professor God
dard has buried himself in the
New Mexican desert to build
rockets and experiment with
them. His latest product, a tor
pedo-like missile some Is feet long
and weighing 80 pounds, was shot
into the air at q speed Of 70 miles
an hour to a height Of mile and
a half.
The rocket which is to conquer
gravitation, if and when built, will
need q speed Of $1,000 miles an
hour to enable it to escape the
pull. 'e..
DR., Goddard not only has
proved that his rocket will develop
tremendous speed, but he. has
solved also the question Of con-
troll Of the flight. By gyroScopic
arrangement he keeps the rocket
straight, and he slows down the
return to earth by a parachute
which Is released automatically.
Furthermore, the motion pic
lures which he made Of his test
disprove the supposition that the
shock Of the start of a rocket
would shatter anything that it
might be carrying. His rocket goes
UP in q graceful, easy style.
MAIN PROBLEMS
Colonel Lindbergh in his writing
on rockets says that from the
standpoint of war we must con-
slider the fact that rockets may
carry explosives faster than the
airplane and further than the
projectile."
This brings to mind the fact
that the French have been con-
cerned by reports that Germany
has been experimenting with the
rocket as an offensive weapon.
Alarmists in Paris even dream OF
a chain of rocket bases which,
from distant points beyond the
Rhine, might rain thousands Of
tons Of explosives upon France in
the event Of war.
For the practical present the
main problems are carrying ca
pacity, cost and control. What
Professor Goddard seeks first IS
a lighter rocket, to go twice the
distance Of the heavier one with
which he has had success.
Six years ago an italian at
Milan Travelled in a rocket for
IS seconds and lived to tell the
tale. Who will say that so wears
from now a rocket won't make
the 238, S57.mile trip to the moon,
carrying some sort Of flares by
which watchers on the earth may
note its arrival there?