army aviation digest - apr 1957

8/12/2019 Army Aviation Digest - Apr 1957

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APRIL 957

THE UNITED STATESRMY VI TION S HOOL

FORT RUCKER ALABAMA


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U 5 RMYVI TION

EDITOR IN CHIEFCaptain Theodore E. WaskoASSISTANT EDITOR IN CHIEFCaptain Richard W. Kohlbrand

EDITOR


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Volume 3

UNITED ST TESARMY VI TION

DIGESTApril, 1957

RTICLES

Number 4

Supply Management Problems in Aircraft Logistics 5Brigadier General William B. Bunker, USReport from Camp Wolters . 20Effect of Clarification of Roles and Missions on Army Aviation. 22Colonel Frank G Forrest In

DEP RTMENTSStraight and Level .The Commandant s Column . . . . 3Brig,adier General Carl I Hutton USMemo from Flight Surgeon.Army Aviation Maintenance Hints .Pickups and Drops .Books for the Army Aviator .The Gray Hair Department.

COVER

182730335

The new shoulder sleeve insignia of the U. S. ArmyAviation School is based on a prize-winning designsubmitted by Lt. Frederick Whiting Assistant Training Officer, Program of Instruction Division, Officeof the Director of Instruction. The emblem featuresa black winged torch inftamed and detailed in yellowon a black bordered orange shield two inches wide.Orange and black are the school colors. The aviationtraining mission is denoted by the connected wingsand ftaming torch. The wings symbolize ftight, whichis taught at the school, and the ftaming torch issymbolic of the learning accomplished at the school.


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TO: Editor-in-ChiefGeneral Hutton attests to the weak-ness of unit training programs inThe Commandant's Column, U. S.

ARMY AVIATION DIGEST, Decem-ber, 1956. He submitted a situationand requirement for a provisionalaviation company training program.A solution t the requirement waspU'blished in the January, 1957 issue.However, the solution was not apanacea for unit training.A training program for an aviationcompany must not only provide flighttraining for Army aviators, but itmust provide training for enlistedmen as well. In number, enlisted personnel exceed officer personnel, twoto one, in the newly organized com-bat aviation companies.

Training for enlisted personnel isneeded in the realms of aircraft maintenance, communications, automotivemaintenance, as well as mandatorysubjects specified in current Armyregulations. . . .

All units should have a well plannedaviation safety program. Accidentsshould be d i s u s s e ~ when they oc-cur

At all times unit morale must bemaintained. Competition between sec-tions or flights must be promotedAviators need not only comply withregulations for flight minimums, butmust also be familiar with maintenance problems. They should pioneernew ideas in tactical flying. Aviatorsshould e cognizant that they areengaged in post-graduate flying. Basicfundamentals, learned in school, areto 'be integrated into routine flying.

In the Combat Aviation Company,3d Infantry Division, Fort Benning,Ga., under the command of Major

John B. Stockton, a need was realizedfor a progressive training program.A training program for the period ofDecember, 1956 through March, 1957was inaugurated.

An article on this master trainingprogram will be submitted to theDIGEST for publishing, after i t haswithstood the acid test applicationin the field. Anyone with new ideasor problems concerning unit aviationtraining please contact:

DONALD R. BAUSLER,liLt, Arty,Combat Aviation Co., 3d Inf Div.Fort Benning, Georgia

H Solution to the Provisional Aviation Company Training Program inthe January, 1957, issue was not in-tended to be a panacea for the ills ofa unit training program. Rather itwas offered as one solution to thisproblem with the hope that it wouldserve as a thought provoker for ArmyA viators everywhere and might stimu-late them to write their own versionof such a training program. Althoughthe enlisted personnel of the provi-sional division aviation company arenot included in this article, everyonerealizes that proper training proce-dures for enlisted specialists andNCOs must be included in any finalprogram. Lt. Bausler s projected arti-cle on his unit's training programshould provide further help to othersfaced with similar problems.

The EditorLetters to the Editor are welcomed

by the U S. ARMY AVIATION DI-GEST. To appear in this column theymust be signed.-The Editor


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TH COMMANDANTS OLUMNBrigadierGeneralCarl I. Hutton US

CommandingGeneral UnitedStatesArmyAviationCenter

The v iews expressed inth is artic le are the authors and are notnecessarily those ofthe Department of the Army.TheEditor

CLERFOR TAKEOFF

THISIS THELAST of The Commandants Columnsunderthe present a uthorship.Thetaskofp reparing them was undertaken when the editor was desperate formateria l and wouldp ublish almost anyth ing w hichcame to his desk. A lthough materia l is still u rgently needed, the Columnshaveservedtheiroriginalpurpose.Thetwoyearperiodr epresented has beenvery f ru it-ful forthe A rmy Aviation program . W ithout in any way depreciating t he m agnificent combatp erformanceof the A rtille ry irOPs in World War and the Korean conflict, itis quite probable thatthe successo f helicopters in Koream arked the real turningpointin A rmy A viation. TheA ir OP is a specialized (though tremendously effective) airplane,butthe helicopterh as proved to be o f universal application. Itswhole natureis uniquely suited to the A rmys requirement forthe degree of mobility which masters all types of te rra in . No types o f vehicles except those whichm ove in the aircanp ossiblyprovideuniversal mobility overw ater,mountains, forests, jungles, swamps, and mud. Allo the r types o f vehicles must depend prim arily uponroadsforrapid movement. These areelementary f acts which can hard ly be denied. Theyi ndicate very c learlythatthose situations which require a high degree ofmobility can be solved only by f lying machines.


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4 U. S. ARMY AVIATIONDIGESTOfcourse thereareproblems involved, as can beheard any time th is subject is broached. There areproblemsoftra in ing ,maintenance,organization,education, tactics, armament, and reliability. t is importan t ,however,thattheproblemsbe recognizedasincidentalto thesoluton ofthemobilityrequirement,andthattheyno tbeconfusedw iththebasicrequirem entitself.Nomatterhowcomplexthemachines,iftheyalonecanprovidethemobility,thentheyareaninevitablerequirement.ThefunctionspaperswhichsetforththepoliciesforArmyAviationseembroadenough to allowa greatdealofroomfo rthefurtheremploymentofaircraftin thedevelopment of theA rmy 'slandwarfare capabilities. No tonly is the immediate field clear, butthe rearealsoindicationsthatthepolicypositionsareno tinflexible.You m igh tsay the flight plan has been filed, thepreflight completed, the run-up finished, and thetowerhassaid, CLEARFORTAKEOFF.So builduptheRPMandpullinpitch.


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Supply ManagementProblems in ircraft Logistics

Brigadier General William B. Bunker USTransportation Supply and Maintenance Command

HE TRANSPORTATION SUPPLYAND MAINTENANCE Commandin St. Louis is assigned the responsibility for exercising theChief of Transportation's operational requirement t o furnishlogistical support to the Armya viation program. In fulfillingthis responsibility, it is frequent-ly necessary to try to reconcilethe special problems of aircraftwith normal Army procedures.Somehow in the aviation business, everything tends to becomeunique and special. Part of theinitial friction between theArmy and its fliers back in theBilly Mitchell days arose fromthe penchant that the aviatorshad for insisting on special considerations and their many rea-sons for feeling that they had todeviate from most of the old,time-hallowed Army customsand procedures.Generally, those outside of theflying fraternity tended to regard this accent on the specialnature of birdmen and their machines as over-emphasized and

unnecessary. We in St. Louis arenot blind t the problems and thefuture of aviation and aviators.There are many specific problems in the aviation business notfound in other Army operationswhich have to be considered ifwe are to handle this missionsuccessfully.Today, we are witnessing anincrease of what might be term-ed a second growth aviation inthe Army, and we seem to bemaking strong efforts in all aspects of the program to provethat our aviation is no differentthan any of the other functionsof the Army nor aircraft any different than any of our otherequipment.Accent is on conformity andstandardization with traditionalArmy policies and procedures,and little effort is being madeby the Army, both within andoutside of the flying organizations, to accent the peculiaritiesof the aviation business. Ourhigh command has repeatedlyemphasized that we have no de-


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U. S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST Aprilsire nor necessity to re-establisha separate Army Air Corps tohandle our increased aviationprogram but can fit it into ourexisting structures.In the logistic side of the business too the accent has been onconformity. Army Regulationsdesigned for the mass problemsof Ordnance and Quartermasterlogistics are being applied directly and without exception tothe problems of aircraft.In general it is necessary forthe aircraft to become a commonplace piece of Army equipment if it is in fact to performas an integral part of all Armyoperations as is so enthusiasti-cally forecast by our leaders.Army Regula ions and Armyprocedures are generally completely applicable to the problems of aircraft and aviationoperations and we in the Trans-portation Corps at least haverepeatedly taken the positionthat there was little necessityfor special procedures and poli-

cies to handle aviation and air-craft problems.As a matter of fact we findsome of the limited special treat-ment now accorded aviation mat-ters tends to interfere with anorderly and effective handling ofthe problems. We in the Trans-portation Corps generally findourselves pleading to have air-craft problems handled in thenormal technical service procedures.However there are areas inwhich the aircraft and henceaircraft logistics are decidedlyand necessarily different fromthe logistics of other pieces ofArmy equipment. It is not necessary to establish a special set ofregulations a special technicalservice or special code of operations for the aircraft business.On the other hand it is essential that everyone in the supply management business understand that there are certain essential differences between air-craft and the normal pieces of

General William B. Bunker, Commander of theTransportation Supply and Maintenance Command,St. Louis, Mo., was commissioned in the Cavalryafter graduation from the U. S. Military Academyin 1934. He received his Master of Science degree inengineering from Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology in 1937.

In 1950, he was assigned to investigate the appli-cation of the helicopter to Army transportation andconvinced the Army of the value of an immediateand large scale expansion of this activity. He is apast national president of the American HelicopterSociety.

This article is a condensed version of a recent ad-dress to a graduating class of the Army SupplyManagement Course, Ft. Lee, Va. Views expressedin this article are the author s and are not neces-sarily those of the Department of the Army or of theU S. Army Aviation School.-The Editor


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1957 SUPPLY MANAGEMENT PROBLEMSArmy equipment and that thesedifferences must be recognizedand must be accounted for inestablishing policies and procedures for logistics management.

asic DifferencesThese differences between air-craft and other pieces of Armyequipment arise primarily fromthree general factors. First is

the difference between the military design and engineering responsibility for aircraft as opposed to that which is normalfor other pieces of Army equipment.Next is the difference betweenthe aircraft industry and the industries on which we rely toproduce most of our other equipment. The third is the exaggerated difference in emphasisin aircraft on such factors asweight speed strength and performance which result in a tre-mendous difference in price foraircraft quality items versussimilar items used in other fieldsof activi ty.

Design ResponsibilityTo discuss these problems inthe order in which outlined letus first take up the question ofresponsibility for design. Generally Army equipment falls into two broad categories.First are those items of purelymilitary application which aredesigned by our technical services in their Research and Development organizations or bycontract with professional design organizations and are thenconstructed by private industryfollowing the detailed plans andspecifications furnished by themilitary.Secondly are those items of

more or less standard commercial design which with or without modification are usually procured from the normal manufacturers of similar civil items.

In the first category of itemsour own engineers frequentlyamong the best in the particularfield concerned carefully designand develop items of equipmentand prepare the necessary detailed specifications and drawings to meet our military char-acteristics or other general state-ment of operating requirements.These are generally those itemsof limited civil use and marketlike weapons uniforms and tactical vehicles.In the second category arefound the vast majority of military support items ranging fromMedical Corps aspirin to Quartermaster warehouse trucksWhile from time to time commercial industry or individualshave developed certain weaponsand special items of equipmentwhich they have then tried tosell to the Army in general military equipment has been designed by engineers in our employ.Usually we are pretty unenthusiastic about the man whobrings in an unsolicited idea fora new tank or gun; we have toooften found that he is unawareof our basic operational requirements.

In the aircraft field howeverthis is not true The Militaryservices generally o not have thecompetence nor the personnel todesign a complex aircraft system such as a B-52 an F9F NavyFighter or an Army H-13 orL-19 aircraft These aircraft arethe products of long periods ofdevelopment research and de-


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8 U. S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST Apriltailed engineering on the part ofthe large engineering staffs ofvarious manufacturers.For example, the Aircraft Industries Association tells us thatthe B-52 contains four millionman-hours of engineering efforton the part of the manufacturer;the H-13 probably representsseveral hundred thousand manhours of effort on the part of theengineers employed by the manufacturer. While we usually supply a statement of our requirements and require that the manufacturer follow a handbook giving detailed standards to be metin the design of various components of military aircraft and,additionally, spend many hoursin a meticulous review of detailsof design on the part of themanufacturer, it is highly debatable that we in anywise addanything to the technical assemblage that goes to make acomplete aircraft.While we assume the responsibility for the satisfactory design of an Army aircraft, it isin the final analysis, the manufacturers airplane and we havemerely decided that the assemblage which they have designedis as nearly satisfactory for ourpurpose as we can expect to get.In the Army today the factthat our aircraft are the products of industry can be illustrated by reviewing our presentso-called standards:Our observation airplane wascompletely designed and built bya manufacturer and submittedfor evaluation.Our utility airplane is a commercial bush pilot s plane of aCanadian manufacturer.

Our command airplane is aprivate or business light twin

engine aircraft built for commercial market and acceptedafter an evaluation by ourCONARC Board.Both of our reconnaissancehelicopters were built for commercial sale, extensively modified to meet our informal comments and formal change notices.Our utility helicopter was likewise a commercial venture.Our light cargo helicopter wasdesigned for Air Force arcticrescue work.

Our medium cargo helicopterwas designed for use in Marineassault missions (the only function at least approximating ourexpected use). Our new utilityhelicopter, the XH-40, which wewill start getting next year, isthe first production machine tobe built to our requirements.Even this aircraft, however, isa manufacturer s design whichwe have merely monitored.This dependence on the manufacturers design has certain important ramifications elsewhere

in the logistics picture; if we arenot competent to design the aircraft, certainly we are likewisenot competent to fully evaluatethe effect of a change or modification on the successful functioning of the whole machine.We are pretty much at themercy of the contractor in determining the desirability ornecessity for a change in this orthat component to meet an operating problem or eliminate adeficiency . We are not particularly able to apply the broadprinciples of maintenance engineering which requires that supply and maintenance techniciansparticipate freely in the development stage of a piece of equip-


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14 U. S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST Apriltimes it is necessary to havecomplete information on howsuccessfully the components arereaching their currently scheduled time an extraordinarily difficult program to implement inour widely dispersed aircraftfleet.These time change componentsare very expensive and we musthave a liberal supply of them inorder to have them overhauledand reconditioned independentlyof the airframe. We buy as manyas 100 per cent extra transmissions for our cargo helicoptersor even 50 per cent extra engines for a light airplane. Thiswould compare with a requirement for less than one per centspare engines in a truck procurement program.

Parts eeds VaryMost other aircraft parts arerequired o an extremely random tbasis and the fact that wehave issued a part is no criteriathat we will ever require such apart again nor contrariwise is

the fact that we have not issuedthe part any true criteria thatwe will not require it. This isdue to the fact that the vast majority of the line items comprising an aircraft are subject torandom failures due to mishandling of the aircraft, mistakes or accidents by groundcrews and mechanics randomfailures due to fatigue or otherunknown stress accumulationsand similar unpatterned demands.As an example in an evaluation of the parts required to support an entire wing of B-47s itwas discovered tha well over4 000 items were required butonce in a wing-year of flight

time. Nevertheless the unavailability of anyone of these partswould have resulted in thegrounding of these expensivepieces of equipment. Similarlythere is no regular pattern ofdemand which can be constructed on the basis of past requirements.

The Army supply system as awhole is based on an assumptionthat if we required ten parts in180 days we would require fivein 90 days or 20 in a year andthat the stock level can be computed on the basis of a linearequation. Experience seems toindicate that this pattern doesnot hold for the vast majorityof line items making up aircraftsupport . We must determine notonly the average monthly demand but the maximum, minim urn and median onetime demand and use sophisticated probability computations in order todetermine appropriate s t c klevels.

omponents hangeAnother problem of aircraftlogistics arises from the rapidlychanging components that go tomake up an aircraft. While wehave long standardized on theL-19 as the observation aircraftof the Army and to all intentsand purposes have but one aircraft to support when we getdown to the spare parts level wediscover that the L-19 is actually made up of some 4 000-5 000stocked line items and 15 000-20 000 items which are notstocked and that all of theseitems are rapidly changingeither to secure a slightly higherdegree of performance to reducestill further the empty weight

to correct a deficiency which has


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1957 SUPPLY MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS 15developed in operating experience or some other reason.

Consequently we are constantly engaged in evaluating the effectiveness of the parts in oursupply system to determinewhether they are usable on current aircraft and similar property management aspects of thisproblem. Frequently we havefound that we have had to voidfor obsolescence as much as 30per cent of the items procuredto support a new aircraft. Before it is concluded that the wayto stop this is to fire all the engineers in the aircraft factor-ies, we must take recognition ofthe fact that if an aircraft isnot allowed to improve, it canthen be only made useful by retrogression and that the resultof any freeze of design of the detailed components could resultonly in the procurement of unsatisfactory and obsolete equipment.

The only progress in the development of newer aircraft hasbeen through experience gainedin building and operating earlierdesigns. We have arrived at theDC7 by way of its six predecessors and it could not have start-ed as a full grown man withoutgoing through all these growingpains. More directly, our currentH-13H is the result of our experience and mistakes on theH-13B, C D and G and othermodels.Particularly in the helicopterfield, which we must rememberis still only some 15 or 20 yearsold, it is vitally necessary thatchanges of this type, howeverdifficult to manage in the partsbusiness, be encouraged ratherthan discouraged if we are to develop successive generations of

increasingly more satisfactoryand economical aircraft to fulfillour mission.

eadtime ProblemAnother major problem area inaircraft logistics lies in the extended leadtime that is requiredto secure an aircraft or a maj orcomponent. The design and production time of a new aircraft

runs between four and six years.In a standardized aircraft, thistime is reduced to the order oftwo or two and one half yearsbut still remains far in excessof that for most other Armyequipment. In view of the factthat each increment of aircraftto our system, even of a typealready in use, results in a necessity to increase our stock ofspare engines, transmissions,propellers or rotor blades, etc., itis necessary that we introduceinto the system at the same timean added increment of thesecomponents.Frequently, too, these components are of a new and improveddesign to go with the new modelaircraft. Thus, our current procurement of the H-13, for example, is the H-13H which repre-sents the seventh maj or modelchange in this aircraft since westarted buying them about 10years ago.These new requirements forspecial parts and the assemblages required for time compliance changes are normally secured at a provisioning conference. This provisioning conference, held at the manufacturer'splant, consists of a group ofpeople from the TransportationSupply and Maintenance Command, the using units in the fieldand the manufacturer who go


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1957 SUPPLY MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS 17Government contracting agencyis to secure a satisfactory product for the least expense withoutnecessarily seeking either thebest or the most logical solutionwhich might be available in thecommercial world. These principles, too, we seek, the best weknow how, to apply to the aviation -field.In this discussion of some ofthe peculiarities of the aviationbusiness, attention has beencalled to the fact that the air-craft and its industry are inmany respects peculiar; that ourrelationship with our manufac-

Superintendent of DocumentsU. S. Government Printing OfficeWashington 25, D C

turers is considerably differentthan our relationship with ourother contractors; and that therequirements of the aircraft, it-self, are in many respects quitedifferent from those of normalArmy equipment. Our functionis to integrate the best aspectsof Army logistics, the requirements of the law and the management principles of the Department of the Army, into theidiosyncrasies of the aviationbusiness. This is a difficult and,at times, frustrating job but offers an increasing and intensivechallenge to the imagination.

Please enter my subscription for one year (twelve issues) for ARMYAVIATION DIGEST.Please check which

. D 2.25 for mailing to domestic or APO address.I enclose payment of D 3.00 for mailing to foreign address.ame _ _

Please printAddress _ _

Make check, postal or money order payable to Superintendent of Documents.)


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ARE you about to have an upper rear molar removed? Don tfly afterwards - at least, notwithout discussing it with yourdental surgeon.The Armed Forces MedicalJournal tells about a servicemanwho recently had two molars extracted. As is fairly common,some of the jaw bone around thesocket of his molars was removed, and he was told not to blowhis nose or sneeze afterwards.He complied. Trouble is, no onetold him not to fly. About aweek later, he did just that andquickly wound up in oral sur-gery with a ruptured sinus lining. Here is what happened:The cavity in the skull, justabove the jaw on either side, isa sinus (the maxillary sinus, tobe technical). t is lined witha membrane and is almost com

pletely supported by bone exceptthat it communicates with thenose cavity via a tiny opening.When the serviceman got off theground, the pressure of the airThe views expressed in this articleare not necessarily those of the De-

partment of the rmy or of the U S.rmy viation School. - The Editor

around him began to lessen, orto put it another way, a givenquantity of air at sea level willexpand as its altitude increases.Trapped air cannot expand, butit will try. If it finds a weak spot,a blowout follows.In the above case, the expanding air of the sinus should haveleaked off into the nose cavity.t did not because that openingwas blocked temporarily, (a common occurrence that might becaused by a simple cold, for example). t could not escapethrough the supporting bone except at the spot above the extracted teeth where the bone hadbeen removed. Only a thin patchof membrane remained at thispoint. t blew and thus thetrip to surgery.

TIGUE can be fatal. Eithercockpit fatigue or the fatiguethat results from too little sleepcan deprive a pilot of the alert-ness needed to handle each inci-dent that might occur during the/light.The former not so wellknown is nevertheless a true


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MEMO FROM FLIGHT SURGEON 9fatigue that produces changes inbody chemistry just like regularfatigue. Its chief cause is acramp or immovable position.Aids in avoiding it are enoughsleep plenty of fluids and noheavy meal before flying time.In the air the chief defenseagainst it is forced exercise; thatis flexing the muscles movingthe feet and in general movingabout as much as possible withinthe confines of the cockpit.The Army pilot spends longhours in the cockpit with littlerest. He must remain aware ojthis danger.

RE you accident prone? Perhaps not. But, like the rest ofus you are certain that this person 'exists-the individual whomight have an accident at anymoment. Unfortunately, no onehas been able to single him out.Each attempt to find him scientifically ends inconclusively.And now, to really confoundus, a further study suggests thatthe pilots best qualified in training tend to have the most accidents later. It concludes that thefindings support this hypothesis:those pHots who have agreater number of aircraft accidents than expected on the basisTrites D K. Kubala A L. SellsS. B : Aircraft Accidents vs. Charac-teristics of Pilots. The Journal ofAviation Medicine Dec. 55.

of exposure risk tend to beyounger, better adjusted to theirjobs and status and more skillfulthan pilots who have fewer accidents. * What next?The scientists are careful topoint out that accident proneness may exist, but that the criteria used for seeking t may bewrong. Or, perhaps, the criteriafor training success is not thesame as the criteria for operational success.

RECENTLY, an aero-medicalspecialist, one Dr. H. Strughold,formerly of the Luftwaffe, madethe supreme sacrifice. On behalfof scientific accuracy and aviation, he inj ected his posteriorwith a large quantity of novocaine to determine once and forall whether it were really truetha we fly by the seat of ourpants.The experience left him shaken, but convinced.Once the numbness took over,he boarded a plane and the pilottook off to perform various aerobatics. Now, Dr. Strughold is noflight novice; he has spent manyhours aloft. Despite this he reports that without the nerve impulses from his seat, the effecton him was profound. He grewsick, afraid, and completely disoriented.

Thus, an old saying, half believed, half deprecated, is nowsupported by the results of scientific experiment.


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H-23 reconnaissance helicopters, used in flight instruction are keptat the main heliport which is equipped with a control tower markedrunways and lighting facilities. Converting the Air Force Base to anArmy post required long months of hard work by three heavy construction engineer battalions members of the 931st Engineer Group.One of the 60 civilian instructors employees ofSouthern Airways checks the pre-starting procedurewith his students. Most of the officers assigned tothe school are helicopter pilots who give periodicchecks to the students as well as the contract instructors to assure adequate progress of training

and standardization.

Warrant Officer Candidate Josethe first man to solo at Camp Wolteimportant part of helicopter maintelow students. By the end of June tfully operational with all flight trlciated ground school instructionployees of Southern Ain


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1957 ARMY AVIATION MAINTENANCE HINTS 29ed where possible since this supply ofair is taken from an alternate sourceand is unfiltered. This is particularlyimportant during engine run-ups, unless conducted over a clean, hard surface area.

Many special tools for maintainingor overhauling a helicopter can bemade locally from parts which are no

Swash Plate Holding evicelonger serviceable for use on the helicopter. Make use of an unserviceable mast drive flange Part No.. 7 -620-524 by spot welding two ironbars so it can be held in a standardbench vise. This swash plate holding

device was made by third echelonmaintenance personnel at Field Maintenance, the U. S. Army AviationCenter.

r. E. A. Cutcheon, Field Maintenance Project Engineer, developedthis teardown cart. t holds a quickchange kit for main mast assembly of

Teardown artthe H-13 and expedites these changes.Plywood is inserted inside the channel iron to form the platform onwhich parts are placed for convenience and ease of disassembly or installations.


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Two Army doctors, Lt Col R.B. Austin and Capt H. H. Tyminski, recently graduated from theNaval School of Aviation Medicine at Pensacola, Fla. This wasthe first time in the history ofthe school that members of theU S. Army were among thegraduates.

Col Austin has been assignedto the U. S. Army Primary Helicopter School at Camp Wolters,Tex., and Capt Tyminski to U. S.Army Primary Fixed WingSchool, San Marcos, Tex.

A self-contained electronic automatic navigatorModel 103 has been developed by Ryan AeronauticalCo. San Diego for the U. SArmy Electronic ProvingGround Arizona. Ryan isalso in production on otherautomatic navigators anda helicopter hoveringdetector.

ayden Aircraft of California) is developing a modernizedversion of the old Ford tri-motorMention of any specific item in this

department does not constitute in-dorsement or approval by the Depart-ment of the Army or the U. S. ArmyAviation School. The Editor

to be called the Stout Bushmaster. After 29 years of service,and in an age of high speedflight, more than 30 of the original 196 Ford tri-motors arestill being flown commercially.Their use varies from scheduledairline passenger service in theGreat Lakes region to jungletransport flying in South America.Two years ago a group ofaeronautical and mechanical engineers from a number of California aviation companies beganwork on the modification that allows a gross weight takeoff14,500 lbs) distance of 1400feet over a 50 foot obstacle.Range will be 850 miles at anaverage speed of 112 mph according to the manufacturer.

irst delivery of an ArmyL-23D command transport wasmade early this year. The Dsea s six persons and carriescomplete instrumentation forall-weather flying. The L-23Dhas been beefed up with two340 - horsepower superchargedLycoming engines and a threebladed propeller to give it a topperformance of 240 mph and acruising speed of 228 mph. Service ceiling of the new model is24,800 feet and it can take offand clear a 50-foot obstacle inless than 1,300 feet. Rate of


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PICKUPS AND DROPS 31

L-23D boasts top speed of 240 mph.climb is 1,620 feet per minute.Capt. William R. Chaires, TC,took delivery on the first modelof a 2,800,00() production contract

he Royal Canadian AirForce has announced thatfour de Havilland Otterswill operate with the UnitedNations Emergency Forcesin Egypt. These aircraft willwork out of BU SUWEIRnear the Suez Canal andwill be used for reconnaisance short range communications and general supplying among UN ground units.

small, simple, lightweightdevice has been developed fortracking helicopter rotor blades

in flight. During flight evaluation, pilots who had never operated it before brought rotorsthat had been set as much as sixinches out of track in track with-in seconds at speeds up to 60knots. The device can also beused while the helicopter is beingrun up on the ground. At leastone aircraft company will produce an automatic tracking device to insure constant in trackoperation.

n Army order for 84 H-13Hhelicopters and spare parts on afixed-price type contract valuedat more than 3 million has beenreceived by the manufacturerThe order is in addition toprevious contracts, under whichthe Army had ordered a totalof 105 H-13Hs for use as liaisonand training aircraft


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THE FLYING YEARS-Lt. ColonelLou Reichers (Henry Holt andCo., Inc., 383 Madison Avenue,New York 17, N. Y. ( 5.00)

Reviewed by Walter V. ClarkTechnical Advisor and Writer,The United States ArmyAviation SchoolIn The Flying Years LouReichers tells the story of hislife and experiences in both military and civilian aviation. Thebook is well written and veryinteresting. Very colorfully, hetells of his inner feelings of fearand exasperation at the inadequacy of facilities that are soessential to long range navigation. He tells of astoundingprojects, in some of which he

faced death. The necessity ofplanning, foresight and imagination are very well portrayed.The lack of cooperation on thepart of dignitaries of foreign nations and the tact with whichthey had to be handled makesone wonder why the UnitedStates accepted Russia as anally.Lou Reichers, who was originally trained in the old PT-1, notonly advanced with the AirCorps and Air Force but helpedin many ways to make it what itBook reviews appearing in this de-

partment do not necessarily reflect theotpinions O f the Department 0 f theArmy or of the U. S. Army AviationSchool. The Editor

is today. He set an endurancerecord of 313 hours under almost impossible conditions. Hewas the first to fly nonstop fromMontreal to Havana. He tells ofhis flight in the Miss Libertyfrom Newark Airport to thepoint where he crashed, fifteenmiles short of the Irish coast. Hewas pilot of the famous Oumansky-Harriman-Lend Lease Mission which brought him fromPrestwick, Scotland, to Archangel and over the invading armiesto Moscow-the longest nonstopflight to that date. He was commander of the Kit Project andthe Newfoundland - MarrakechSurvey and trouble-shooter forthe Alaska-Siberia Project.All these air adventures, andmany others, Lou Reichers describes crisply and colorfully,with amazing recall and authenticity, and a rare ability to convey the professional flyer's attitude toward his work.THE TRANSPORTATION CORPSMOVEMENTS, TRAINING, ANDSUPPLY-ChesterWardlow Officeof the Chief of Military History,Department of the Army, Wash-ington 25, D. C., 1956. 4.25).

In a great conflict fought onforeign soil, as Chester Wardlowpoints out in the newest volumeof the series U. S. ARMY INWORLD WAR II, victory depends on how many soldiers andhow much materiel can be moved


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BOOKS FOR THE ARM Y AVIATOR

QueenMary a rrivesinNewYork w it hAmer antroops1 945

to the oversea com m ands andonthet im eliness oftheirarrival.Not until months after theUnitedStateshadenteredW orld War II however did the WarDepartment create a unified organization to take over the key role of transportation. A Ch ie fo f Transportationw asappo in ted in M arch 1942 and in the follow ing Ju ly theTransportationCorps cam e into official ex is t ence.The volum e makes c lea r thatin the face of the hand icaps involved in setting up a new organizationafterthewarhad already begun and making it operae sm ooth ly the new Corpsanditschiefach ieved anim pres siverecord .Althoughtherewereminor transportation delayssom ebreakdowns inprocedures and som e separation of troopsand their o rgan iza t iona l equipment- and the author sc rupu lously chron ic les demerits along withmerits-nointerruptionsinm ovem en ts to the theaters adverse ly affected military operations.

Itbecom esapparentfrom thishistory that supp ly ing theoverseas theaters involved farmorethan the transportation of hugetonnages . Thetaskw as anintricate one of co-ord ina tion andsynchron iza tion . The right pro po r tion hadtobemaintainedbetween troopship and cargo shipcapacities.Carehad to be takentoshiptothetheatersthetypesof troops and the items of supp ly that theyneeded and todelive rthemw hen theyw ere wanted andatportswherethey couldbe accom m odated .To assem ble and sh ip relatedsupp ly itemsreceivedfrommanyd iffe ren t depo tsandfactories re qu ired careful iden tif ica tion andsortingattheportsof embarkation .Thegreatvarietyin weightand size of military suppliesmade it im possible to get wellbalanced ca rgoes and efficientuse ofcargo space.Recogniz ing these difficultiestheC hie f ofTransportation em phasized the necess i ty of assigning highly competent commanders and staffs to theports.


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N AVIATOR WAS FLYING anL-19 on an ex tended ferrymission deliveringtheairplanefromamaintenancedepo t to itsun it . Duringthefirstleg ofthetrip, the eng ine was intermittentlyrough . tthefirstscheduled refuelingpo in t theenginewas checked and maintenancepersonnel rep laced five of thebottom sparkplugs and addedfourquartsofoil. Theoil consumptionthoughhighwaswithinestab lished lim its .On the tw o hour second leg of the flight the engine wasagain rough with oceas iona l

backfiring . Againtheleftmagneto showed a 200 rpm drop and almost four quarts of oilhadtobe added .Maintenance personnel replaced sparkplugs bench testedthecarburetor, leaned thecarburetor mixture, and rep laced some of the intake seals. Therun-up now showed a 50 rpmdropon theleft mag anda 15rpmdrop on theright mag.Theaviatordecided totestflytheaircraft beforecontinuingtheferrymission andwasaccompanied byam echan ic on theflight.Hetook off andcirc led thefield

Lieu tenantColonel ThomasO Morrow theseniorArmyA via tor

picturedabo v e is theD irector Departmen tof Rota ry W ing Train ing the U. S. ArmyAv ia tion School F t. Rucker Ala. His careeras anArmyA via torbegan shortly aftergraduating from A rti l le ryOCS a tF t. Sill Okla. in1942. He was assigned to Class No5 atDenton Te x as for pr imary tra ining and subsequently graduatedfrom the LiaisonPilotsAdv anced Course at F t. Sill.Hearrived inI ta ly in1943andwasD ivisionAv ia tion Officer ofthe85th InfantryDivision.He remainedwiththe85th un ti l re turning to the United S ta tes in 1945,when he was assigned as theAv ia tion Advisor for the New Jersey National Guard. Aftercom-


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6 U. S. ARMY AVIATION DIG EST April

Lost omposureandOvershot ForcedLandingAreakeep ing withina safeg lid ing d is-tance while he checked the en-gine accelera tion observed theengine instruments and l is tened foranyunusualsound. Satisfied thattheengine wasrunningnor-m ally he flew awayfromtheair-field to con tinue the test flight.About s ix m iles from the fieldsa tisfied that engine opera tion wasnorm al theaviatorthrottledback and started a descen t to -wardtheairfield.At1500feethe

applied throttle to level ou t butthe engine did not respond. Hesw itched tanks turned off car-buretor heat and checked themixture con tro l in the fu ll richposition. The engine con tinued to id le and did not respond to throttle.Bythistimethe pilo twasbe-com ing excited . He turnedaround inhisseatandasked them echan ic wherehethoughttheyshould tryfor a forced land ing .pletion ofhis tourwith the National Guard, Colonel Morrow attended the instrumentf l igh t tra in ing course and rotaryw ing tra ining . He was the AviationOfficer fo r theUnited StatesTroops stationed inTrieste fo r t he ne x t twoyears.Later heioinedthe 9thInfantryDivis ion inEurope as theDivisionA v iationOfficer and r ema ined inth is a ss ignmen t untilreturn-ing to the United S ta tes . He completed the ArtilleryOfficers Ad-vanced Course p rior to repor ting to his p resent assignment. Inh is 15years offlying, Colonel M orrow has logged appro x imate ly 3,000hoursoffirst p ilot f ly ing tim e , and isqualified inmost Army x edand ro tary -w ing aircraft.TheEditor


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1957 THE GRAY HAIR DEPARTMENT 37They were Over a populatedarea, but the aviator selected a .

sand bar along the right bankOf a river for his landing area.He aimed the L-19 toward thesand bar and came in high andfast. He believed he was muchfaster than 70 mph, but couldn Ot remember how fast. As hecrossed the downwind end ofthe intended landing area, hightension wires I Oomed in frontof him. The landing gear hit thewires, shearing two Of the sixstrands Of 14 inch copper cable.The airplane Oversh Ot the in-tended touchdown point by morethan 700 feet and was within 300feet Of a bridge which spannedthe river perpendicular to itspath. In 'Order t O avoid hittingthe bridge, the pilot I'Owered theleft wing in an attempt to hitthe ground. However, before thewingtip struck the ground, theleft landing gear hit and shear-ed Off, the aircraft spun ar'Ound180 degrees and slid into threefeet Of water. Neither pilot normechanic was inj ured.No doubt the aviator involvedin this accident had had morethan his share Of anxiety withthis airplane, and there is always ,a tendency to get excitedduring a forced landing, as manyof us can witness. Excitementand anxiety usually manifestthems,elves in an excessively fastglide, as the pilot's instincts shy

The Gray Hair Department is pre-pared by the U S. ARMY A VIA-TION DIGEST staff with informationobtained from the files of the U S.Army Aviation a f ~ t y Board Theviews expressed in this departmentare not necessarily those of the De-partment of the Army or of the U S.Army Aviation School. The Editor.

away from a possible stall. t isa tribute to the reliability Of O U ~present engines that many avia-t Ors can expect to go through-out their flying careers withoutexperiencing a failure in flight.When the failure c Omes, it showsup immediately whether thea vi'ator has prepared himselfmentally to cope with it.

N UNUSU L CCIDENTThe day before the aeddent,the pil'Ot had flown the sameL-19 from the field maintenancecomp'any where a new tail-wheelchannel had been installed. Hewas now taking Off with a mechanic aboard and with the mechanic's tool chest and a fivegallon can of oil in . he luggagec'Ompartment.The aviator states, I appliedthr'Ottle to about 2250 rpm, butas we accelerated d Own the run-way the tail would not lift Offthe ground. I throttled back andbraked the aircraft to a stop andtaxied back to the take'Off end

of the runway. I assumed theload in the luggage C'ompartment was placed too far aft sowe rearranged the position Of

Foreign Obiect WedgedIn levator ellcrank


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18 DegreeTurn isNotAlwaysa Safe Escapesity is apparent. It is not anace-in-the-hole which will savethe aviators life 'after he haspushed far enough in to theweather to see that it is necessary. The reason is s implewhen you think of it. By the laws ofchance in 358 cases out of 360the weather will be com ingacross the l ine of flight. If theavi'ator waits to make the turnun ti l he is sure it is necessary ,hehas noassurancewhatsoeverthat he will now find betterweatherbeh indhim .Theweath er will certainly have changed a longthe routehehas justcomeover.The last escape route is upTherefore, the first requirementforanaviator,beforehe pushestheweather tall,isin s trum en ttrain inqandanin s trum en ttick-et.With these ,'he can affo rd to pus,hfarther in to theweather to see if conditionsare going toimprove. Ifthey donot,and the180 degree turn looks danger-

ous, .the last escape route remains open.THAT FIRSTSTP

An aviator was practicingwheel landings in an L-19. Healigned the aircraft on the finalapproach ho ld ing 80 mph airspeed. The round out was incomplete and the wheels struckthe runway hard. The landinggear spread and the aircraftballooned in to the air, floatedand toucheddownaga in .Onsecond touchdown, the pilot in s tinc t ive ly 'applied forward s t ick to hold the airpl'ane on theground in a wheel landing attitude . The prope lle r struck therunway tw ice.Th isspecificacc iden thashappened perhaps 100 times in theL-19 in the last five years. t apparently ishard for our av iators to believehow closethep ro pellertipsareto thegroundandhow little forward pressure ittakes .


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ArMY Malor C Petitlean above stantlsthe H-13 which he used to ferry suppliesfrench Polar Mission at Adene Landfollowing the supply visit the~ p e d i t i . n headed by M. Paul-EMile Victorfor the long Antarctic winter.a curious penguin take. a clolerthe H-13 used In the operation.

Major Petitjean also used the H-13 to reconnoiter paths to be usedby the expedition s Weasels in order to detect crevasses and otherhazards. Below, he makes one of the many trips flown during thetwo-month supply operation which ended in February 1957. Backcover shows how the sling load is fastened to the bracket underneaththe H-13 which features both an automatic and hand release.


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