Midnight Hazards on Path of Light Towers

Copyright 1923 by Jack Bell

The thunderous roar of the midnight air monster; the lanes of daylight that pierce the blackness of night; the great silver birds that catapult their way from light-post to light-post; a prophecy of approaching new miracles in the air mail service - these form part of Mr. Bell's sensational article today.

The mammoth, submerged, powerfully illuminated "T," the outlining border lights, the passing fitful shadows, crossings and criss-crossings of the giant shapes of the "Motor Macks," in silhouette, as they hurry to and fro in ghostly lights and Air Mail hangars, gigantic gnome forms, mystical shapes, all hurry, bustle, but in orderly precision, as the great silver-winged monster of the air road is placed on the blocks, turned over, with a cough as of great desire of action.

A shattering of the quiet of the early evening takes place as the propellor begins its function, with the growl of the pent-up energy of the 400 horsepower Liberty motr. Almost human is this motor in its semming desire to give forth its speed and great strength, to begin the initial work of its labors of the night, that Uncle Sam may show the world that these silver kings of the air are the trail blazers of modern man for the United States Postal Service.

Out from the dressing room steps an apparition in hood, night goggles, furred flying suit, heavy sheep-lined half boots, heavy fur gloves, with belted regulation Army six-shooter at hip. To one unfamiliar with the pilot, as he makes his way through the shafts of shade and glare, over to the great ship that trembles, like a nervous thoroughbred at the barrier, he appears like a creature from another world. The fire in continued shafts of dull, red, glowing along the stream lines of the plane gives a sensation akin to that of nightmare - so unreal, uncanny, is the whole view of the flying field, pilot, "motor macks" (field mechanicians) and the myriad passings of fantastic shapes.

Then is head the stunning, continued cough of the running Liberty as it is turned up to speed, spinning the propellor to its maximum.

Now the pilot tests out the landing lights, located on each wing tip, makes careful test and survey of the dozen instruments, and foot and hand control. He listens to the exhaust of the wonderful engine, twists about and looks the ship all over in detail, then raises his hand to the "motor macks" standing by, grasping the ends of the wings of the plane. Other motor macks jerk away the holding blocks, leap away from the ship as it taxies and gains, in a wink, a speed of 80 miles an hour down the runway upon the electric trail.

Then it lifts, booming heavenward, into the darkness above. The pounding reverberations come back to earth with thudding, deafening shock. Fainter and fainter, the noise of the engine tapers in volume. The wing lights are doused; there is nothing to indicate the speeding craft but the red, green and white tail lights. They grow dim, the faint purr of the great motor becomes less, and then into the cupped blue, with the myriads of twinkling stars appearing so very bright and close, the ship disappears on its road to the first service station, change of ships and change of pilots.

Up above, the big silver bird, like a monster crane, speeds. Below are the glistening lights of the air line road. Every twenty-five miles are reflecting lights throw their gleams skyward. In the vast distance are seen the parallel rays of the 333,000 candle-power electric tower on the landing field, throwing their glare for a radius of a hundred miles.

Below in miniature are seen the villages, towns and cities, with their boundaries defined by the lighted streets. Glow-fly in appearance, above the perfect blue, radium, sparling stars shine out in all their wonderous beauty, all magnified.

A mile and two miles high this monster of the night sweeps on with terrific momentum.

Glorious, exhilerating, a new world to the pilot - interesting, without the dead sameness of daylight flying! Comes a feeling of less hazard, when the dangers of the day are gone - just dark space - then the miles upon miles of glittering signboards upon the earth. Then the pilot comes within the circle of the powerful searchlight.

Into the edges he flies, then as the concentrated rays strike the ship, the pilot begins his plans for landing. Everything around and about him and his ship is ghostly light. On and on at a rate of 125 miles an hour, under quiet air conditions, the plane rides through the displaced ether, and with a good tail wind will easily cover space at 170 miles per hour. The incoming ship is heard upon the landing field. High up in the great field of light it appears like a small silver moth. The [xx] road has been cut off. The mammoth "T" is lighted. As it throws out its gleams to the pilot, the great searchlight is turned off.

Now the pilot of the ship slowly spirals down toward earth. The motor macks watch the proceedings through night glasses, as the airman switches on the wing lights and landing lights, as they are designated, and circles down and down. Then, taking advantage of air currents, he lands his ship, side-slipping the apparently tired bird to its resting place in the hangar.

The motor macks, with almost increditable swiftness, transfer the valuable cargo of mail to the awaiting relay, the roaring ship that, like a hound on a leash, strains and strains to be free and take off into its element. This relay will take its section of the flight toward its goal, the next division point.

In the night everything is changed, all animate and inanimate appearances are changed. A visit to the field in daylight and then at night as the ships are made ready for flight gives one the feeling of being transported to another sphere.

On and on towards the sea the ship travels in the night. On the earth the magnification of the great motor in the world's stillness awakes all along the highway of the sky.

Soon, very soon, long before the realization comes, the pilots and their ships of the night will be [xx]. Then there will follow a twenty-four hour service of Uncle Sam's mails between New York and San Francisco - instead of the thirty-six hour schedule that is now prepared. Then as the construction of the ships changes with the application of new inventions and improvements it will not take much of an imagination to conjure a letter leaving San Francisco in the morning and being delivered in New York on the same day. With the staff of workers now employed by the government, this branch, with the testing of instruments, motors, wings, oils and gasses, daily try-outs now in progress, wonders of speed and safety are bound to be obtained by the Army and Navy personnel.

There are many new methods of lighting the airdromes. Lights are so placed that they are almost comparable to daylight. As a matter of fact, they are better than daylight upon a dark day. The installation of the landing lights on the tips of the wings of the ships is new, and an American idea. These lights are installed as follows.

About one foot of each lower wing is cut away to permit rigid installation and the perfect streamlining of the lights. The placing of the lights does not affect the efficiency of the wings, according to the wind tunnel tests made. The lights themselves are eight inches in diameter at the projecting end and taper back to the junction of the aileron. The weight of the new device is eight pounds. But one of these powerful lamps is used in coming into a field that is known to the pilot. In a forced landing, both lights are flashed on and the radius of light is sufficient to find an ordinary [xx]. The light is furnished from a small dynamo, and is controlled by a switch by the pilot.

The tail lights, or navigation lamps, are red and green, one on each side, and a white light in the center. They are all egg shaped and made of pyrolin. These lights can be seen five to six miles away and at an altitude of 3000 feet.

Another safety device that will be used by the night Air Mail flyers is the parachute flare. These flares, weighing 35 pounds, are mounted in modified bomb racks, one or more underneath each wing. However, this method, which has been used in the army, is being vastly improved, and will soon be tested on ships. Initial tests of this new development show one hundred per cent efficiency, and the new ones do not weigh half as much as the old type. It is with this flare that the pilot can make a forced landing with comparative safety to his life in a strange country.

The high intensity arc light is another new method and modern application to aviation at night. In good weather this wonderful light is plainly visible for 100 miles, and actually rates 330,000,000 candlepower.

On the Liberty motor a started has been created. This installation is for ease and safety in night starting. A rather large increase in batteries, to take care of the extra load, is new. On the motor is a 25 amphere generator.

The latest improvement for safety for the pilots of Army and Air Mail is the bank and turn indicator 0 a long needed instrument that will tell the pilot when his ship is on a level keel, a most important matter that adds to the safety of the night flying man.

Just out and tested thoroughly, and absolutely perfect, is an instrument that the army pilots swear by - the newly developed, latest compass.

One of the Air Mail ships is being fitted with all these late improvements for night flying at the Dayton field (Chicago), and the final tests will be made at night before fitting all the ships between Chicago and Cheyenne with the new wonderful appliances, and making ready for the successful delivery of U. S. mail in the hours of the night.

Already the new field at Chicago is being lighted with new airdrome light fixtures, and the great submerged lights that mark the "T" are now being connected up for service.

A large party of surveyors and electricians has been on the road between Chicago and Iowa City, Ia. (Iowa City being merely a service station for the ships between Chicago and Omaha - a ten-minute schedule stop). They have already installed the trail between these two points, and have the lights placed at intervals of 25 miles apart. The party is working Westward and will install these running night points as far west as Cheyenne. This work will be completed some time during this winter.

When the ships pass the signpost lights, and the tail lights appear as they hurtle onward, the ground lights back of them will be cut off. But the great 330,000,000 candlepower arcs will blaze into the sky from the point of departure until the ship reaches the next division point, and so all along the lighted ighway of the airmen.

This party of technicians is picking out four-way fields that can be used in emergencies. They will be beacon lamps of a range of 40 and 50 miles in extent.

Thirty-six hour mail service from San Francisco to New York and thirty-six hours New York to San Francisco is the time that is given the masters of the wonderful Air Mail ships to cover the distance of 2680 air mileage. This includes the stops at divisions, changing pilots, transfer of the mails, stopping for service at non-mail stations, throw-off or pick-up.

When the night ship is picked up in the border of the great arc shaft of light, the sister ship is tuned up, and ready for its driver when the incoming plane strikes the big "T." The transfer is made in a couple of minutes and away on the midnight ride goes the humming, speeding aeroplane, a thing of life and magnificent silver sheen, coughing its ribbons of flame along each side of the fuselage, giving the mammoth machine the appearance of a giant rocket.

The plans mapped out by the government for night flying are complete in all their many details. After exhaustive study of the problem of transcontinental service, with speed and safety the paramont issue, it has resulted in created an initial leg where elements of danger to pilot, ship and cargo are at their minimum.

The beginning of this new era in transcontinental flight will be between Chicago and Cheyenne, Wyoming. The daylight schedule will of course be changed to meet the connections at the night terminals.

With the advance in army, navy and Air Mail departments of flying, America is fast approaching that goal where other nations will follow. It has been a hard battle to get the American public interested in matters pertaining to travel in the air. They are becoming educated. The surety of the Air Mail service has been directly responsible for the interest being taken in the greater development and safety of the art. Technicians and men of yuears of practical worth are now walking hand and glove to make America premier in the air transportration problem.

That in a few years there will be seen in almost every large city and in thickly settled communities many different types of air travel is a certainty. In this generation the mode of air travel will be as common as the automobile is today. It is but a short cry from the springless wagon of not-so-long-ago to the airship of today. The advance in aeronautics is swifter by scores of years than any other wonder given to the world.

Soon will come the lighter motor, with an almost noiseless function. For years men of science have joined the ranks of other pioneers in the field of aviation. Some day they will solve the problem of taking from the air their power through some simple application of electricity from between the poles. It is well known that this manner of developing cheap power has been under constant study for the past five years at least. It is coming, the wonder of travel in the air, with perfect safety.

(Copyright 1923 by Jack Bell)

Next week: "The Motor Macks, Hostlers of the Air Mail Steeds," in which Mr. Bell treats of the mechanicians who make flying possible.

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Starving Family, Marooned in Snow, Saved by Pilot

On February 23, last year, durin gthe deep snow and blizzard weather, word came to Major Tomlinson that a family 30 miles north of Reno, over the Peavine range, was marooned without food. For days the women had endeavored to break trail for help. The father was in bed sick. Pilot [Claire K.] Vance volunteered his services for a relief to the homesteaders. The ship was loaded with sacks of supplies, anchored to the ship in the manner of bombs.

Vance went over the mountain in the howling storm, circled his ship, and attracting the attention of the mother and two children, flew dangerously low, and cut away the ropes that held the food, dropping the sacks in a corral within easy reach of the starving family. Vance was just a little over a half hour in the air, as the wonder ships of the mail are rated at 120 miles per hour. Vance was the miracle man to the suffering ranchers, sure enough.

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Above in center is photo of Pilot William F. Blanchfield, one of the veteran flyers of the "Hump." In the accompanying photo postal hands are transferring the mail to the ship of Pilot Burr H. Winslow, about to depart for Reno from the Marina, San Francisco. At points in the interior the mail is transferred from ship to ship much the same as it was done from saddle to saddle in the days of the pony express.

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The "Hump" from the air! Here is character of terrain on the crest of the Sierra Nevada, showing how impossible it would be to land a ship at any point without wrecking the craft and perhaps costing the life of the flyer. The streak through the center is the snow-shed-line of the railroad. Donner lake is in the left foreground, just out of range of the camera. When the flyer hits the "Hump," there is but one thing to do - to hump it! Over the top!