IN OUTER REGIONS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 37, 13 February 1930, Page 18

IN OUTER REGIONS

ALTITUDE .FCYING DANGERS TO BE FACED RECOED BREAKEES By LieUt. Apollo Soucek. (Copyright.) [On Sth May, 1929, Lieut. Soucek established a new world's altitude record when he ascended to a height of 39,140 ft. Not content with establishing a new height record for land 'planes, he rose a month later to tho greatest height evei reached by. a man in a seaplane, 38,560 ft. His laud 'plane record was later surpassed by a German.] Nearly everyone has seen meteors fall, and has marvelled at the beauty of them, but falling stars have a more important function than fascination for the spectator: they enable the'astronomer to measure tho height, or perhaps I should say "thickness" of the air surrounding the world. As soon as the scientist can see the burning rock, he can tell how high it is, and determine readily enough that the upper limit of air is «qual to the height of* the meteor. j I may as well announce now that it ia not possible for an aviator to go as high as this limit, for it is about 120 miles. No one yet, ever has exceeded eight miles, so it 4s practically impossible to reach the extreme of 120. 24 MILES ABOVE THE SEA. There is some reasonable height, however, that one can reach in an aeroplane or balloon. Small Hounding balloons with no.'Weight attached have been measured 24 miles above sea level. But tho possibilities of reaching 24 miles scarcely exist at all. The first hazard that man encounters is the inability to breathe at high altitudes, that is, to get oxygen to Ma system. ' One cannot inhale enough air at 25,000ft —• 4.7 miles —to keep one alive; consequently, flaßks of oxygen1 must be carried to supply that most urgently-need-ed substance to the lungs. In the United States Navy's Apache, the altitude aeroplane, we had three flasks, two of which were used as a steady supply and one was held in reserve in case of emergency, such as a broken tube, frozen mouthpiece, or damaged valve. . , I started using the gas at two miles with but a small flow and kept increasing it until I had the regulating valve wide open when I was six miles high. Even there I felt the necessity for more oxygen;'l began to get slightly dizzy and tired. I opened the emergency occasionally to try it out and to get the benefit of tho high pressure it afforded. Certainly, it came into my mouth with force so strong that tho plugs were nearly blown from my n«se. I wish to point out here that I was feeling drowsy and tired from the lack of oxygen, even though I had pure gas flowing into the mouthpiece and into my mouth. But it was not getting down into my lungs. I expanded my chest as far as I could, but the oxygen would not go on down. It came into my mouth, as I said, before, but most of it went out through tho exhaust tube. ;. j At some altitude between eight and eight and a half miles tho air pressure is so low that no oxygen can possibly enter the lungs, and that a man will faint if he remains in this zone for any duration of time. Captain Grey, of the United States Army Air Corps, is believed to have lost his oxygen supply when he took his balloon to about eight miles, and died as a result of oxygen starvation. An aeroplane would have fallen rapidly, just as it had done with an unconscious pilot; but the inert balloon gave Captain Grey no chance to get back to denser atmosphere. HEATED GOGGLES ESSENTIAL. All of tho apparel I wore in my flights did not weight more than ten pounds, but i didn't feel the necessity for more even in the coldest zone reached, which was 76 degrees below zero. It does not get much colder than that at any height. I wore a pair of furlined boots, a fur-lined suit, combined helmet and face mask, which wore furlined, heavy fur mittens, and ordinary goggles. I removed shoes and underwear; the fur suit was thin, but this was of fine enough texture to keep out the wind and tetain the warmth generated by the body. Electrically-heated goggles, though, are absolutely essential. I tried using various devices such as perforated lens, screens, and gelatines, but nothing prevented the formation of frost except the'hot electric element. Yet these are but accessories: they merely assist in maintaining natural, 'or sea-level conditions for the pilot. The paramount implements have not yet been mentioned; I am referring now to the aeroplane and its power plant. I must explain briefly, though, the termendous task we are imposing on an aeroplane and an aeroplane engine when we demand that they go higher and higher into a medium which constantly and steadily gets thinner and lighter. Were there no weight to the aeroplane, the task would not be difficult, and the machine could go as high as a balloon —24 miles. Bat the aeroplane itself, its wheels, ftody, wings, and tail, weigM considerable; add to them the weights of an engine, a supercharger, petrol, ftil, a pilot, barographs, all equipment, and the total amounts to a gross load of about 1J tons. The lifting surfaces, or wings' and tail, will carry that load at sea-leyel without much effort, and the engine and propeller will hum along with their greatest strength, developing the maximum horse-power. But when the high altitudes are reached, the wings have ; less lift and the engine has less horsepower, until finally no more height can be attained. The Apache takes off from the ground with a run of about 75ft, and climbs at an angle of 30 degrees or better. No other 'plane ever built can compare with her for climb; she will make the first 10,000 ft in about 31 minutes. •PLANE IS HANDICAPPED. \ The rate of climb is great until the 'plane reaches about five miles. An engine, being very much like a man,, begins to feel the lack of oxygen at that altitude, and suffers a loss in power; naturally the speed falls off somewhat and the wings lose some of their lift. It is not feasible to carry enough oxygen to feed the engine, but it is possible to increase tho supply of air going to the carburettor by installing , a super-charger. This device, which has such a high-sounding name, is just an air pump; the engine drives it by a shaft and gears at such a speed j that it forces air through the carburettor in about the same quantities as normally would be supplied at sea level. Until the, super-charger is cut in, the power is low, but as soon as the pilot opens his control valve the full 450 horse-power again is available. The 'piano will continue on. But finally the air becomes so rare that tho super- ] charger cannot supply enough to keep j tho engine running at full speed, although not a great deal of power is lost. Even though the engine will run satisfactorily, the rarefied atmosphere will not afford a solid enough base from which tho 'plane-can push itself higher. There are many reasons why the wings of a 'plane cannot be built larger, increased weight being the

to build great areas into the wings)| Trithout tho addition of much weighty j tho altitude climbing problem would; be greatly simplified. At any rate, j these wings must be made of maximum! size. Tho Apache's wings are fairly largo, but it may bo practicable to increase them; a study of the problem j is being made at the present time. i I think I can say with a reasonable j amount of assurance that men can ( ga eight and a quarter miles high. s If wo can find some material in aur searches that is lighter than steel joi even duralumin with which to build! our engines, we shall develop mighty power plants, much lighter than the present ones. Someono may find a method for making a magnesium alloy, magnesium being the lightest of known metals —a magnesium alloy that will be better than steel. If he does we; shall be able to use it in the manufacture of large, light wings. i Surely we shall, sooner or later, ais-; cover some means of pumping a sufficient amount of air into the pilot's lungs to permit him to breathe at any; height. j In the U.S. Naval Aeronautic Organisation we intend to extend ourselves to the limit in the effort to add something each year to the ceiling of our; 'planes as well as to their other characteristics. I predict that other organisations throughout' the world will \he : active in these endeavours also, and that someone in the next ten years will accomplish an altitude ten miles above the level of the sea.