Evening star., 1937-03-07

apparatus, which, 1t is claimed, enables
q pilot to glide, without sight of the
ground or Of any object outside his
cabin, along a normal curved glide
path from an altitude of 5000 feet u
a smooth contact with the runway.
Development of the device, which
played a part in the recent Nationa
Aviation Safety Conference here, wa!
made possible when the two mer
learned to project a radio beam alons
a curved path from the surface of tht
ground.
These two men, DR.. Frank G. Keal
and Conner L. Davies, were working
on the problem at the Bureau Of
Standards and had brought the de-
vice to the point of testing it in flight
when the economy act of 1888 came
along and they were dismissed
Foreign scientists who had heard oi
their work tried to induce them tt
sell the device to a foreign govern
ment, but they refused the offer anc
took positions, with loss in pay, with
the then new Washington Institute of
Technology, created largely 10 permit
the carrying on of their work.
The institute was created as pure
ly scientific body, to develop but not
to manufacture. The "air track" OF
blind-landing device is one of the first
of its major projects.
The system includes a runway 10
calizer beam which guides the pilot
in line with the center of the run
way; the curved glide path beam
which keeps him in the proper glid-
ing angle, and a marker" beacon
which notifies the pilot when he passes
over the edges of the airport.
The use of several of these glide
paths for landing several transport
airplanes simultaneously on parallel
runWayS at one air terminal is fore
seen by those who have studied the
question of adequate airport facilities
That this may become necessary is
indicated by the fact that one major
air terminal now is handling 18 sched-
uled air transport landings in one
hour.
Approximately 1000 safe landings
have been made during the past three
years in tests of the air-track device,
it is said. installations have been
made for test purposes at College Park,
Newark Airport, the New York trans
port terminal and the municipal air
port at Oakland, Calf.
Hundreds of times airplanes with
landing speeds as high as rs miles per
hour have been brought down into a
spot on the field a few yards square.
AS early as 1888, James L. Kinney,
former Commerce Department pilot,
took off from Washington under the
hood" flew by instrument to Newark
and there landed by instrument on a
day when scheduled air transport
planes were grounded by bad weather.
THE greatest step forward in the
training of local Army Air Corps
Reserve officers in years has been
taken with the delivery at Boiling
Field of three fast new BT-9 low-wing
beio1I VI I1dl141l6 al PAollSo.
The new ships represent big step
forward for local pilots from the rela-
lively slow O-38 Douglas observation
biplanes with which the Reservists
have been training. The new air.
planes, built by North American Avi-
alton, have flaps and other improve
ments not found in the older airplanes
in addition to the greatly increased
speed.
We are making the transition from
the old to the new planes carefully.
explained Maj Roy E. Whitehead
commanding officer of the 409th At
tack Squadron, to which active local
Reserve officers are assigned. I'VE are
qualifying individual pilots before at
tempting to undertake formation
work. night flying, navigation or radio
work"
About 10 of the local Reservists al
ready have undertaken training in the
new airplanes, and others are expect
ed to qualify during the Spring.
Attack Aviation will be the subject
of the monthly Air Corps Reserve
meeting at pm. Tuesday in room
1857 of the Munitions Building. Capt
Ned Schramm, Air Corps, will act as
instructor.
D ECORD increases in every branch
~ of its operations have been noted
during the past year by Eastern Air
Lines. according to Capt. Edward v.
Rickenbacker, general manager.
Air express gained 120 per cent. as
compared with the preceding year
reaching a l2-month total of 420,622
pounds. Perishables shipped from
Florida and Louisiana to Washington
and other Northern markets played a
major part in this gain.
There were 102,606 revenue pas
Sengers-a gain of % per cent. There
was gain of 80 per cent in revenue
seat miles.
During the year Eastern Air Lines
contracted to purchase more than
S1,000,000 worth of new 21-passenger
airliners, delivery of which will be
completed this year.
A N IMPROVED method of anodizing
aluminium alloys which not only
speeds up the work. but results in a
better coating, has been developed by
r. w. Buzzard, metallurgist at the Bu-
reau of Standards.
The new method. of vital Importance
to aviation, affords far better protec-
ton to duralumin against the corrosive
effects of sea water and oces.n air.
Corrosion for years has been the seri-
GUS problem to naval aviation. Coast
Guard aviation and ocean-golng air
transport operations.
BY increasing the chronic acid con-
tent in the electrolytic bath from 3 per
cent to as high as 10 per cent, Mr..
Buzzard found. and by usin- a definite
succession or cycle Of voltages coat
ings were produced which were far SUI
perior to those now obtained. At the
same time conditions of operation were
simplified so that continuous operation
was possible.
TIVE large SikorSky amphibian air.