Aeronautics
1922.
Automatic Piloting of Aeroplanes. It was announced in November, 1922, that a pilotless U. S. Army airplane, equipped with automatic controls, had made a number of successful flights over distances of more than ninety miles. The stabilizing and directing of the plane were accomplished by gyroscopes (see article GYROSCOPE, p. 21), these being driven by an electrical generator. The senses both of direction and balance are transmitted by the gyroscopes to pneumatic controls which operate the ailerons, AERONAUTICS rudders, etc., to keep the balance and direction true.
Commercial Development.-A number of air lines have recently been established in several South American countries, including Argentine, Chile, and Colombia. In Mexico, regular aerial services were inaugurated during 1921 and 1922, the first service carrying passengers, mail, and freight between Mexico City, Vera Cruz, and Tampico. The time consumed in the first trip was two and one half hours to Vera Cruz. In Europe, French companies continued to lead in commercial aviation, but the French lines are heavily subsidized by the government and there is apparently a growing feeling that the gains may not be worth the cost. Arrangements were made by the White Star Steamship Company in 1922 by which passengers from New York to might complete the journey to Paris by airplane, cutting the time of the railway journey from seven hours to about two. Seven air lines were operating in Germany early in 1922, and German companies had been granted monopolies for operating lines between Russian cities. The fares were reported to be approximately those for first-class railway travel. An aerial passenger ALLOTROPY above the ground and was then flown miles an hour. horizontally at a speed of about twenty New Speed and Non-Stop Records.- The winner of the Pulitzer trophy in 1922, Lieut. R. L. Maughan in a Curtis age speed of 205.8 miles per hour, com- Army Army thin-wing biplane, made an averpared with 176.7 miles per hour made in 1921. flew his machine over a straightaway Subsequently, Lieut. Maughan course of one kilometer at a speed of 248.5 miles per hour, but without International official record. On October 18, 1922 , Brigadier-General Mitchell, U. S.
A., established an official world's record of 224.05 miles per hour in a straightaway flight. On October 6, 1922, Lieutenants McCready and Kelley, U. S. A., broke all endurance records for non-stop flights by remaining in the air 35 hours, 18 minutes, and 30 seconds. On November 4th, the miles, from San Diego, Cal. to Indian- 4th, these same aviators flew 2,060 apolis, before being forced to land.
Brazil. - Two Portuguese army aviators, Trans-Atlantic Flight, Portugal to Captains Sacadura and Coutinho, made this flight in the spring of 1922. Leaving Lisbon March 30, they proceeded via the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands to Pernambuco, arriving at the last-named port, June 5, 1922. service between London and Constantinople, with stops at Prague and other places, was covering the distance in two and one half days, with 24 hours as the actual flying time. The time by train is four and a half days. In the United States, the flying boat service between Key West, Florida, New York, and other points carried nearly 10,000 passengers in 1922, but there were no other outstanding developments in commercial flying. The government air mail service between New York and San Francisco had a record of 2,000,000 miles flown without a fatal accident between July, 1921, and September, 1922, 94.39 per cent of the scheduled trips being completed.
A company composed of prominent business men has been incorporated under the name of the General Air Service for the purpose of establishing airship lines for passengers.
Gliding Contests. - (See GLIDERS.) Helicopter. Extensive experiments with helicopter designs were made in 1922.
Louis Brennan in England completed a costly model in an effort to win the £50,000 prize offered by the British Government, and other machines were built in France and Germany which were capable of rising and descending vertically. In America, Emile and He Henry A. Berliner succeeded in building a helicopter which, in actual tests made at College Park, Maryland, rose a short distance