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Transcriber’s note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
[Illustration: ARMY AIRPLANE GLIDING TO NORTH ISLAND OVER U. S. CRUISER
“SAN DIEGO”]
THE AVIATOR AND THE WEATHER BUREAU
by
FORD A. CARPENTER, LL.D.
Meteorologist
Illustrated with Photographs and Charts
by the Author and Others
Published by the
San Diego Chamber of Commerce
1917
Published by permission
Dated August 25, 1916
Second edition, 5,000 copies
J. Horace McFarland Company
Mt. Pleasant Press
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Introductory Note
This is a brief but general account of the history of aviation as
it is associated with southern California, a description of the War
Department school of aviation at San Diego, a syllabus of the course
of lectures delivered there on the subject of practical meteorology as
applied to aviation, a narrative of weather-study from an airplane, and
a recital of subsequent active coöperation between the aviators and the
U. S. Weather Bureau.[A]
[A] It may be remembered that the weather service of the
United States originated with the Signal Corps of the Army
and that the Weather Bureau was created from it by Act
of Congress, June, 1891, and made a bureau of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture. As a former member of the Signal
Corps the writer enjoyed the renewal of old friendships
among the officers at the Aviation School. Col. W. A.
Glassford, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, Commandant of the War
Department Aviation School at San Diego, kindly read the
manuscript of the following pages and the writer gratefully
acknowledges his valuable suggestions.
Much of the material in the following pages was obtained by the writer
while detailed as Lecturer in Meteorology to the Signal Corps, War
Department Aviation School at San Diego, in 1915–1916, also when
detailed in the same official capacity to the U. S. Army Military
Training Encampment, Monterey, 1916; and at the summer sessions of the
University of California during 1914–1916.
LOS ANGELES, CAL.,
February, 1917.
_To_
_J. S. A._
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
The Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California 7
CHAPTER II
Applied Meteorology for the Aviator 11
CHAPTER III
Weather Observations from an Airplane 16
CHAPTER IV
Investigating the Upper Air 25
List of Plates
Figure
No. Page
Army airplane gliding to North Island Over U. S. Cruiser
“San Diego” _Frontispiece_
1. Congressional Medal awarded Wright brothers 33
2. Ascent of sounding balloons at Avalon 34
3. Meteorograph which made the ascent of July 27, 1913 35
4. First flight of airplane carrying two persons 36
5. Sub-station at Mount Wilson Observatory 37
6. Type of airplane used in 1911 on North Island 38
7. Discussing a flight 39
8. Captain Culver and parachute for determining wind-direction 40
9. Lieutenant Gorrell, U. S. Infantry, as observer 41
10. Point Loma from the eastern shore of North Island 42
11. San Diego, across Spanish Bight, from U. S. Aviation School,
at twilight 43
12. Instructor Brindley and Meteorologist Carpenter in
Military Tractor No. 50 44
13. Military Tractor No. 50 45
14. “Trimming” Tractor No. 50 46
15. Military Tractor No. 50 just before leaving the ground 47
16. San Diego harbor at over two thousand feet altitude 48
17. San Diego viewed from an altitude of thirty-five hundred
feet 49
18. Military Tractor No. 50 viewed from the ground 50
19. Flying Squad’s Wind Direction Pennant Tower 51
20. The Aviation School Motor-Boat “Pronto” 52
21. U. S. Aviation Field at three thousand feet altitude 53
22. Repair Shop, U. S. Aviation School, San Diego, Cal. 54
The Aviator and the Weather Bureau
CHAPTER I
THE SIGNAL CORPS AVIATION SCHOOL AT SAN DIEGO
_History._--The year 1911 marked the beginning of the United States
aviation school at San Diego. There is no finer tribute to the
equability and general excellence of the climate of southern California
than that given in the history of aëronautics. It was here, in 1900,
that Chanute completed his early and epoch-making observations of the
flight of gulls and pelicans. These contributed largely to the success
of the Wright brothers a few years afterward. It was in southern
California, six years ago, that Harkness, in an Antoinette, made his
record monoplane flight to Tia Juana. San Diego witnessed the flying
of the first seaplane, by Curtiss, five years ago. It is in this
district that not only the War Department aviation school and a number
of commercial flying schools are located, but also one of the large
airplane[B] factories in this country.
[B] The National Advisory Committee for Aëronautics in
its report of October 17, 1916, on Nomenclature for
Aëronautics, the name _airplane_ is substituted for “Any
form of aircraft heavier than air which has wing surfaces
for sustention, with stabilizing surfaces, rudders for
steering, and power-plant for propulsion through the air.”
_Location of the School._--Whatever the final action may be as to
permanent location, it has been conceded by all authorities that
the situation of the aviation school on North Island, San Diego Bay,
is ideal. (See Fig. 21.) The so-called island is connected with the
peninsula of Coronado by a narrow sand-spit, and it comprises many
hundred acres of level land free from buildings and any sort of
overhead wires. The island fronts the ocean on the south; Point Loma on
the west with the narrow entrance to the bay between; to the north is
the city of San Diego across the bay; and Coronado just beyond Spanish
Bight on the east. This natural arrangement gives good air conditions
for beginners, and also enables them to use the smooth waters of the
bay as well as the rough ocean water for the seaplanes. The proximity
of this location to San Diego is also a distinct advantage. (See Fig.
11.) All of the structures of the aviation school on North Island are
temporary, the buildings consisting of a scattering array of huge sheds.
_Character of Instruction._--Officers from all branches of the army
volunteer for this service. The qualifications of an aviator are
caution, judgment, and technical skill. Deficiencies in caution and
judgment being temperamental are rarely remedied, while technical
skill is largely a matter of acquirement. Less than ninety days are
allowed for qualification as a junior aviator, and if in that period
the officer’s deficiencies are found to be inherent, he returns to his
company.
The school is a place for hard work and quick thinking. Detail in the
repair shop is part of the course, as is also the use of the gasoline
engine in motor trucks as well as in aircraft. (See Fig. 22.) Theory
and practice are closely united: the former is carried on by means
of bi-daily lectures, while the early morning hours are devoted to
flying. Pilot-and-observer machines equipped with double control are
used in instruction. The aviation instructor ascends with the student
and allows him to manipulate the controls, only resuming the management
of the airplane in an emergency. Needless to say, the life of an
instructor is a most hazardous one and full of thrills. His duty is to
be on the alert to correct errors in the manipulation of the machine.
After every trip the instructor reviews, point by point, the features
of the flight, showing the pupil his deficiencies and explaining how
he may avoid them in the future. The instruction is terse but kindly,
and the manner of imparting this information leaves nothing to the
imagination. After watching student and instructor, and closely
studying the finished work of an aviator, it is my opinion that in no
other occupation must there be such perfect coördination between mind
and muscle: the perfectly qualified aviator is the modern super-man.[C]
[C] The army aviator of today is picked for his quickness of
mind and body, and the first thing that strikes you about
him is a sort of feline, wound-up-spring alertness. Then
you note his reticence, the cool reserve of a man whose
lot is to express himself in deeds rather than words. And,
lastly, there is the quiet seriousness, verging almost
on sadness, of a man who must hold himself ready to look
death between the eyes at any moment and yet keep his
mind detached for other things.--Lewis R. Freeman in the
_Atlantic Monthly_.
_Results of a Year’s Work._--During the year 1915, the students of the
aviation school made 3,652 flights with a total time aloft of 1,516
hours, and a mileage of 95,000. As regards weather conditions affecting
flights, it will be found interesting to note Chart No. 5 giving
number of flights and duration for the fourteen months ending August,
1916, which shows that work progressed regardless of weather, and at
an increasing rate.[D] In February, a military tractor-seaplane (an
all-California product), 125-horsepower motor, with twenty-six gallons
of gasoline, four gallons of oil, and three passengers, making a total
weight of 3,100 pounds, reached an altitude of 12,362 feet. This was
the world’s record, the previous altitude under the same conditions
having been 9,000 feet.
[D] “It is estimated that the average cost to France of
training each pilot is five thousand dollars ... no less
than from four to six months are devoted to the training
of finished pilots. Although I have just come from France,
the progress of aviation is so rapid that much of my own
knowledge may be out of date before I again return to the
front.”--C. D. Winslow, “With the French Flying Corps,”
1917, 4–5: N. Y.