Evening star., 1939-08-02
Planes
Continued From First Page.)

crews, have been sent out after
world aviation records. Virtually
every international mark in the past
has been established by airplanes
which, if not specifically designed
and built for the job. have at least
been given improved performance
through addition of special equip
ment and the training of pilots
and crews in the technique of the
contemplated record trial.
Warns World.
The throwing Of standard Army
airplanes into the increasingly keen
world fight for aviation records not
only serves as a definite world warn
ing that the United States is arm
ing its new fighting SquadronS and
proposed new air bases with thou
sands of new airplanes, but that
these airplanes can hold their own
in performance with any IN the
world. These trials constitute a
revolutionary change OF policy con-
cerning the Nations fighting air.
planes In the past, performance
characteristics have been a care
fully guarded military secret. Com
bat airplanes have been withheld
from competitions which might
serve to indicate their exact speed
or other essential military qualities.
During the last two years, how
ever. foreign air powers have eStab-
lished as a policy the announce
ment of the excellence of their mill
tary aircraft and the sizes of their
atr armadas The fate of the Munich
pact, which started the United
States on its program of air eX-
pansion, was determined by the eff
feet of propaganda concerning the
size and power of the German air
force.
1t is significant. however, that
none of the foreign fighters has been
pitted against the crucial test Of
actual performance trials conducted
under the rigid rules of the Fedora
ton Aeronautique Internationale,
which show to the smallest fraction
the precise capabilities of an air.
plane.
The Air Corps has announced
that its primary purpose is not to
establish new world records merely
for the sake of establishing records,
but is rather to measure under ac-
cepted world standards the true
worth of the airplanes 1t is building
as the bulwark of national defense.
All Bear on Military Values.
All of the international records
the Army has established are in
categories which bear directly upon
the military efficiency of the air.
planes concerned. For this reason
the new records are expected to
have a tremendous international ef-
fect-an effect far greater than if
Ghey had been established with
highly specialized airplanes built for
the purpose They are a concrete
demonstration of the fact that the
Army Air Corps is SO confident of
the superior quality of it's new air.
planes that it is willing to pit them
against any airplane the world can
pIOuuCS.
Despite its 1912 ton load, Capt r.
vines four-engined bomber climbed
upward at continuous rate of 1000
feet per minute until it had reached
an altitude of $4,000 feet. when the
pilots changed the rate to 600 feet
per minute, which was held nearly
to the top of the 6-mile climb. In
addition to the Paragraph, removed
from the plane by DR.. w. G. Brom-
bacher of the National Bureau of
Standards and sent by him to
Washington for official celebration
the bomber carried an automatic
camera. which made a continuous
record of the readings of its instru-
ments. The Air Corps expressed
Its gratitude to the United States