U.S. PROBES CLOUD SECRETS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 54, 25 November 1946, Page 8

U.S. PROBES CLOUD SECRETS

STUDY OF THUNDERSTORMS

ijjT A JOINT UNDERTAKING The United States Government lifecl a curtain of secrecy recently on a project hitherto little known, but important enough to rate a War Department priority second only to the Bikini atom bomb tests. It is a study of thunderstorms, a joint undertaking of the United States Weather Bureau and Army Air Forces, being conducted at nearby Pinecastle Army Airfield. Daily since June IS a select group of Air Force pilots and radar observers have been taking a flight of five P-61’s, the Army’s “Black Widow” night fighter, into the summer storm clouds of this semitropical area in an attempt to learn all there is to know about storms, and how they can best be combatted for flying purposes.

Aiding in the quest are three civilian glider pilots provided by the Soaring Society of America— Paul Tuntland of Los Angeles, movie stunt pilot; William Dolger of New York, former Chief Instructor of the Army’s Mobile Glider School and Don Pollard, former Navy flier from Reanoke, Va. The gliders are towed high into the dark clouds and left to the buffeting of the storms. The pilot’s observations and data recorded on Weather Bureau equipment later are compiled to furnish scientists with an account of a storm’s behaviour.

The P-61’s, also packed with weather recording and radar equipment, fly through the thunderheads at different altitudes, checking the intensity of the storms, prevalence of ice or snow, and numerous other factors at each level.

Heading the project for the Weather Bureau is Dr. Horace B. Byers, Professor of Meteorology at the university of Chicago. Lieut. Col. Lewis B. Meng, of Atlanta, chief of the AAF Tactical Project Section at Pinecastle Army Air Field, is directing the Army’s part of the study.