Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/16

 November 23: Aeromarine all-metal flying boat launched at Keyport, N.J.

December 18: Christmas aileron patent claim was settled when U.S. Government bought the patent rights for $100,000.

End of 1923: Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket Into Interpanetary Space) by Hermann Oberth was published in Germany, and was the genesis for considerable discussion of rocket propulsion.

During 1923: Turbine-type supercharger with a gear drive under development at McCook Field.


 * Navy Bureau of Aeronautics abandoned water-cooled engines of less than 300 hp with the development of the Lawrance direct air-cooled J-1, 200-hp engine. Weight of water-cooling system was usually in excess of 25 percent of the total weight of the engine.

January 16: President Coolidge canceled all preparations for Navy Arctic expedition in which it was intended to use airplanes and the dirigible Shenandoah.

February 27: Corp. C. E. Conrad (USAS) successfully parachuted from 21,500 feet, from DH-4B over Kelly Field, Tex.

March 4: Two Martin bombers and two DH-4's broke up an icejam on the Platte River at North Bend, Nebr., by bombing.

March 7: Lt. E. H. Barksdale and B. Jones (USAS) flew DH-4B Liberty 400 on instruments from McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, to Mitchel Field, N.Y.

During March: Apparatus developed at Wright Field for scattering insecticide from the air, for use in checking spread of gypsy moth in New England.

April 6-September 28: The first round-the-world flight, the first transpacific flight, and the first westbound Atlantic crossing, from and returning to Seattle, by two Army Douglas "World Cruiser" biplanes, flying 26,345 miles in 363 hours' flying time, with an elapsed time of 175 days.

During April: Central Committee for the Study of Rocket Propulsion established in the Soviet Union.

May 2: Unofficial two-man altitude record of 31,540 feet set by Lts. John A. Macready and A. W. Stevens (USAS) on a flight during which an aerial photograph covering the greatest area of the earth's surface to date was obtained.

May 19: Lt. J. A. Macready (USAS) established new American altitude record of 35,239 feet at Dayton, in Le Pere Liberty 400.

June 2: Dr. C. L. Meisinger of the Weather Bureau and Lt. James T. Neely were killed by lightning in storm-riding balloon flight, near Monticello, Ill.

June 23: First "dawn-to-dusk" flight from New York to San Francisco, by Lt. R. L. Maugham in Curtis Pursuit (PW-8), with five stops en route.

July 1: Dr. George W. Lewis appointed Director of Aeronautical Research of NACA, a post he held until 1947.


 * First continuous night-and-day transcontinental airmail service initiated between New York and San Francisco by Post Office Department pilots, a service which was first instituted on September 8, 1920, but had stopped.

September 14: French helicopter flown by its designer, Oehmichen, established world helicopter altitude record of 3.28 feet carrying 440.92-pound useful load.

September 15: Unmanned N-9 seaplane equipped with radio control successfully flown on 40-minute flight from Naval Proving Grounds, Dahlgren, and sank from damage sustained on landing.

October 15: ZR-3 (later renamed Los Angeles), a German dirigible constructed for the U.S. Navy under a reparations agreement, arrived at Lakehurst, N.J., after flying the Atlantic, by German crew under Dr. Hugo Eckener.

October 24: When all foreign entrants withdrew from Schneider Cup Race to be held at Bayshore Park, Md., the United States agreed to cancel race rather than win by a flyaway. Instead, Navy scheduled contestants and other naval aircraft placed 17 world records in the book for class C seaplanes.

October 25: Lt. R. A. Ofstie (USN) established new world seaplane speed record of 178.25 mph for 100 km.

October 28: Cloud formations at 13,000 feet were broken up over Bolling Field, D.C., by "blasting" with electrified silica in a fog-dispersal demonstration by Army aircraft.

November 24: NACA Committee on Aerodynamics summarized in its annual report that it had direct control of aerodynamic research conducted at Langley, the propeller research conducted at Standford University under W. F. Durand, and some special investigation at the Bureau of Standards and at a number of Universities. Investigation undertaken at the Washington Navy Yard Aerodynamic Laboratory, the Engineering Division of the Army Air Service, the Bureau of Standards, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were reported to this Committee. Thus, it was "in close contact with all aerodynamical work being carried out in the United States."


 * NACA Subcommittee on metals concluded that duralumin girders which formed framework of the Shenandoah "will not fail by 'fatigue' in less than 40 years under service conditions" as a result of the "most extensive investigation of the properties of sheet metal which has been undertaken in this country," by the Bureau of Standards.

December 2: "Standard Atmosphere," after careful coordination, approved by Executive Committee of NACA, later adopted for use in aeronautical calculations by the War and Navy Departments, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Standards; described by Lt. Walter S. Diehl of BuAer in NACA Technical Report No. 218. It gave pressures and densities for altitudes up to 20,000 meters and to 65,000 feet.

December 9: The Civil Aeronautics Act, proposing to establish a Bureau of Civil Aeronautics in the Department of Commerce, was reintroduced in Congress.

During 1924: High-speed wind tunnel (5 foot, 1,000 hp, 260 mph) at McCook Field used continuously, handling 150 tests of 17 airfoil, 24 model, and 15 fuselage tests.


 * High-speed photography of sprays produced by fuel injection valves successfully developed, and flight study of Roots-type supercharger with DH-4 and DT-2 aircraft conducted, at Langley Laboratory. Supercharging increased practical ceiling of DH-4 from 14,500 feet to 31,000 feet, and of the DT-2 from 18,500 feet to 28,000 feet.


 * NACA Report No. 207 by L. J. Briggs, G. F. Hull, and H. L. Dryden of the National Bureau of Standards, "Aerodynamic Characteristics of Airfoils at High Speeds," was major contribution reporting on tests of airfoils at near supersonic speeds.

January 24-25: Twenty-five aircraft carried scientists and other observers above clouds in Connecticut to view total eclipse of the sun, while airship Los Angeles carried Naval Observatory scientists over Block Island, R.I.

February 2: President Coolidge signed the Kelly bill authorizing contract air transport of mail.

February 18: "Standard Altimeter Calibration" worked out by Bureau of Standards, and approved by all interested agencies, was approved by the NACA.

April 13: Henry Ford started an airfreight line between Detroit and Chicago, the first such commercial flights on a regular schedule. 18