FIFTY YEARS OF FLYING PROGRESS — LOENING 205 



For example, the Air Force (particularly in the operation of attack 

 and assault planes), requires very short takeoffs and landings. And 

 yet, in spite of the successful development by the Navy of catapult 

 launching and the deck-landing hook and wire-engaging retarding 

 mechanisms, it has only lately occurred to the air force of any nation to 

 adopt these devices on the ground instead of worrying about long, clear 

 runways. If there was ever an argument for a united air force, it is 

 this one. On the other hand, if we had had a united air force, we prob- 

 ably never would have had the carriers with their landing traps and 

 catapult takeoffs. 



Now several advanced designers are beginning to think in terms of 

 fast aircraft of much lighter weight (because they carry no landing 

 gear to speak of) that will take off on a field from either a catapult or 

 a powered launching car and v»^ill land on simple skis that will have no 

 extensive roll and no need for brakes, which get too hot. Thus we see 

 the 50-year cycle reverse itself and return to the original concept of the 

 Wrights. 



WATER-BASED AIRCRAFT 



While the familiar concrete runway is accepted with a certain 

 finality by everyone, the history of aviation development raises a ques- 

 tion as to its necessity. We have prospects, as indicated above, of de- 

 veloping characteristics in aircraft that will allow the fastest load- 

 carrying plane to land more or less vertically in restricted areas. But 

 in the past few years we have seen the development of the jet engine, by 

 vrhich we have ceased to require the use of a propeller. And this has 

 reopened the entire question of whether we should not use water sur- 

 faces for aircraft takeoff. In 1907 the Wrights had the same idea, and 

 in preparation for some flying around Norfolk over a fleet review, 

 which they were then contemplating, they began work on pontoons to 

 carry their plane. One of the difficulties they encountered was the in- 

 compatibility of propeller tips and spray. The necessity of having 

 the propellers clear the water has plagued seaplane designers ever 

 since. It is the one item that has caused seaplanes always to be so 

 heavy and ungainly, and to have greater head resistance, and therefore 

 at a disadvantage in comparison to land planes. 



With the advent of the jet engine all this has changed, and water- 

 based aircraft have gained certain advantages over land-based air- 

 craft. The jet-engine seaplane does not need any great water clear- 

 ance for propellers, merely a configuration in which the jet intake is 

 reasonably free of spray. The jet exhaust is no problem at all. As a 

 result, the configuration of a jet-driven water-based airplane can not 

 only be fully as streamlined as a land airplane, but is lighter in weight 

 because of not having to carry the heavy landing gear — so difficult to 

 stow, anyhow, in the thin wings required by high speed. In addition. 



