Evening star., 1940-11-26
Laboratory Develop
Substraiosphere
Fighting Ability
StuH Of Engine Research
Plant to Point Efforts
To Rore Air Efficiency
By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

its new $s,4oo 900 aircraft engine
research laboratory, to be con-
stsucted at once adjoining the
Cleveland Municipal Airport.
The British Royal Air Force and
the German Luftwaffe now are
fighting at IN average altitude Of
about 10000 feet, but there are in
dications that In the near future
fighting attitudes will be pushed up.
perhaps to as much as $4,000 feet,
and will take place out Of sight and
perhaps out Of hearing Of ground
lngs.
But to maintain combat efficiency
at such great attitudes. many inn
provements must be made In air.
craft engines, particularly in the
design and operation Of super
chargers, which compress the thin
upper air to density suficient for
the combustion Of gasoline In the
engine cylinders. Combat flying at
extreme attitudes also necessitates
improvements in fabrication, fuel
systems, engine temperature con-
troll methods and other technical
phases OF power plant performance.
More Horsepower Needed.
Modern aerial warfare and the
peaceful air transport industry both
are demanding aircraft engines Of
vastly increased horsepower. Re-
search is required into the use Of
fuel injection, rather than car
buretor, methods Of feeding aircraft
engines and further studies are re-
quired to perfect lquid-cooled air.
craft engines of types now urgently
needed for high-speed pursuit air
craft. Diesel engine research also
Is essential.
Despite all these urgent require
ments, there is not a single basic
research laboratory In the United
States devoted to aircraft engine de-
yelopment except for the little power
plant section Of the N. A. c. A. at
Langley Field, Va. Incapable OF
being expanded to meet current re-
ouirements, the Langley Field Sec
ton has been unable to keep abreast
of the demand for engine research
essential to military air supremacy
and to air transport efficiency now
and In the days beyond the war.
For these reasons the construc-
ton Of the new N. A. c. A. aircraft
engine research laboratory at Cleve-
land is regarded as an event OF out
standing Importance in American
aviation history.
Bids Already Invited.
Bids for constructing engine
torque stands and flight research
building at the new
Cleveland research base were invited
Yesterday afternoon by the N. A. C..
A.. within q few hours after an
of the decision to locate
the laboratory there.
The Justice Department still. is
engaged in checking legality Of title
to the property, practically donated
to the FEDERAL Government by the
city Of Cleveland, and contracts
cannot be awarded until the de-
partment issues to the N. A. G. A. .
certificate that the title has been
cleared and the property oficially
to the United States.
The 200-acre site was sold to the
Federal Government at the nominal
charge of $500 to obviate legal dim
culties. It adjoins the Cleveland
Airport to the northwest
and is located Immediately across the
boundary road from the grandstands
erected for the National Air Races,
The site is bounded by the airport
property and municipal park lands
which slope down into q wooded
ravine.
From the standpoint of accessi-
bility to the Nations aircraft engine
factories, sources of cheap power
and industrial products necessary
to the research program, the site
is regarded as ideal.
Begin Research in Year.
1t is anticipated that actual re-
search work will begin in the new
laboratory about q year from now
and that at the start about 200
persons will be employed there,
about half of them professional and
technical men and the other half
helpers, mechanics, clerks and other
workers
There now are approximately 100
persons employed in the power plant
section at Langley Field. It is prob
able that they will be transferred
to Cleveland late in 194l as the
nucleus for the stan Of the new
laboratory.
The power plant section now Is
headed by a native Washingtonian,
Carlton E. Kemper. who probably
viii be one of the foremost of those
considered for leadership Of the
Cleveland laboratory.
The Cleveland laboratory will con-
centrate on fundamental problems
Of aircraft engine design, it was
explained, and will not infringe on
the engine testing work carried on
by the Army and Navy and the Civil
Aeronautics Authority
There now is no basic aircraft
engine research work conducted In
the United States. outside Langley
Field. and the Cleveland laboratory
not only viii be the only one of
its type in the United States but
one of very few in the world,
Recommended In 1899.
The need for the laboratory was
first recommended formally in Oc-
tober. 1889, by Special Committee
on Aeronautical Research Facilities
composed Of Col. Charles A. Lind
bergh, chairman; Mai. Gen. Henry
H. Arnold, War Department general
staff aviation member: Rear Admiral
John H. Towers, chief Of the Navy
Bureau Of Aeronautics, and Robert
n. Hinckley, now Assistant Secre-
tary. Of Commerce,
In accordance with its instruc-
tions to. examine into, the aero
nautical research facilities now
available in the country ana their
best Internationally, and to pre-
pare comprehensive plan for the
future extension of such facilities,
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