348 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



Field Army-type aural beacon to lead an aircraft to the general 

 vicinity of the airfield. 



Two problems that were very much on the minds of the fund di- 

 rectors were collision of aircraft in the air and the formation of ice 

 on the wings, structure, and propeller, and in the carburetor of aircraft 

 when atmospheric conditions were conducive to icing. Dr. W. C. 

 Greer and Dr. Merrit Scott at Cornell University carried out work, 

 under fund sponsorship, on the underlying causes of ice formation 

 on aircraft. The fund also sponsored the work done by John P. Kil- 

 gore of New Haven, Conn., on an electrically heated wing blanket 

 for deicing. The Full Flight Laboratory did no development work 

 on deicing equipment, but many test flights were made under icing 

 conditions to determine effects and limitations. 



BAD-WEATHER FLIGHTS DEMONSTRATED NEED FOR BLIND-LANDING 

 EQUIPMENT AND RADIO COMMUNICATION 



The NY-2 was frequently out of commission during the installation 

 of new instruments or equipment. These were convenient periods for 

 cross-country flying practice under unfavorable weather conditions 

 in the 02U-1. This airplane had all necessary flight instruments but 

 no blind-landing equipment. 



An extreme example of a cross-country bad-weather flight took 

 place on March 15, 1929. I took off from Buffalo in the 02U-1 headed 

 for Mitchel Field. It was night, and the weather was fair and improv- 

 ing at Buffalo, but marginal to the south and east. This was to be a 

 difficult flight but possible, and just the sort of thing required to estab- 

 lish flight "limitations." In a pinch I could return to Buffalo at any 

 time up to the point where nearly half of the gasoline supply was 

 used up. 



I well realized that the pilot who flew within his limitations would 

 probably live to a ripe old age, whereas the pilot who flew beyond 

 them would not. I also knew that different pilots had different 

 limitations. This was pointed up in the mid-1920's when I was a 

 test pilot at old McCook Field. At that time there were few facilities 

 and little ground equipment to do environmental testing on new air- 

 borne devices. It was therefore necessary to test them out in flight, 

 and the test pilots spent many hours flying around the airfield to see 

 how a new device held up under the accelerations, vibrations, and 

 changes in temperature and pressure experienced in flight. Lt. Alex 

 Pearson always spent these hours practicing precision flying ; for in- 

 stance, holding constant speed and altitude. As a result he became 

 extremely proficient and could fly a better speed course or do a 

 smoother saw-tooth climb than any of the rest of us. 



