Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/19

 Weather Bureau, Bureau of Standards, NACA, and Commerce Department to study cause and prevention of ice formation on aircraft.

April 11: First manned rocket automobile tested by Fritz von Opel, Max Valier, and others, at Berlin, Germany.

April 12-13: German pilots Köchl and Huenefeld, and J. Fitzmaurice made first westbound transatlantic airplane flight in Junkers Bremen.

May 5: Lt. C. C. Champion flew a Wright Apache equipped with P&W Wasp engine and NACA supercharger to new world altitude record for seaplanes of 33,455 feet.

May 15: NACA held third annual Engineering Research Conference at Langley Field, Va.

May 22: First patent on sodium-filled valves for combustion engines issued to S. D. Heron, engineer of the Materiel Division at Wright Field.

During May: Aeronautics Branch of Department of Commerce created Board to determine original causes of aircraft accidents.

June 11: Friedrich Stamer made first manned rocket-powered flight in a tailless glider from the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön Mountains of Germany. Takeoff was made by elastic launching rope assisted by 44-pound thrust rocket, another rocket was fired while airborne, and a flight of about 1 mile was achieved. This flight was a part of experimentation directed by A. Lippisch.

June 16: Successful tests were made of superchargers designed to give sea level pressure at 30,000 feet and a new liquid-oxygen system for high-altitude flying, at Wright Field. Lt. William H. Bleakly in XCO-5 made flight to 36,509 feet and remained there 18 minutes.

During September: The NACA undertook coordination of research programs in universities to promote the study of aeronautics and meteorology.

September 19: First diesel engine to power heavier-than-air aircraft, manufactured by Packard Motor Car Co., was flight tested at Utica, Mich.

September 23: Lt. James H. Doolittle accompanied by Capt. A. Stevens made altitude flight of 37,200 feet to obtain aerial photograph covering 33 square miles.

October 4-5: First Aeronautical Safety Conference held in New York under auspices of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics.

October 10: Capts. St. Clair Streett and A. W. Stevens (USA) flew to 37,854 feet, less than 1,000 feet short of the official world record for single-occupant flight.

During October: At the request of the Air Coordination Committee, NACA prepared a report on "Aircraft Accident Analysis" for use by the War, Navy, and Commerce Departments.


 * Air Corps developed 84-foot-in-diameter parachute of sufficient strength to support weight of an airplane and its passengers.

December 17: International pilgrimage made to Kitty Hawk, N.C., to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first airplane flight.

December 19: First autogiro flight in the United States was made by Haold F. Pitcairn, Willow Grove, Pa.

During December: Air Medical Association formed at International Aeronautics Conference.

During 1928: NACA developed cowling for radial air-cooled engines which increased speed of Curtis AT-5A airplane from 118 to 137 mph with no increase in engine horsepower, Fred E. Weick and associates contributing to this development.


 * NACA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory demonstrated high lift by boundary-layer control by means of pressure or suction slots in an airfoil in the atmospheric wind tunnel.


 * First refrigerated wind tunnel for research on prevention of icing of wings and propellers placed in operation at Langley Laboratory.


 * First of nine volumes of an encyclopedia on interplanetary travel by Prof. Nikolai A. Rynin published in the Soviet Union, the final volume of which appeared in 1932.

January 1-7: An unofficial endurance record for refueled airplane flight was set by Maj. Carl Spaatz, Capt. Ira C. Eaker, and Lt. Elwood Quesada in the Question Mark, Fokker C2-3 Wright 220, over Los Angeles Airport, with flying time of 150 hours 40 minutes 15 seconds.

January 23-27: Modern aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga participated in fleet exercises for the first time.

February 4-5: Capt. Frank Hawks and O. E. Grubb established new nonstop transcontinental West-East record of 18 hours 22 minutes, in a single-engine Lockheed Air Express, the first practical application of NACA cowling for radial air-cooled engines.

February 23: Successful development of special goggles, heated gloves, and a device for warming oxgyen before use announced by Wright Field.

March 2: Membership of the NACA increased from 12 to 15 members by act of Congress.

May 8: Lt. A. Soucek (USN) established world's altitude record of 39,140 feet, flying the Wright Apache over Anacostia, D.C.

June 21: NACA special subcommittee held initial meeting at Langley on aeronautical research in universities.

June 27-29: Capt. Frank Hawks broke transcontinental speed records from East to West and West to East flying the Lockheed Air Express.

July 17: A liquid-fueled, 11-foot rocket, fired by Robert Goddard at Auburn, Mass., carried a small camera, thermometer, and a barometer which were recovered intact after the flight. Much "moon rocket" publicity made of this flight.

August 8-29: Round-the-world flight of the German rigid airship Graf Zeppelin.

August 23-October 31: Russian plane, Land of the Soviets, flown on good-will tour of the United States from Moscow to Seattle, thence to New York, having covered 13,300 miles in 142 flying-hours.

During August: Use of a battery of solid-propellant rockets on Junkers-33 seaplane, the first recorded jet-assisted take-off of an airplane, made in tests near Dessau, Germany.

September 22: Second Alaska Aerial Survey completed by Navy, mapping 13,000 square miles in southeastern Alaska.

September 24: Lt. James H. Doolittle made the first public all-blind flight at Mitchel Field, Long Island, accompanied by a check pilot.

September 30: Opel Sander Rak. 1, a glider powered with 16 rockets of 50 pounds of thrust each, made successful flight of 75 seconds, covering almost 2 miles near Frankfort-am-Main, Germany, Von Opel as pilot.

October 7: Aero Medical Association of the United States founded by Louis H. Bauer, and the first issue of the Journal of Aviation Medicine was published in March 1930.

October 15: Premier of German movie film, Frau im Mond (The Girl in the Moon) directed by Fritz Lange, which assisted popular awareness of rocket potentials in Germany.

October 21: German Dornier DO-X flying boat carried 169 passengers in hour flight over Lake Constance, Switzerland, the largest number of individuals ever carried in a single aircraft.

November 28-29: First flight over South Pole, by Comdr. Richard E. Byrd, in a 24