Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/12

 February 18: Navy Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) continued wartime experimental work begun by Sperry Gyroscope in 1917 on the unmanned "Flying Bomb."

February 19: The NACA recommendations on regulating air commerce, the licensing of pilots, the inspection of aircraft, and the use of landing fields were transmitted to Congress through the Secretary of the Treasury.

During February: First flights of Thomas-Morse MB-3, first U.S.-designed fighter procured in quantity, which reached speed of 164 mph in early flights exceeding that of contemporary European aircraft.

March 19: The Aircraft Board was abolished by Presidential Executive Order.

March 21: First recorded flight test of gyrocompass, a Sperry instrument, by the Navy, which was unsuccessful.

April 26: World duration unofficial record attained by Navy F5L flying boat of 20 hours 19 minutes, with Lt. H. B. Grow as pilot.

April 28: Naval Observatory requested by LCdr. Richard E. Byrd to supply bubble levels for attachment to navigational sextants, thereby providing an artificial horizon for astronomical observations from aircraft.


 * Unofficial seaplane record made by Navy F5L piloted by Lt. H. B. Grow out of Hampton Roads, which completed a flight of 20 hours and 19 minutes, a distance of 1,250 nautical miles.

During April: Curtiss 18-T two-place fighter powered by a Curtiss-Kirkham K-12-350, made first flights, reached speed of 162 mph.

May 8-29: First transatlantic flight by LCdr. Albert C. Read and crew in Navy plane NC-4.

May 26: Date of Dr. Robert H. Goddard's progress report to the Smithsonian Institution entitled "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes." It was published by the Smithsonian in January 1920.

June 14-15: First nonstop Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland, 1,936 miles, was accomplished by Capt. John Alcock and Lt. A. W. Brown of England in a Vickers-Vimy-2 Rolls 400, in 15 hours 57 minutes.

June 25: NAS Anacostia reported on measurement of temperature and humidity at altitudes made by special instruments on aircraft.

June 28: Signing of Treaty of Versailles disarmed Germany of a military air force but did not include rockets as potential weapons, thus leaving Germany free under international law to develop them.

During June: Paris office of the NACA opened with William Knight in charge to collect and disseminate aeronautical information in Britain, France, and Italy.

July 2-6: First airship crossing of the Atlantic, by British R-34.

July 24-November 9: "Around the rim" circuit flight of the United States, covering 9,823 miles, completed by Lt. Col R. L. Hartz and Lt. E. E. Harmon in a Martin bomber.

July 28: First aerial observations of schools of fish made by U.S. Bureau of Fisheries with cooperation of naval aircraft, at Cape May, N.J.

August 1-September 14: First International Aircraft Exposition since Armistice, at Amsterdam, Holland.

August 14: First airmail delivered at sea, by Aeromarine flying boat to the White liner Adriatic (Br.).

August 25: First daily commercial air service, London to Paris, begun by British Airco DH-4a.

September 6: New unofficial world altitude two-man record of 28,250 feet was set by Maj. R. W. Schroeder and Lt. G. A. Elfrey in a Le Pere Liberty 400 at Dayton, Ohio. On October 4, Schroeder reached new record of 31,796 feet in same airplane.

September 12: The NACA coordinated the replies of the executive departments regarding provisions of the International Convention on Air Navigation meeting in Paris.

September 18: World altitude official record of 31,420 feet flown by Roland Rohlfs in Curtiss triplane-Curtiss-Kirkham K12-350.

October 8-31: Army transcontinental reliability and endurance flight from New York to San Francisco and return: 44 aircraft completed westbound; 15 eastbound; and 10 planes made round trip.

October 9: Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian, elected Chairman of the NACA; Joseph S. Ames was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee, a post he held until October 7, 1939.

October 13: International Convention on Air Navigation signed in Paris, which reaffirmed the principle of national sovereignty in airspace and established a Commission for Aerial Navigation under the League of Nations to regulate international air commerce.

October 30: Reversible-pitch propeller tested at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio.

November 12-December 10: Ross McPherson Smith completed 11,500-mile intercontinental flight in a Vickers-Vimy from Heston, London, to Port Darwin, Australia.

December 8: The Aeronautical Engineering Society was organized at MIT.

December 29: American Meteorological Society founded at St. Louis, Mo., for the development and dissemination of knowledge of meteorology in all its phases and applications.

December 31: Notable technical achievements of the year according to McCook Field were: development of leakproof tanks; reversible- and variable-pitch propellers; a siphon gasoline pump; fins and floats for emergency water landings; and the turbocompressor or supercharger developed by Sanford A. Moss of General Electric.

During 1919: Adolph Rohrbach of Germany developed smooth-surface, metal-surfaced wings, combined with metal boxspar internal construction, the beginning of the stressed-skin concept.


 * Weather Bureau expended $100,000 to improve meteorological observations to support increasing aviation requirements, an appropriation granted by Congress in 1917 upon the recommendation of the NACA.


 * Junkers of Germany produced J-13 low-set, cantilever-wing transport, which carried a crew of two and four passengers.

January 20: Navy Bureau of Steam Engineering was allocated $100,000 to contract for the development and purchase of 200-hp radial aircooled engines from the Lawrance Aero Engine Corp.

February 5: Navy-sponsored project of developing radio-loop antennas for navigational purposes.

February 27: World altitude record of 33,113 feet set by Maj. R. W. Schroeder (USA) in a LePere-Liberty 400, at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio.

March 1: The NACA proposed a national aviation policy establishing a Bureau of Aeronautics in the Commerce Department, authorizing airplane competition to stimulate new designs, increasing Army and Navy air appropriations, expanding the Air Mail Service, and expanding research at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

March 27: Successful test of Sperry gyrostabilized automatic pilot system in an F5L was completed at NAS Hampton Roads.

April 1: The NACA approved the publication of Technical Report No. 91, "Nomenclature for Aeronautics," to assist use of uniform technical terms and symbols.

April 2: Successful altitude soundings of wind direction and velocity at night, 10