Evening star., 1941-04-27

ldDOTaUOTy-llke ptIlcCLlOH, ulduc 1OI
the specific occasion and certainly
never designed for repeated or regu-
lar operation.
Not more than a scant handful Of
men in world history have flown
higher than are the fighting pilots
Of today. Thirty thousand feet
above the earth's surface today is
a regular battle-ground and the
latest combat airplanes are point
ing toward attitudes Of 10000 feet
more than ia miles straight up.
A few years ago, oxygen equip
ment was used only sparingly and
on rare occasions in the military
air services. Today there are few
pursuit or bombardment flights made
in the zones of aerial war activity
which do not require the use of
oxygen and such equipment is the
part of every modern pursuit, in
terceptor, fighter and bombardment
airplane and most of the recon-
naissance and observation airplanes.
The trend toward the heights all
ways has been a distinguishing
characteristic of human warfare,
from the days when the caveman
sought the highest trees or hills to
watch for danger. In aerial war
fare, ability to outclimb the enemy
frequently is the difference between
victory and defeat-life and death
for the Warplane crewS<
Opening Ordered.
The opening of a school for in
struction Of Army Air Corps officers
in the new techniques of high
altitude flight, with emphasis on
the use of oxygen equipment, re-
Gently was announced by the Air
Corps Materiel Division. Wright
Field, Ohio. The school is being con-
Quoted by the Wright Field Aero
Medical Research Laboratory under
direction of Capt Otis o. Benson,
jr, chief of the laboratory, and as
sociate Of Walter NJ. Boothby and
w. Randolph Lovelace, I'd, whose
work on the medical aspects of sub
stratosphere flying recently won
them one of aviation's most coveted
awards, the Collier Trophy.
The Air Corps has assigned to
Wright Field, to begin the new
course, 80 officers from tactical and
training centers in various parts of
the Nation. They are scheduled to
receive intensive training in a huge
altitude pressure chamber construct
ed at Wright Field and in actual
flights to attitudes of 10000 feet
and more.
The course is the first of four to
be offered to groups of 80 Air Corps
and Medical Corps officers. so that
total of 100 officers will be avail
able to carry on altitude flight train
ing at their respective stations.
The school is the first of its kind
ever conducted by the Army Air
Corps and is the outgrowth of the
increasing Importance of substrato-
sphere flying in the war and ma
neuvers.
One Of the instructors is Capt.
B. S. Kelsey, Air Corps, recently re-
turned from assignment to London
as an official observer of the battle
of Britain. Maj. Turner A. Sims.
Air Corps, is in charge of instruc-
ton dealing with performance of
present and projected airplanes at
extreme attitudes. Capt. Benson,
Medical Corps, is in charge of courses
on use of parachutes at high alti-
tudes, altitude sickness and pilot
fatigue.
Other instructors are Capt. Frank
r. Cook, on physical characteristics
of the atmosphere in relation to high
altitude flight; Capt. Rudolph Fink,
on oxygen and pressurized equip
ment; Frank G. Manson, cleo
trically heated flying clothing, and
Drs. j. w. Helm, John F. Hall, jr.,
and Ernest A. Pinson, of the Aero
Medical Laboratory, associated with
Capt. Benson in studies of the
physiological aspects of flight in the
upper levels. This list indicates the
scope of the problem and of the
instruction at the school.
The courses take into considera-
tion the circulatory and respiratory
systems, effects of cold and heat on
the body, blood gases, aero-embolism,
an ailment caused by too rapid as
cent into the higher attitudes; car
bon monoxide poisoning, effects of
low barometric pressure con the
middle ear. nasal sinuSes and the
gastro-intestinal tract, and similar
subjects.
The course includes series of
demonstrations in the 40-foot alti-
tude pressure chamber, in which
the effects of high altitude fight
can be reproduced. These will be