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The Reminiscences of Captain Grover Fransworth, USNR, (Ret.)

From the Owen W. Bombard interviews series, 1951-1961

Accession 65

Interview conducted: February 1956

Transcript digitized by staff of Benson Ford Research Center: November 2011

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T h e l e a i a i s - e e n c e s o f

C A F T A I 1 8 E 0 V I E F A I I 8 ¥ S H E , 8 S I S , (B E f.)

Ford Motor Company Archives Oral History Section

February, ly>0

The ftssftniseeness of

These rwtai»eeai#i *r» the »§«3.% of aa Interview with

Mr. Srover fsjve*orth by Mr. ©wa Bostoari taring too aentb of ©eteber,

195 *̂ s t Feir bans, Sssrbern, ifiehig&n,

This i»tervi«w mm teeM totter -the snspieee of the Oral S i t -

tory Settles of the f o r i Ueter 6o^»ay Aremivss*

Tbe interviewer*® faestion* taw* been esnVfctedl froa the ee*

eott»t. Tbe %i»M©&i«g we frii»*j?iJy in the fet» of topies suggested,

to Mr* Frnnewpth eeneerning vhieh be might imve sow® .intimte

tewledge. l o e d i t o r i a l In§erti©ne have been mde other than the

brief synopsis of tae doner's a c t i v i t i e s aai the index,

the iJMipoge mt the ns*v*>ti*s i s entirely the* of the inner,

l e bee reviewed ant oerreebei. the iMnsertft and by hi t signstnre be­

low iaiie&tei that i t te « torrent cow ef Me mm&mimmmm*

fhis aesioir i a deposited i n the f o r i Motor Coapsny AreMves

with tbe us^srsttBdiag that i t may *• vmmA by t a a l i f i e d individuals

i a see^teet with aeeepted arehiml praetiee m s & i ^ t t e r e d by the

Archivist.

Grover famswortt

i i

Mt. movm PMMWWB . cmmowm

Captain Grover Farnsvorth, USMR (Retired), ie t» Detroit-citizen whose interest i n the automobile una airplane brought hia as a spectator to early events i n the history of these forms of transportation. Curing I arid war I, as a staff assistant to Conagyader J. C. Hunsaker, Captain Farneworth (then an Ensign, USHR) was assigned the task of developing suitable armor protection for Boval search aircraft. In the performance of this task Captain Famswortb mwt '•.illiam B. Stout and reported on the possibilities of the Stout. Batwing, then in the process of development. This report led to Kaval interest i n Stout and unquestionably influenced the design and development of metal airplanes in the United States.

Captain Fwrnsworth has here recorded hie observations on the progress l a aviation and automotive design during his more than f i f t y years of active interest.

Addressi 93I3 Linden Avenue Bethesda 1¼, Maryland

i i i

CAPTAIN mmm FAENSWQRTH, UENR, {BET, )

iv

m. mmm FABSSKCEOB - COJTJSJS

The Early Bays of the Autatsobili,......................

The Ford FornMla**.*.••»»••»**»•*»••«*•••*•*»**•*•*»*•* Aviation Pioneers....................•.••.•••..»»«•«•«» The First Ford Plane » »••• Th-;? %or i n the Air.»«*,.«»»...*.»..»«»...***.««»»..«.»• America Builds an A i r force*...,.».*.*».**..»*»»»•».«**»*

The Stout Batvftng. •.,,«.„»..««.«...»•,.*».»«»*»•»»»**»-» The Postwar Scene...................•...•..•...•.....•.

A Cotaaerci&l Airplana. »

v

I am retired from tae Navy under Public Lav 8l0 dated

January 1, 19̂ 9, with the rank of Captain, USSR,

I think i t best to fi r s t relate the influence of aviation

on the great industrial center, Detroit,' rather than on any particular

manufacturer i n order to bring out tbe factors that brought the Ford

Motor Company into i t . The preliminary interest of the citizens In

this area, an important factor i n inducing Mr. Ford or members of his

organization to take interest, was the development of internal com­

bustion—a mixture of gasoline aad air creating, mechanical power—which

*as then in its very early beginning. Gasoline at first was a petroleum

by-product.

Ify early recollection of tbe development of Internal combustion

gasoline engines began in my early youth. As related by my brother,

George Farnsworth, we observed the earliest transition from steam to

Internal combustion gas engines, as shown in automotive transportation,

which took the place of the horse sad carriage is the era or decade

from 1900 to 1910, It could be considered to have begun in 1900 and

reached great impetus by 1910. The public interest in automotive

transportation was that of spectator rather than of businessmen in­

terested in getting themselves to and from work, or to use cars far

business. That phase of automotive transportation had not yet been

achieved. It was s t i l l in the realm of pleasure and sports. This

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i s evidenced by the- fact that Mr. Ford's early interest i a the internal

combustion engine i s Illustrated by Ms racing at Gross© Folate Driving

Club track which was a harness racing grounds located at Grosse Point*.

It happened to be my pleasure to have been present at the

race in which Mr. ford raced Alexander Kinton. The cars vere approxi­

mately of the saiae horsepower, probably of the same wheel base, the

same tread, and general characteristics as those of the early Internal

combustion engine vehicles. Mr. ford, however, was a better racer.

He jumped out Into the lead i n the f i r s t quarter utile of the race, and

kept bis lead and kept his competitor a few lengths behind him until he

actually won the race.

I held a stop watch at this race. This car was not the "999."

It was an early Ford car, a heavy car that was the intent of Mr, Ford to

use as a pleasure vehicle. It was a standard stock type and not a racing

car.

It vas my pleasure to s i t in the grandstand of the Grosse

Point© Race Traek. I was one of the few boys who possessed a stop watch*

I sat i n the grandstand and watched that race take place, I tim-.d i t

froa the start to the fi n i s h . I remember that the time was one minute

and one second for a mile around the oval. This could be compared with

newspaper accounts of that period, but I believe that to be close and

correct.

Mr. Ford exhibited real competitive technique in that race.

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He was a real sportsman. 1« waaa't just a man oat there showing off his vehielei he was racing a competitor as a sportsman, That was very evident i n the way he handled Ms vehicle and i n the way he handled the race. Hie Judgment was excellent. I t was the same winning technique as of today.

That was the f i r s t that I recollect of automotive competition i n the way of racing. On the way back to Detroit after that race, we proceeded to downtown Detroit froa Grosse Folate on aa electric street­car. As I dismounted froa tbe Jefferson Avenue streetcar -in the v i c i n i t y of Brush Street, there happened to be one of the racers from the event of that day being towed back to the mechanical shop. Tbe wheel bad been broken off, I nader stand that the vehicle belonged, to Webb Jay. As I

recollect i t , i t was torpedo shaped, streamlined, and bad no fenders. The only surface exposed to wind resistance was the wheels aai body. The steering wheel of tbe vehicle lay in the back of the conveyance towing i t , I was much tempted to acquire the wheel for a souvenir, but after taking hold of i t my conscience defeated me and I let Mr. %bb Jay continue to own the wheel.

At that age I was interested i n aany sports, Including, sailing and Iceboatiag. In the summer I sailed a boat in the v i c i n i t y of the Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Yacht Club. Is the winter I b u i l t and owned aa iceboat and kept i t at Matt Kramer's, which was located between Windmill Point and Gaukler Point on Lake St. C l a i r . Qa-ukler Point is

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now the home of* Mre. Edsel Ford, and Windmill Point i s no* the site of the lighthouse. The lake i n that area froae solidly during the *later> and soaetiaes the ice got twelve inches thick. To the west of Gaukler Point there was a very extensive hay of ice wMeh ran from Gaukier Point to the Mt. Clemens entrance of the Clinton River, a distance of six miles. On the west lake shore of lake St. Cla i r there was a famous f i s h end duck dinner establishment which was operated by John Sweeney. The two leading places, therefore, for icebo&tmeo were Matt Eraaer's and John Sweeney*s Lake Shore House.

Races were conducted every Saturday and Sun-day. The prizes varied froa a pair of boots aad a double barreled shotgun to a keg of beer {for those who liked beer}, or an order for a flO suit at John D» Mabley'B Haberdasher Store. If you were lucky, the suit f i t t e d you* I son the Class C championship with a small boat 1 made at that parti­cular tiae.

Mr. Ford, through the advice of some of his friends, decided to make a speed t r i a l at this place on the lake because of the level

conditions of the ice at that particular spot,, It was safe because ice freezing i n s t i l l weather, getting i t s f i r s t two or three inches

of ice, often freezes from twelve to fifteen inches i n that area, making i t sufficiently strong to withstand the impact of speed and the tractive effort of an automobile traveling at an unpredictable speed. Apparently, i t was toped to make better than sixty miles per hour.

I did not see the race but 1 know the location, and 1 skated

over the improvised cinder track the next day. I vas sailing iceboats

a l l around there at that particular time. I don't re c a l l why I didn't

happen to go to John Sweeney's that day. However, the track was very level, and the approach to the start of the timing area and continuing to the finish area was covered with black cinders to prevent skidding.

These cinders were easily obtained from the various companies, the Edison

Company or other people who would contribute several loads of cinders for hauling thea away.

The t r i a l on the ice at Lake St. Clair was highly successful.

The interest in competition against other makes of vehicles was aroused

by Just such an event. Then attention was diverted to Daytona Beach.

Many special races were created and care designed strictly and solely

for an attack on time. It is the same attack that we experience today

in breaking the sound barrier, which is no barrier at a l l but only a

computation of time in flight.

The auto speed harrier at that time was 100 miles an hoar.

Many cars of a l l designs were tried out at Daytona Beach. They were

financed, not with the idea of mass distribution and sales, but on a

sporting basis of competition between the man who could afford to back a

good driver and the driver who could afford to risk his l i f e in driving

the machines that were in their early stage of design and construction.

I predict that Ford will do this again.

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Gasoline, at thet ti»e, was a t e r r i f i c a l l y poor quality. It

was the most commonly used propulsion fuel of these vehicles. The

carburetion and the mixing of a i r and gasoline to give sufficient power

wae then one: of the biggest problems confronted by the racers as well

as the designers. Gravity feed wss the way of getting gasoline from

the tank; to the carburetor, up the Intake pipe, and distributed to the

various cylinders, The failure to get gasoline just at the time he

wanted i t most caused many failures and great embarrassment to the driver.

Mr. Ford, however, early conceived the advantage of cars which

would travel with a power factor great enough to get the vehicles over

natural obstacles, such as, muddy roads, across the grass or the highways

which vere then i a the state of transition from the old carriage hoop

tread to the wider tread of the Inflated rubber tire. I believe i t was,

therefore, his original thought to create a vehicle which would adapt

itself to the then available highways. They could hardly be called

highways; they were roads in the purest and simplest facts.

In proving his theory he b u i l t , as I f i r s t xt»»ber, a model

called Model I which -as designed to he delivered without top or wind­

shield, but with a body, tires, and simpler accessories, seen as, lamps

and bulb horn for a sua of $500.

About the first person to buy one of these in Detroit was a

good friend of mine named Caldwell Bilker. Caldwell Walter's father was

Harrington Walker whose father was Hiram U\lker of the Kalker Canadian

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Club whisky distilleries. They were among the most prosperous people

of tbe day, Caldwell Walker purchased his .car for a sum of $500 or

¢600; which ever he paid included the windshield. This $500 car had an excellent horsepower per weight ratio, probably twenty to twenty-

five horsepower to a weight of 1,250 pounds. Therefore, Its rate of

acceleration was great, Caldwell and I could beat anyone oa Jefferson

Avenue with that ear, Caldwell doing the driving and I doing the

sitting and cheering. At that tiae, i f B i l l Stapelten, the bicycle

cop, wasn't in sight we could drive on Jefferson Avenue froa Hastings

Street to the entrance to Belle Isle at any speed we wished without being

intercepted or arrested for speeding, and we often would, not passing

an automobile going in either direction.

The purpose of this is to lead up to the conspicuous success

that f e l l to Mr, Ford's theory of horsepower per pound which was a term

used later la aviation, but at that time not applied to automotive trans­

portation. He entered Ms car ia the State Fair Grounds races because i t

was a light ear made for especially quick starts, and i t had a sufficient

power to drive that light car at a mile in less than a minute. The

advantage of this was proven when their experimental driver, Prank Kulick,

(through the advantage of a two-speed transmission which could be quickly

changed froa low speed to high speed by releasing your left foot) got tbe

jump on the others. Be would be in a position to grab tbe pole within

the first hundred yards and he always did. I never saw hia f a i l .

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I t waa my pleasure to see these races. As usual, I followed various races because that was one of the sports Interests that I and every other young man of the day had i n Detroit, which was prospering.

The slogan of the c i t y was "The City Hii«re l i f e Is Vgrth Living.* Detroit retained this slogan for many, many years awl w i l l again use i t after the civi c development catches up with the industrial development.

As a sportlag' event, tbe automobile race was a prominent interest, lorse racing aad harness racing were primary racing interests at the State f a i r Grounds, which was over the line i n Oakland County, Everybody who owned a horse attended the races to the extent that the grandstand, which seated 9,000 to 10,000, was always f i l l e d .

At ths end of the early evening races other events were i n ­cluded to interest the people. F i f t y cents was the cost to get into the stand, Among those acts two aeronautical events were scheduled. One, which a s a usual event of state fairs, was a balloon ascension,

A balloon ascension consisted of a asm i n a pair of yellow tights and a g i r l in a pair of pink tights who would turn handsprings in front of the crowd while some of their attendants would build a large bonfire aad inflate the balloon by a hot a i r scheme. The f i r e was built over a pit and tbe hot ai r f i l l e d the balloon to the measure of weighing, off around 300 pounds. Weighing off Is an aeronautical term used by ballooniste to indicate that the balloon Is air-borne.

When th& balloon would weigh off at 300 pounds, one or two

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people would get on the trapeae. I f they couldn't weigh off to 300

pounds, i t would he one person—either the g i r l or the «aa--sad the balloon would be air-borne but held by a long rope. The f l i g h t ./ould be a vertical f l i g h t to the height of about 500 feet, A rlpeord wae polled- when the applause arose and the gas., or the expanded a i r , re­leased and the balloon would gradually sink down to earth. The attendants would gather i t i a and pick i t up l a a bag and *ait for the next day. I never saw the balloon d r i f t farther than j-00 feet from the place-where i t was inflated. The balloonist *as islv.-s.ys careful to pick a spot where prevailing winds would not blow i t over trees or buildings.

About 1910 manufacturing Detroit was becoming conscious of the advantages of Internal gas combustion engines in various modes. The previous year the Wright brothers had successfully constructed a plane which had features of airplane control, which were sound. They had successfully flown their planes.

The interest in Europe was similar to that in America, The thought of the use of planes in combat was very far away* There was no such thought In mind by anybody anywhere. The last military use of any air-borne vehicle was in the Civil War when the Signal Corps, under General Stager i n the v i c i n i t y of Gettysburg aad i s some of the other battles of the Valley of the Potomac, used helloons—captive balloons—

to observe the presence of enemy troops. That is the last use of them

In a military way in America.

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I believe the latest use elsewhere was during the Rr&neo-Prussian war in 1871. In other countries the dates of the application of use of these balloons goes back probably to the original design of Leonardo da Vinci. Sketches and records give credit to him as being the first person to thiak of beavler-thaa-air flight, as well m lighter-than* air.

The interest in America was aroused by tbe intention of Bleriot, who made a flight across the English Channel in July, 1909, to exhibit his ability, as well as the feasibility, of construction of heavier-than-air craft by a series of exhibitions* I have never known who paid for these flights, Whether he was backed by his own govern­ment or whether he was backed by people or sportsmen is information which I have never determined.

Bleriot came over to Detroit the latter part of August of 1910. I well remember M s flying over Detroit at a height of approxi­mately 3,500 feet. I asked somebody next to ma bow high they estimates that flight to be and they said, "Thirty-five hundred feet," Bleriot flew- from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, and back again.

Just at that particular time and that particular week Frank JCuIick was gaining fame out at the Stv.te Fair Grounds race track. I do not know whether Mr. Ford was at the races at that time or not. However,

i t is logical to believe that anybody who was interested in internal combustion power and its application to flight, or to surface transforation,

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would not have missed the Bleriot flight, .It was spectacular—a continuous altitude and a very fine exhibition of air flight as worked out by Bleriot at that particular tiae, The wing surface of his plane was sufficient to give a wing loading probably (I never figured it) of three pounds per 'square foot, which, If you compare It with other designs, you will find to be very satisfactory. Present planes of today have twenty-five pounds load per square foot or over*

Bleriot's airfoil did not follow the shape of the ^rights' but had sore wing concavity and less camber on the top than the Wright brothers* The depth to length, or the length of the chord to the length of the spar ratio, was less than the ^rights'. The Kright plane was a bi-plane, but Bier lot's tias a monoplane.

The control of the stability of the plane was done by integral ailerons which were a part of the wing. The control wires warped the outer edge of the wing like those on the plane designed by Wright, The use of ailerons hinged on the trailing edge of the wings was something yet to be developed.

Bleriot*s plane, in its original basic design, lacked the things which later became a vital factor in giving l i f t to planes and giving ability to carry useful military loads or useful passenger loads. The amount of turbulence created by the wing shape of the wing was not fully recognised by designers and, therefore, was not as effective as later developments.

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In the meantime, Wright had been urged to- approach the military interests. Be did this by & fl i g h t at Port I$yer and i n the vi c i n i t y of lasaington, B.C., under the guidance of the United States Army Signal Corps. The Signal Corps was given this duty because, l i k e many new service things, developments are often placed with tbe least active of the departents because they probably had unused appropriations and manpower to apply to the study. Investigation would have to determine whether this i s true or not; 1 cannot say so. 1 only Judge by what often happens. I t f a l l s to the lot of the department which has men aad money to do a job, whether i t is normally part of their' activity or Mt. That is a logical conservation of funds which should be followed by people as well as governments,

bright successfully s o l i his plane. I don't r e c a l l the amount of money received, lieutenant Selffldge, who was the f i r s t wa to f l y i t , lost his l i f e in an unfortunate crack-up making a landing* That was not the fault of the plane. The plane was stable i n f l i g h t , but nobody had thought of a smooth landing f i e l d . There were no paved streets, no concrete highways, and there was not even smooth ice on lake St. C l a i r to land on. He landed in a small f i e l d . It was a forerunaer of "eow*pasture flying" popular ten years later.

Wright not only mated to interest the military in aviation, but he also thought there was a sports field for selling his plaae. The British well viewed the sports f i e l d ; tbe (terxoans viewed the sports field;

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the Italians viewed the sports f i e l d ; and tbe French emphasised the

great appeal of the sports of aviation. Many rich Americans went to

France to see what was being done there, either with the idea of baying

a plane for their own use, or proaoting flying ia the United States,

The appeal of jsoaey-iaaking possibilities was very l i t t l e . There was

no usefulness otter than that of sports. Racing between planes had not

yet caught the ii»giaatioa of the American public-. • It nee southing

new—as new as traveling i n a rocket plane i s today.

Wright engaged several men whom he taught to f l y or who

learned to f l y on their own accord i n Dayton, Ohio. Aaoag the most

prominent was Howard Coffin (not to be confused with, the automotive

engineer by that name), l e was a very.fine, courteous-, geatlea&nly,

good-looking, and up*standing American man. There sns another saa who

flew for Mright by the name of Hamilton and he was also of high caliber.

Coffin eyed Detroit, because at that time—1^10—the Model

1 had become the- Model 6, then the 8, and then the T. fclth the Model

T, the production of the f i r s t 100,000 automobiles of a particular

type had taken place. The country roads yielded to travel through

power versus weight, i n which the newer factor over weight prevailed and

the car could get anybody aaywbsre- at any time. This proved that auto*

notive transportation is hard to restrict to any one particular form of

propulsion.

Internal combustion power was the thing—the mixture of a i r

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and gasoline. The best refinement of gasoline was yet to come. Gasoline

wae a crude by-product In those days. I believe gasoline was distilled

at a temperature of more than ̂ 50 degrees, which today would be cause

for the laughter of the distilling plants.

Great credit should be given to the designers of the bright

engine, because it had good combustion aad good Ignition, Seldom did

tbe plane f a i l i n flight because of engine failure. The producers of

Wright engines stated that coapact power by a V-8 engine and little

aluminum cylinders chain driven to the propellers was the best design.

It was a mechanical factor ia the success of the Kright planes, Bapfaasie

should be made oa that, and associated vith the shape of tbe airfoil,_

The internal combustion gas engine should be synonymous with early

aviation.

Internal combustion supplies the power la every form of air­

borne flight today—ia the form of a rochet aad ia the form of a turbo­

jet. Tbe various pounds of push varies from that plane of Wright's to

the rocket of today which, I believe, has a thrust of 20,000 pounds.

Wright's plane thrust was probably 500 pounds, so .you can see how far

mechanical designers have stepped up internal combustion power,

bright sent Coffin, his best looking aviator, to Detroit.

The place elected to demonstrate was not as the other .had done at the

State Fair Grounds, but the Detroit Country Club which was then a club

of great social Importance and located where the lake front offered

-le-

anchorage for stems yachts aM sailboat© of various sizes. The large frame club house vas on the lake shore. 1 was a member at that time.

It had a fine golf course. Many prominent people enjoyed golf and otter recreational f a c i l i t i e s offered by the Country Club of Detroit as i t was called. Among the members vas Russell Alger and many of his friends.

Coffin brought a new model of the Krigtot plane up to the Country Club of Detroit on an August afternoon, and demonstrated by flight© over the lake and back onto the golf greens which were quite level at that particular part. I believe i t was hole number three or four which is about kco yards long.

In order to demonstrate the safety of flying' and to dis-alayit the people of i t s danger, and also arm i t with raaanee, he offered to take any lady for a f l i g h t . He looked around the crowd and naturally be wanted to select the most popular and best looking g i r l , which was quite a natural thing for Mr. Coffin to do, he being such an outstanding man himself. He requested Betty M i l l e r , the daughter of Sidney T. M i l l e r , to take the f i r s t flight. Betty Miller was very willing, but her father held her by the arm and s a i l , "m, no, Betty, you w i l l not f l y today.8

It i s interesting to note that Betty later became the wife of Brigadier General B i l i l e Mitchell, America's leading military aviator. Her best friends, Ann and Beth Loomis, who were present ami not hampered by the retarding influence of papa, each consented to take a f l i g h t , which

they did over Lake St. Clair and back. This continued for quite awhile.

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The plane vas refueled at Intervals, and i t performed in an excellent

wanner, rising froa the country club grounds for a flight of ten minutes

over the water and back.

The result of this demonstration was that a few prominent

Detroiters bought wright planes. Willie.Scripps was one of the f i r s t

owners and became a self-taught aviator, probably the best of the period

ia this locality and undoubtedly one of the best nonprofessional flier©

of the Wright plane*

Russell Alger purchased a plane which was equipped vith two

tin floats. He made several flights, but his enthusiasm did not continue

as Willie Scripps» I i i aai he donated It to the University of Michigan.

Willie Scripps was young at that tiae, about thirty-five years old.

l i s family was the owner of the Scripps-Booth syndicate of newspapers

of which the Detroit Mews was part, and he was an outstanding sportsman,

Be was very quiet, not conspicuous, and picked sports of the type of

aviation and boating. He financed the fi r s t passage across the Atlantic

Of a small moteboat with an internal congestion engine. The boat was

navigated from lew fork to Plymouth, England, and named the "Detroit.*

The navigator and sole voyager was Thomas Fleming Day, publisher of

Sadder Magazine. This was part sporting and part publicity for Scripps.

Bovever, it is my belief that Scripps would have eliminated publicity in

order to accomplish that. He was the number one f l i e r in Detroit of

the era.

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About this time Boston vas becoming interested'ia aviation

and the English—being close to Boston in language, tradition, type of

city, and so forth—capitalized oa a flight froa Boston arouad the

Boston Light aad return in which Bleanojra Sears made the flight vith an

English aviator. 1 have Just forgotten his name. It-created con­

siderable interest and also brought Interest to the people of that

locality in aviation and produced Edward Starling Burgess, who joined

ill the development of aviation by many unique developments. Ie was one

of the first men to work on the aerodynamics or mathematical analysis

of the theory of flight as a contea^orary of Jerome luasaker, who- was

the first man to write a book in English.—-understandable Inglieb—on

the theories vhich became the keystone of native American aviation.

Edward Starling Burgess designed the Burgess-Curtiss plane,

a very good plane, aad later designed'-types of planes for the favy. This

was the approach which Boston took toward aviation. Later oa Boston was

s t i l l further stimulated by the creation of a Department of Aerodynamics

in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the leadership of

luasaker.

Mr. Pord, having- been present when a l l this preliminary took

place, having made Ms 100,000th standard car, having his own Internal

urge, and probably having seen Bleriot (I assumed that he did; otherwise

he would not have selected the Bleriot type), provided a ways and means

for a similar plane* to be built in hia experimental shop.- A plane

-IT-

was made which was probably taken fro® a Bleriot plane purchased in

this country and acquired for the purpose of comparison of the shape

of wings, length of wings, ratio of wing to length, wing loading, what

to use for the a i r f o i l , aad how ..to propel It,

Mr. Pord permitted this type of a plane to be built In his

shop under the conditions that i t be powered with a product of the Pord

Motor Conpany, One of Ms experimental engineers me delegated the duty

of eaklng this plane, le was Charlie fan Aaken who, I believe, at the

present time is alive and lives at Pontlac, Michigan,

Van Auken built a copy of the Bleriot plane and was very

skilled in getting Ms weight distribution correct. Be got his ex­

pendable—the gasoline—load In the proper place, and he got his own

weight in the right place for balance, Ie got the aerofoil distribution

correct so the plan© had Inherent stability unknown to hia at that tiae

or to others, because that term had not been recognised. Inherent

stability was later to become a factor in the success of aviation.

Inherent stability means that which in flight you consider the axis of

the aass of material being flown through the a i r intersecting with the

gravity at such a point as to create flight. This Is influenced by

what they call the angle of attack. It becomes inherent stability ana

Is vital. It is controlled by elevators and ailerons.

Charlie Van Auken, unknown to himself or anybody else, probably

made a correct determination of this and built the plane. I talked

-18-

to hiM some twenty years later. 1 don't recall when, Vat 1 remember

very distinctly asking him, "What was the matter with this first Ford

planet"

He said, "-well, the plane was a l l right, bat Mr* Ford pat

conditions on it that were very difficult to meet,*

I said, **¥hat were they, Charlie?"

le said, "Mr. Pord said that i t had to be driven by a standard

Ford four-cylinder engine, similar to that used in the Model T vehicle,

aad i t had to carry the pilot aad oae passenger* That increased my load

and also changed ay stability so that i t was very difficult, fcfe f i r s t

took the plane to the Fort Vayne parade grounds for a t r i a l aad 1

couldn't take off."

It was very fortunate for hia that i t didn't take off with

the disturbances that were Indicated. However, he told se (which he'll

have to verify because 1*11 only quote what Charlie fas Auken told me

himself) that lac took the engine back to the Ford experimental plant

and unknown to Mr. Ford or anybody else changed tbe sises of the intake

and exhaust valves. lie also wade some improvements in the carburetion.

He returned the engine to the plane down at Fort "Wayne, Michigan,

which waa the headquarters of the Fourteenth Infantry. He started the

motor, warmed i t up, headed the plane across the parade grounds toward

the Detroit River, got up ground speed, and took to the air over the

Detroit Biver much to his surprise. He got out over the Detroit liver,

-19-

which at that point was one mile or so wide, and he dida*t know how to turn. He didn't know how to hank. He'd never hanked a plane be­fore, bat he had studied it pretty well and practiced on the ground so be naade a flat turn with a slight bank and case back making a good landing on the parade ground. The plane was never put Into production and vhat happened to it is a matter for search aad determination for other people. As for ae, I don't know. I can only auote from the statements of Charles fan Aukea.

About this time, the world was blessed with peace. Middle Europe was the playground of rich Europeans, There was a great division between the energy of oa% nation against the desire to play oa the part of tbe other, and so forth.

The forming of recreational attractions ia one country did not offset the manufacturing efficiency of others. The forces, plus intrigue of ordinary European politics, came head oa ia collisioa. The killing of the heir to tbe Serbiaa throne brought about an excuse for the invasion, of one country by another. This precipitated World War I.

Aviation did not iaaedlately play a part, but was carried into the opening of the war as a romance aad for sportsmanship. An aviator would take to the air to see what the other fellow was doing. He would be armed. His military equipment would consist of a pair of field .glasses, maybe a shotgun, r i f l e , or maybe ©aly a pistol, There was no axmaj&ent built into the plane. They were peacetime vehicles.

-20-

The fir s t battles aaa conflicts in which an adversary vae

grounded, killed, or met disaster in the air, were usually- followed by

a tribute by his adversary in the form of passing over the place where the fallen aviator lay and paying respect In a form of flowers, a wreath

or something like that, or by dropping a note of compliment. The

elements of sportsmanship were carried en for the first year or two of the war, or as long as i t remained on the level Of individual combat.

Howwer, this sort of thing soon disappeared ae the armament became

perfected in a way of making guns which would fire in rapid succession

through the prop.

World Var I began in August, 191¾-, and America was unprepared. Aviation here had not been recognised as a military need, American

military forces were meager. This waa a country founded on the love of

peace and love of opportunity. It was unconceivable that a world war should engulf this country or other countries ia the tragedy which was

later to take place.

The fi r s t two years of the war—* 191¾ and 1916—were stabilised

principally because of the fact that in the effort to quickly overrun

the country, the German invasion had no vehicles of Internal combustion power. Their troops, their.supplies, and their stores were transported

from their bases of supply to their advanced line© by horse-drawn equipment.

The infantry traveled afoot. It was fatigue that caused eventual disaster to the Germans.

-21

The speed in which the invasion took place, overrunning Belgium and prance, can he visualiaed hy the fact that ordinary infantry divisions vere forced, to march on foot and carry a load of f i f t y to sixty pounds oa their backs for a distance of thirty-five miles per day. This wee beyond tbe best human ability and nobody knew i t . Transportation of men by motorized vehicles was not part of the movement. When the troops reached the banks of the Marne, they were met by trench forces who quickly mobilized under their system of universal military service.

In France a man never leaves the service from the tine he join* i t . He is assigned by his year of active service t i l l he is at the end of his days. The Quick mobilisation of the Breach forces met the Germans who, after ten days of ruthless marching, were in such an exhausted condition that their asss attack resulted in astoalsMag casualties on tbe Germans. The simplest scratches or abrasioaa of the skin produced casualties and a deterioration of their physical condition to the extent that their casualty rate was the highest ever known. It was a l l caused by extensive forced marches, resulting in human exhaustion, in the first part of the war,

it was fortunate to the world that this happened as the French were able to stop them. It was not known., at tbe tiae, that this complete exhaustion caused a deterioration of the early strength of the German forces. However, what remitted to be defended was considerably reduced and In order to prevent further reduction of the space it was necessary to

-22-

go to trench war fare. The war was slowed down almost to a st a n d s t i l l . During this period, i f the fighting dida't go oa on the ground,

i t took to the a i r , ¢0 gain the advantage of knowing through reconnaissance and detection of deployment of forces and their position, their bases, and what was behind' the lines, en well aa what wa© oa the lines, the spotting of a r t i l l e r y and a l l those factors of ground warfare brought the advantage of control, of the a i r ,

The Germans, being scient i f i c people of considerable skill, Bade a .great study and were fortunate i a the respect of having resources froa which they could obtain sen of s c i e n t i f i c s k i l l to bring out sons excellent plants. Likewise, they had good leaders i n aviation operations and za.-i.de a determined effort to control the a i r . In the f i n a l periods of v.orld i.ar I such names as Br. Junkers, Dr. Fokker, and other German scientists became prominent in the design and construction of planes. However, they did sot gain full control of the a i r .

The French met their attack with a very good type of plane, but i s lesser numbers. The Br i t i s h developed very good types of planes characterized by considerable military isaneuverabillty. Conspicuous of these were the Scpwlt 1 ,Caael, n the SE-5, and the B r i s t o l "Ballet* vhien were used because of their ai&neuver&billty as well as their f i r e power* Although the Germans were unique i a new ideas, they were always met by military maneuverability of the airmen defenders of France.

The French used the Spad aai a notable engine i s that plane

«23-

was the Bispano-Sutsa. 1 have forgotten whether that was an Italian. .

or a Spanish engine, I believe i t was a Spanish engine. However,. It

had excellent characteristics mm considerable air reliability*. A l l

of this, again, depended upon the internal combustion power factors of

gasoline. If gas was good, the performance was good. If the gas was

poor, the performance vas poor..

America realised that sooner or later the as? might overrun

Europe, the victor being determined by who could last the longest. As

thfc war became stabilized, It became necessary for America to determine

that eventually, i f Europe waa overrun by the German army, there would

be trouble in the: western hemisphere caused by the nev power in ascendancy in the eastern hemisphere. This was viewed with great alarm. Supported only by snail appropriations and so forth, America began limited preparation for defense forces, but not emphasising as i t should have the use of aircraft.

America got into the var through the back door rather than going in through the front door. It was quickly perceived that aviation would be a strong factor and the slogan arose that the unlimited pro­duction of planes would be brought about.

In the American industry, the designers of internal combustion engines .-ere far superior to the designers of the airplanes itself. The airplane lagged considerably behind the design of the German bunkers, the Dutch Fokker, the British Bristol, the SB-5, and the French Sped.

-2¾-

Fortunately, there v;er~ production f a c i l i t i e s available -..bleb vere

surveyed vith the idea of a great program. Ho* to use this great

program was the biggest problem of a l l ,

fhe Secretary of War was Sewtoo J). Baker; the Secretary of

Ifevy mm Josephue Daniels; and the Assistant Secretary of the Savy wi

Franklin B» Roosevelt* A survey of f a c i l i t i e s for making planes m&

made and determined that the new expanded f a c i l i t i e s would be delegated

to the Army who would concentrate on training l a the United States i n

planes, both primary and advanced training planes, and arming thea with

Ordnance equipment permitting the learning of tbe necessary basic tactics

for use of planes as individual units.

With the tafii/ledge of proper armament, tbe use of tbe airplane .

vas greatly simplified-. Therefore, training wee concentrated i n America by the Army on nev type planes of «hlch the Curtlss Company was a

principal contributor. The "Jenny" «as a vell*ta»?a plane for training

purposes used by a l l aviators of Uariti Her If that was the «31*4,

In the selection of nho was to build planes aa agreement was

made with the Jfevy that their primary operating Job tas to keep tbe

enemy submarine under taster because England* being aa Island empire,

as subj-.et to a considerable blockage by the subraarlne. If the

subraarine could be kept under the water v.here i t quickly exhausted i t s

cruising radius because of the limitations of a i r aad enter within the

sub, the euh vould have to come up to breathe and recharge i t s batteries.*

Therefore, i f a sufficient attack blanket could be put around the coast oi" Germany's points of departure of submarines, protection could be

provided by aircraft. It was then determined that the presently engaged imnufacturers of aircraft, such as, Burgees, Salaudet, Boeing, Curtis* of Buffalo, and Aeromarine of ley Port, lev fork, should be given orders for antisubmarine type of search planes. This type of plane had been designed i a the U.S.

The basic design that followed was that of the "flying boat1'

of the Curtiss Company, which was called the F boat, fast was succeeded by the B~9, R-6, 1B-1, iS~H», and the H-l6—all of which had at least three hours cruising range at close to 100 miles aa hour for three hours. Unfortunately, armament consisted of equipment which was later

proven to be inadequate in some of the combats with enemy planes. Tlie agreement was that the lavy was to use the old f a c i l i t i e s

and concentrate oa antisubmarine warfare, while the Army was to use the new- f a c i l i t i e s which were to be expanded to the extent that i t was predicted that 100,000 planes could be aide available i n a certain length of tiae. This was. not the result of the Joint Aray-B&vy Technical Board, but *as aade between the Secretary of 'war, I+ewton D. Baker, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, -insistent Secretary of tlte Ifcvy. Cosaoander Jerome C.

8ansaJcer accompanied Assistent Secretary Roosevelt in this meeting. Because Cceasaoder Jerome C. Hunsaker was my superior officer and I was one of his staff assistants, 1 was brought into the a c t i v i t i e s at that

point. It was immediately determined that standardiaation of a l l -equip­

ment and armament of the Bevy type plane was to be to the extent that any plane could use materials at various points where antisubmarine warfare would be required,

In the search for proper standardization and equipment of the planes, there were several groups of makers of material and steel and mechanical devices organised. I was diverted to one of these meetings to be held i n Detroit. At such a meeting 1 met Mr, William B. Stout.

Tbe military situation i a the Berth Sea and the coast of Prance was in favor of the German type planes at this particular time, because of superior speed over a l l Naval flying boats and other type planes. This resulted i n losses i n the English Channel and Berth Sea through attack during which planes were shot down or destroyed i n flams because of the vulnerability of gas tanks, and the a i r f o i l and infleiosable parts of t h e plane,

I t 'was suggested, however, i n a staff meeting by ayself (at that time an Ensign i n the U. S, Haval Reserve Flying Corps) that i f a man was hunting ducks he would choose a good spot, l e t the ducks fly by, take good aim, and try to shoot them down. I f we couldn't f l y as fast as the enemy, at least we could select a good spot and try to Mt them as they went past, i f properly protected. To do so required armor protection. It was, therefore, thought to be sensible that'we provide protection to vulnerable parts—such as, gas tanks, the p i l o t seat, the

carburetor, tbe engine, and tbe ignition—by light armor to give sufficient protection to parts rather than trying to l i f t the .great extra weight of side armour on the planes* By reducing the area required to protect, tbe armour would weigh less and become a feasible defense against superior speed.

Much to my surprise, Commander luos&ker tamed and said, " V e i l , that's a good idea, Psrnsworth, $hy don't you do Itt" Proa that moment oa, 1 was oa the spot to produce steel anaor protection for the aviator as well as plane parts. My f i r s t search l a the solution, of this problem was to contact prominent metallurgists at the Crucible Steel Company, the Central Alloy of Hassilloa, CStio, the United Alloy of Canton, Ohio, tbe Carbon Steel Company of Pittsburgh aad Pennsylvania, aad Bissten Saw of Philadelphia who toe* how to temper steel. This search led me to Detroit eoneurreatly with a meeting of some technical standard*a society, probably the Bsl. At t h i s meeting I was .Introduced to Mr. «1111« B. Stout and Mr. Henry Chandler of the ford Motor Company,

Mr. Chandler, at that time, was conducting research on steel armor for tanks aad had proceeded to a poiat where hie type of steel looked.very favorable* We made penetration b a l l i s t i c tests with Springfield r i f l e s of ,303 type used by the Army. It was determined that tbe probable angle of attack was such as to greatly reduce the h&sari of penetration, and steels similar to those mentioned i f not too heavy would be accept­able. This resulted in a standard special treatment steel specification

»28-

prepared by the Bavy known as KTS w&ieh I believe i s s t i l l i a use. I aa, therefore, the daddy of that thing.

After the meeting of the special committee on standardisations,

at a place which 1 have forgotten, Mr. Stoat very courteously invited ae to look at a type of plane which he was building, and which he said was i n a "mock-up" state. The word neck-up was not a word of World War I j . that's a world Har II word. I believe the term used then was "experimental aodel."

Ve had lunch at the Detroit Athletic Club where a very thick, juicy steak was put i n front of m« and which I could not est, as my

appetite was not too good. However, i t was a very courteous gesture to honor me like that. I wish I would have been up to i t ,

1¾*. Stout took ae to a shop which, I believe, was on the east side of Detroit .sad owned by an automobile windshield manufacturer naaed William C« Bands. Preparations had been aade for me to meet Mr. lands and Mr. Stout's organisation at that particular tiae to make a quick observation of the possibility of the use of that type of plane by the Savy, I do not know whether Mr. Stout had offered this to the Army or not. I only know that 1 "was asked at that tlae to report i t to the Bavy, aad to give an opinion oa i t ,

Mr. Stout was looking for a possible military use of this

plane. At that tiae I could not reveal the d i f f i c u l t y we were having through the loss of planes i n ths Berth Sea and the English Channel or

~S9-

our efforts to araor our planes because those things were of military

value to the enemy.

This shop was practically hare of everything except the

experimental plane. With the facilities made available, I had a chance

to go over the plane from a l l angles, also to observe the construction

within the wings, sit ia the pilot's control point, and size up the

feasibility of the plane for Naval service.

One of the characteristics looked for in a l l service activities

i s military load. A plane that has a low military load, but fast flight

characteristics, might not prove to be as valuable in search as a plane

which does not have the speed but has the capacity for military load,

because included in the military load Is the gasoline capacity* i f the

search range can be increased by military load facilities, then the value

of the plane as a search plane is considered Improved. That is a rule

of thumb. The operating pattern used for search is standard and i f the

pattern runs out and you can't get home, you've lost a plane, you've

lost a pilot, and you've lost an opportunity. The enemy has not been

bothered in control of the area; therefore, search must be continuous,

•persistent, accurate, and to the detriment of the enemy's operations

on tbe surface. That was what we were looking for, and that continued

to be what we were looking for. tue had to have i t .

The search had to be made at an elevation of practical

visibility to the ordinary pilot who does not search by sitting up i n

-30-

his seat and putting a pair of observer*© glasses up to his eyes, but

he oust search with that vis i b i l i t y which nature provided. If he does

not have good eyesight, he does not make contact with the enemy as he

should in his search. Therefore, visibility, recognition, range, and

military load a l l result in a successful choice of a plane.

As I looked at this flying wing, as i t was later ealled,

there were many characteristics that might offer development. One

of them wag the military load which I spoke of. low to get speed was

another approach, but 1 was only concerned about the increase of military

load. % a t would i t carry! How long would i t carry It? What would

its range bet Could we double the range"? Could we keep over the sub­

marine for the number of hours it's under? If we could keep the sub-

marine under for ten hours and It had to eoae up to breathe, and we had

another'plane to take over the search at that period, i n the shallowness

of the Horth Sea the submarine would quickly become a "gone gooser,8"*

It could not, jaake «|uick steep dives owing to the shallowness of the' Bortfa

Sea. It couldn't surface for any length of time if ve stayed nearby.

If we could double our range by military capacity, we would do the same

as having planes relaying at the point of observation of the submarine.

Vith this i n mind, I studied the plane for considerable time

before I wade any comment. During a l l this tine Mr. Stout was very anxious.

Mr. Rands vas Jingling three dollars he had In his pocket, wanting to get

his money back as auickly and as surely as possible. If only Uncle ism

-31-

mottle buy i t , he wwOA feel very happy. Mr, Rasas would aay nothing,

but he'd pace bad and forth and annoy Mr. Stoat who was sweating i t

out.

Finally 1 said to Mr. Stout in front of Mr. Rands, "I think

the damn thing will f l y and 1 will aake a favorable recommendation to

•my-superior officer, Naval Cc«saader Jerome C. lunsaker, who is the head

of design for the Bureau of Construction and Bepair-'-AeroBautiefi." With

that Mr. Stout broke into a big smile and Mr. Rands felt very happy be­

cause his Investment appeared safe. 1 hid thea both adieu.

Both''principals who were engaged in tbe development ©f this

unique plane were considerably relieved when son© representative of the

armed services had jade favorable eoaeaat oa their effort. I have never

known what bed been said by others. However, i t was ay opinion that

ilr* Stout had approached the problem of possible correction of-the most

••annoying.problems .of airplane design, that Is, getting a surface of

sufficient area to l i f t the big military load required to cover extensive

search areas. The Army did not have the problem of search and the Bavy

definitely bee tbe problem of search and contact with a potential target

continually changing position. The Bavy is wore concerned with search

than the Army.

The solution of this problem was surrounded by fundamental

engineering difficulties. The structure tm& framework of a plane Is

3iaply to support in aeronautical terms the airfoil—the a i r f o i l being

-38-

the covering of the framework necessary to give wing surfaces ©f various

designs and type of sufficient area to l i f t the desired load. As I r e c a l l , the average wing loading of planes of that era-

was approximately five and one-half pounds per square foot. That means every square foot of wing area oust support five and om-half

pounds i n f l i g h t . This l i f t was provided by two things* the vacuum

created at the top of the wing called turbulence, and tbe angle of attack. Turbulence? i s the vacuum oa the aerofoil top created by wing curves.

There were many types of wing curves. The 'British had pre­

sented the most comprehensive study of. various forms of wing curves

and these curves had been made use of by both the Army and Havy, as well as the British flying corps themselves,

Aee<mt&anying this problem -wee the spread of the wings. I t sag desired to gi?e spread i a order to accomplish area, because tbe spread times the depth of the chord or the depth of the wing would give you the surface covering which resulted i a the area and the wing loading computa­tions .

Tbe biggest d i f f i c u l t y encountered i a giving sufficient area to l i f t heavy weights—such, ae, bombs and other equipment included i a the military load—was the i n a b i l i t y to get wood for spar construction.

Spruce was considered the wood most suitable to give support to wings of various length.. This seemed to be Halted to a one-piece spar length

-33-

of twenty-five feet, Wooden spars over twenty-five feet were proven to

'be unreliable ana subject to 'breakage* tbe* splicing of wing spars was

then in the experimental stage. It is my recollection that wings were

made up of several panels and never included a continuous wing or beam.,

Bi-planes were built in the scheme of ordinary bridge con­

struction, so the wings could be extended perhaps to the width of eighty-

five to 100 feet by including panels on both sides of the principal

center panels. In other words, a bl-plane structural construction

resembled a bridge.

This problem was very acute in 1910. With the coming of

monoplane construction and its internal strength, there 'was offered a

possible solution of the complications of the hi-plane having several

wing panels and iaterplaae struts and wires* This would provide tbe

plaae with a streamlined structure, reducing parasite resistance and

vibrations which resulted in aa unstable flight,

The structure of a plaae of the bl-plane type put together

with panels, struts, aad wires required constant attention to keep

the plane in true shape. This was done by servicing, i t is my recol­

lection that i t required five servicemen on the ground to keep oae

men in tbe air. The five men on the ground were continuously tuning the

plane and matching up by use of a wooden template,, the t i l t of the

plane wings, the spread, aad the angle of the dihedral of the plaae

wing in Order to keep the plane to its true design shape, 4 severe

landing would throw the structure out of true or designed condition. Therefore, the internal structure as evidenced by monoplane wings, which could be made over a built-up frame or beams, offered the possible solution of the problem of having to tune up the structure of your plane before and after every f l i g h t .

Internal cantilever beam construction also did away with parasite resistance from the struts and piano wires, called iaterplnne wires. Towards the end of the war the Navy adopted what they called ewedged wirej that meant a forged wire of high tension steel which could be heat treated and hammered to oval shape. Therefore, the cross-section area was reduced but retained the great strength, and the lightness i n interplane wires. Likewise, struts were streamlined. Ve s t i l l had the resistance from these vibrating parts. There i s great a i r resistance b u i l t from anything that vibrates.

I would say that one of the biggest contributions that Stout was making at this time was the development of cantilever internal trussing to eliminate the parasite resistance of the bi-plane type struts

and wires, and a l l of their retarding factors.. I imagine the design of tbe monoplane internal beaa of that particular icing was done by one of Stout•s assistant engineers. I think i t was Ivan Wright.

Mr. Stout was a dynamic person. He saw possibilities and didn't mnt opportunity to escape so, rather than involve himself i n the particular details of design, he hired or engaged people who were

»35-

qualified to work oat analyses, thus leaving himself f ree for promoting

tbe idea. Aerodynamics was s t i l l i n i t s infancy, fbere was not much

data pertaining to cantilever wing loadings and internal wing bracings.

Other monoplane construction with internal cantilever trussing

was being done at this time by our enemy, but the details were kept

secret by tbe producers of when Doctor Junkers was the leader.

The sing was complete the f i r s t tiae 1 looked over Mr. Stout's

plane, and was covered with a plywood veneer. One of the features of the

plywood veneer, as related by Stout to me at that tiae, was the fact that

this veneer had been made of a waterproof glue which had never been used

in the United States until recently. The Havy had heard of i t in ex­

periments i n asking wood built-up spars of the ordinary type in which

we »de a spar twenty-sis feet long and perhaps nine inches depth, of

webbing and four inches on top and bottom flange. Casein glue- was a

milk base. I believe this new casein glue was acquired from a Swiss

inventor who had practically kept a monopoly on that type glue, a l ­

though known abroad to 'be waterproof.

. The Havy experimented with the me of this new glue i n making

aircraft propellers. Its waterproof characteristics Interested the Havy

very mueh, heeause i f we didn't use waterproof glue the period of

adhesion would be uncertain and the propeller unsafe. This new casein

glue prolonged toughness in resistance to separation of layers of wood

of a l l thicknesses.

-36-

#lt that time I understand that nobody in tbe United States

ted been delegated the atanuf&cturlng right© to casein glue. However,

Mr. Charles Kidman, vbo was a member of J . C. Hdman Company, Detroit,

during a trip to Washington contacted the Havyj and the results of

experiments on the iimereed adhesive properties of casein glue as

applied to wing spars and other aircraft structure was discussed.

It was the practice at that tiae for the ribs of the wing to

be built up from very wail pieces of wood, whittled individually, and

glued together according to wing shape and curves. The vertical aaahers

of the ribs of the wing were small aai supported at the top by flanges

glued together. Bails and metallic fasteaiags were iwpraetie&lj wooden

rib pieces mast be glued together.

Chuck Widaaa was looking for work for his business. He-

wanted to make airplane parts. He bed a very well-established furniture

sad mirror factory in Detroit, The use of glue was a very necessary

thing in tbe manafactere of furniture. Be ran across casein glue

somewhere prior to contact with me; but 1 doubt If he knew who the

manufacturer was or where to get samples of i t until he contacted the

Bureau of Standards who were conducting glue tests. I don't know whether I directed hia to the Bureau of Standards or .not. He was a personal

friend and a forxaer "boyhood "hero" of sine. Be had been a football

player, and I had huag oato his coat tails because of his athletic ability. «ben he came in to talk to me about planes, I was very willing

-37-

about helping hia in soae way or other to get useful infCroat ion. It

turned out that he was given assistance by the Bureau of Standards aad

the Ssvy, and he returned to Detroit, le saw the possibilities for

using casein glue for veneering and other things made of wood,

% principal assignment la the Ifavy at that time was to

eliminate fire haaard in our planes. We were losing planes la the

North Sea and other places because the wing structure would be hit

and catch fire, which quickly spread internally in the wings. The

biggest hazard in flying is iateraal fires, aot the external fires because

they blow out. The iateraal fire is hard to extinguish aad It can't

be smothered. The a i r f o i l becomes destroyed and the plane loses i t s

flight characteristics resulting in disaster.

The enemy used incendiary bullets. Ia their ammunition and

guns, which probably were loaded with f i f t y per cent ratio of incendiary

ammunition* the penetration projectile© factor was cut down or reduced

in numbers per clip in order to increase the Incendiary characteristic

of a clip. Most Haval planes were shot down having internal flame in

tbe wing; i t was not external fire.

I was assigned to find a possible solution. The Stout plane

was not my particular Job. I vas temporarily ia contact by order of the

head of lavy aeronautics. I was, however, very definitely interested ia

internal structures. My own approach to the solution of reducing fire

hazard was to inccarporate a screen baffle, l i t e a miner's screes, between

-38-

each rib. It would have, undoubtedly, retarded the spread of the

flames, so a built-up wing permitted wire baffling.

A good contribution to fire damage control was the Intro­

duction of cellulose acetate varnish used to shrink the fabric on

top of the wing in order to make a taut and strong aerofoil surface. The only previous application of varnish or dope, as i t was called,

had been nitrate which was highly Inflammable when applied to the

cotton wing fabric used at the time. It was dangerously explosive

so that an aviator was taking a fire hazard into the air. The Navy was very intensely concerned about keeping the pilot

i s the air aad keeping the plane intact, Ke couldn't lose planes as

fast as they were being lost and gain air superiority. The Navy's mission was to keep submarines down beneath, the surface*, that was a

prime objective. The laval aviators weren't combat pilots or fighters,

but were carrying on antisubmarine warfare of the .most Intense sort.

The service had found the fallacy of tremendous bl-plane wing spread because the impact on the planes when tbey landed hard upon the water

would, shake the- plane out of true, or out of flight conditions. This

would lay up the plane until it properly checked out. If a plane was laid up fifty per cent of the time, that reduced the number of search aircraft fifty per cent. Through better structure, the increase of

search capacity per squadron could be increased aad the enemy held down.

I was, therefore, very much interested In the Stout wing

-39*

structure 'because of the possibility of cutting flown fire hasard, aad

at tbe saae time giving rigid characteristics so the wing would remain

true to the original design and we would have an increase in the use­

fulness of a squadron,

Vidman came back to Detroit and learned to menufaotare water­

proof veneer, thus helping a combination of tv© experimental ideas by

the casein glue veneer a i r f o i l and the wing internal structure. The

veneer skia on this plane also was applied i a such a way that i t be­

came part of the wing structure itself adding strength.

The way that could be done would be to bead the waterproof

wood veneer wing i n such a way that i t would overlap the front edge

of the beam, and become what may be called moaocoupe construction. I

other words, the leading edge of the plane would be added to f i t the

Iateraal arouad the beast after having been steamed ia order to bead

to the curve, mA dried out to final shape. I wasn't concerned with

the technique of veneer manufacturing. That •w&s the problem of Mr.

Stout. I didn't care how he did i t . If he bjsaaered it or bent i t with

Mo teeth, I didn't care as long as i t performed as desired, What we

wanted was maximum military usefulness i n search, at sea,

Stout had no motor i n Ms plane during this inspection, Tbe

results of my favorable consents to Stout and his financial backers

stimulated them. Therefore, I prepared a favorable report aad .recommended

It for further Interest. I gave this to my lamedlate superior, Commander

-40«

Jerome C. Sunsaker. My duty was to give aa unprejudiced report, I bad

ao committed opinion one way or the other. It was strictly aa impartial

report. William Stout was Juet a new face and a new nan to no. Personally,

I could see he had -aa active Kind.

fhe results of ay reports were that Stout scented the friendly

attitude of the Navy. laterally. If a ma offers or expresses a friendly

attitude, the designer is encouraged aad will state further contacts. I

believe I outlined our problem to Mr. Stoat la each, a way that le modified

his approach to the development of the plane, I recommended the pilot

be given a greater area of visibi l i t y . As I sat up ia the pilot's seat,

the area of visibility was less than 190 degrees ia any direction. That

made It 170 degrees blind, which was bad for landtag and take-off aad

for search..

Instrument bombing was only in a crude state, fhe bombing

was computed by strictly hand operated mechanical devices of speed aad

drift. Speed aad drift aad- altitude computation solved, bow far a

missile would travel to the target after you .released i t , % knev

l i t t l e about bombing other than to approach the target at an angle, which

could almost be computed by your own eye as to how far you should be

off the target to the right or left as you approached It in order to

permit the projectile to hit. The average release altitude was around

3,500 feet. It was not very high and was within surface gun range.

The sudden, termination of the war which wag called *The lar

-41-

To End A l l Wars"--a fallacy which we accepted at that tiae--had been preceded by a rapid increase in the use of military aircraft. The

ground. movement of troops replaced the trench warfare. The i n i t i a l

employment of group attacks in flight formations replaced the airman's

duels, its romance, acrobatics, and the sportsmanship of the combat.

An era had closed and a new era begun.

The final victory of tbe Allies, after the build-up of tbe

United States Army in Europe, brought a sudden close to the emphasis oa

the building of military planes. Vhat was to remain was zero interest

by a l l concerned.

Germany had spawned its Dr. Junkers and Br. Fokker, who is

not a German but a Hollander, who had become expert ia the art of aero­

dynamics. They were leading scientists.

The United States had developed mass production of traiaiag

planes and -was entering into production of fighter planes, fortunately,

several universities retained a small interest, but the mass manufacturing

of aircraft collapsed. Thousands of motors were in surplus.

In certain parts of the country design of internal combustion

engines continued and tht Military department slowly reorganized their

approach to aviation, Detroit resumed Its interest ia ground trans­

portation aad thus chose its pattern of the future, for every step ia

manufacturing aircraft the automobile makers took tea steps ia automobile

maaufactaring, desiga, and productioa. Manufacturing of planes was

considered stagnant and interest turned to the realm of sportsmanship.

Tb- great mystery of flight again entered the influence of

sport. In the military i t was whose plane could fly the fastest,

furthest, and. highest. Production wa© limited to few planes per year

of various types. Costs were very high 'both for military and civilians.

The Havy made the first competitive hid to f l y the Atlantic

and organised a squadron of four planes built on ths design of the

Curtise Coiapsay, which consisted of planes designated as NC-1, 2, 3,

and 4, and succeeded*

William 8. Stout had designed tho monoplane basically as a flying wiagj neither a high wing type or a low ,-ing type. In doing so,

he had overcome the limitations of excessive *»ing spread. Ia a unique

manner he provided aa effective wing surface supported by a built-up

veaeer cantilever truss within the a i r f o i l .

Bow we are entering the era of the Junkers type. The intro­

duction of Br. Junkers' plane to America was as dramatic as .could be.

There occurred in this era of sporte»aa©hip which followed

the ending of "The Vfer To lad A l l ware" the challenge by the English to

race the Americans in a yacht race. The competitors were Sir Thomas

Liptoa'© "Shamrock I" aad the defender, through selection by elimination

trials, '-The Resolute,

fhrougli chance I was at the Haval Air Station, Soekaway, on

the day of the first race and was fortunate in being with a young

-43-

friend, the son of tbe great financier Mortimer Sehiff. Hubert Sehiff was a very nice young ifemi aviator. His small cabin power cruiser, perhaps f i f t y feet In length, was tied up to the dock, sad he invited bis friends fro® the Baval A i r Statics to see the- beginning of tbe aeries of the American cup races.

I tad learned -froa Itr. Idsel Ford himself that he had i n ­tended to attend those races, When we approached the starting lis© off Highland l i g h t , lew Jersey, at Sandy look lightship, to our starboard about half a mile away lay the Ford yacht " S l a l l a . " 1 believe Mr* Henry Ford as well as Mr. Edsel ford was aboard to see this f i r s t race,

fhe day was overcast, fhe condition of the sea was compara­tively smooth. The wind wae less than ten knots. The spectator fleet was very extensive,! It could be seen far around the horison. 1 would estimate that there- were over 300 large private yachts aad passenger §teasers there for the day's spectacle.

About the moment of the start of the race, various types of airplanes and oae d i r i g i b l e , C-5 type Ifevy balloon, appeared. The most spectacular plane of a l l was a low-wing cabined monoplane. It flew with such speed, persistence, and r e l i a b i l i t y that i t was very conspicuous because i t remained over that fleet for two boars before i t turned toward i t s landing f i e l d on Long Island,

laving been associated with the Navy's flying a c t i v i t i e s , a l l were surprised and inquisitive. Upon returning to the a i r station, at

loekav&y the first question was, "Mat was thatf*" After examination of photographs ana other things we said, "Well, that must he the German •Jankers. 1 understaaa they have sold soae in this country."

Further Investigation proved this to be a Geraan plane which had been built for military use, but modified and converted to passenger use. It contained, 1 believe, space for a pilot as veil as four or five passengers, later i t was my pleasure to fly la i t , at which time I believe there were one pilot ana three passengers. This had been re­named tbe JL-6, the J standing for Junkers, the 1 standing for Larson, aad the 6 standing for the number of cylinders which were characteristic of the German Mercedes-type internal combustion engine used.

I believe this -was the initial introduction of this plane to this country, 1 have no evidence one way or tbe other, bat it was the first tiae I was acquainted with it and the first time anybody at the Haval Air Station Roek&my ted seen i t in flight. This plane had bees shipped to the United States by a man named Larson who bought six of these planes from Junkers for speculative purposes, and had them based at Miaeoia Field, Long Island,

I don't know if that is where Eddie Stinson contacted Larson or not. Undoubtedly, Eddie Stinson became interested in it because Stinson had been the king of pilots. Up to that time he probably had flown 3,000 hoars. He had. organised the Stinson Air Field in Texas and the Flying Stinson Circus that was active all around tfes country ia

cow«pasture flying* There were no runways aod there were very few places which sight he considered adequate fields for take~offs and landings*

The Stiason family circus of aviators consisted of l i d i e Stinson, Ms sister© Marjorie and gathering Stinson, and Jack Stiacoa.

his brother who- was an. Instructor at the Stineen A i r f i e l d , Xatherine « s the stunt flyer. They had a military contract for training s i l i t s r y pilots i a prisa&ry planes.

fJadoubtedly, the Junkers plaae SIdie Sfeinaoa was Interested i a was flown free Long Island to Betroit i n short hope, because Stlnsoa was looking for passenger business and paid his own way. In fact, he charged iuy wife aad I a reduced rate for a f l i g h t over Detroit i n this saae plane. He offered to give the fare back to ae when we landed, but I traded the offer for a Jaekkaife.

StiBaoa was not interested in anything but taking' up the -passengers for #10 or #15» 1 believe he would have done i t for $2 i f he couldn't get any passengers* He caae i a the various fi e l d s arouad Detroit and aade landings.

The crowds were very sparse ana the Interest more for curiosity. From the pictures I have you could see that the people hesitated to

even get near the plaae. It was a "vehicle of the devil" as far as

saae of the people of that time were concerned. It wasn't anything except a mysterious approach of pleasure to the ordinary person. l e

'brought that plane into Detroit early in '.21, Be would make $150 on week ends and then quit flying u n t i l the. next week end. I t was during tho .recess period that I would see and talk with hia..

I think Stout was smart enough to interest himself about this Junkers and 1 thiak, upon hearing that soaetliing l i k e that was arouad Detroit, he iissedlately looked i t up. I thiak Stout really was smart, and a very active man. l e thought of a thing aai did i t right away, even i f he had no'money i a his pocket. I don't think I ever heard a dollar Jingle i n his pocket. In fact, my small income was probably sore than his. He bad a very hungry look about Mm.

The use of the corrugated Duralumin that the Junkers used and i t s internal structure was an innovation in this country, I don't kaow how the internal design of tbe Junkers plaae compared v i t h the internal design of Stout's, It's logical that any structure of that sort incorporates a cantilever truss design.

The reason that Stout started the construction of a second plane was because his ideas were modified as to the .military value of Ms f i r s t design on account of the limitations of v i s i b i l i t y aad lack of military characteristics, which I had pointed out to hia. It lacked fighting aad defensive a b i l i t y .

The second, or peacetime, plane was that by which he was oat to capture the eo»ereial and .military f i e l d s . He knew the necessity of abandoning the exclusive military design siace that was reduced by the

military themselves. %ty should he follow that light i f that light was dim? However, this dim light did not go oat.

The use of a torpedo launched froa aa aircraft was 'Something that had been considered feasible for quite a long time. Oae of the early experimenters on that was Ifcvy Captain Mustin. His son. lives i a Washington aad le sow oa the Washington Evening Star. Captain Maetla was very energetic and a wide-awake Navy aviator, aad he could visualize

the idea of launching a torpedo plaae froa a small moviag boat. He

selected the Hi-ekaan Sea Sled as the proper vehicle, and his experiment was to launch a torpeio-earrylBg plaae froa a snail best*

Mustin obtained the assignment of & twin float &-6 to hia on

Chesapeake Bay. I believe'he successfully launched the plane from the

sixty-foot Hickman Sea Sled which he had selected. It was very evident by then that a torpedo was .a very potent iapleaent of war. The evidence was proven by the aaay sinkings' of combat ships and cargo A l p s by tbe

enemy during th© war. That Snowed the attack value of torpedoes* launching methods were a difficult problem.

Admiral Moffett came into the influence of this development after Commaader Jerry lunsaker had resigned froa the Ravy. The Havy, at the time of ay original contact, was eosposed of various bureaus--quite differeat than nov. Aviation Haml desigm was under the Bureau of Construct ion aad Repair »»Aviatioa Section, and it was Just a small part. It was not a Bureau of Aeronautics. It was after the war, probably in

-48-

1920 or »21, that the Bureau of Aeronautics ww created. I have forgotten T4io headed i t . It zaay have been Captain Tan Craven.

Admiral Moffett cane i n considerably later. I think Admiral Moffett die not have coamand u n t i l 1923 or '2¾-. Commander Oarling

Fulton took over Aeronautics succeeding Bunsaker. I believe those records would 'have to be found elsewhere because I aa not clear on that point.

In any event, i n 1921 Stout did receive a proposal to build an all-metal torpedo bomber. The lavy bed continued i t s friendship

f o r Stout. In view of the fact thet c i v i l i a n interest had lagged and

service interest bad declined t e r r i f i c a l l y , the Havy wae not requesting extensive appropriations for additional planes. Experimental work was carried oa largely at the risk and effort of only a few individual

manufacturers. The present Boeing Aircraft Company i n Seattle got i t s start from the Havy "brvid ana butter'' contracts, likewise, Irlght-Curtlss, makers of 'ieroaauticai engines, were greatly encouraged fey the Havy because of the fact that i t offered air-cooled engines, air-cooled engines having better combat characteristics.

Off and on I observed this Wavy program development as far as Stout was concerned, although not o f f i c i a l l y . I did, however, talk over the type of engine with B i l l and 1 agreed that the Packard in-line eight-cylinder engine was very good. To a certain extent, i t followed

J4.9-

the Jankers in that way. The Jankers used the six-eylinder In-line

Mercedes engines with aluminum pistons. I n--vtr . H i forget those

aluminum pistons. If you could pat & round Civil « .-.r type cannon ball

inside of t i n cans, and then put that on top of something that was

violently shaking, you could get a picture of how these Mercedes engines

sounded before they got warmed up and the aluminum expanded taut. It

was the damndest noise I ever beard in my l i f e . I've never heard any­

thing like i t . It would be fun to imitate I t because, i f you had these

t i n cans and these C i v i l War cannon balls i n thea and shook six of

them as fast as you could at a revolution of 3,000 a minute, you could

imagine what happened on the front.

I -would look at fiddle Stinson and say, * % God, Eddie, what

have you done there!*

He would say, "Well, that will quiet down and that w i l l get

smooth and be a l l right."

I mid, "I doubt i t . "

I believe i t was 1̂ 21 when Eddie Stinson appeared vith his

low-wing Junkers monoplane. Ie because a friend of B i l l Stout's, but I

don't know where the friendship came from. B i l l was friendly with so

may people interested in aviation., 1 thiak be had soae work done on

the plane over at Stoat's shop. In fact, I thiak I remember seeing

i t over there.

I believe that ie where the corrugated aluminum wing surface

-50-

vas recognized by Stout. A corrugated metal wing covering ass certain advantages \<hich I think Stoat was keen i n recognizing. He saw that a corrugated type shape of" aluminum a i r f o i l added strength to the »ing. By wrapping i t around the front spar, he had added further strength to the top of the wing as well as the bottom of the wing- because the characteristics of thin f l a t octal on top of wing beans and ribs does

not offer rigi d support, fee corrugated form builds what i s called aoaents of inertia, which i s a characteristic of ordinary structural

angles lai d with edge upward and i s considered in many designs. The use of this corrugated .'ing surface *us nothing more or less than that which bad been used i a making breakwaters of the- best type angle pieces oa edge.

It i s lay opinion that B i l l Stout f i r s t recognised the advantages of the corrugated aluminum stet&l used for wing surface through hie contact with Eddie Stinson and the JL-6 plane he brought to Setroit for Stinsoa's barnstora.

The production of the veneer type high-wing modification of those original planes included a Packard in-line eagiae. As I r e c a l l I t , this second plane i t s e l f was a veneer wing fabrication* At that tine I

believe a continuous wing bean extruded clear across froa oae edge to another. TL. Internal design had become more or less conventional.

Th third pl~ne built by Stout showed a replacement of veneer a i r f o i l by corrugated aluminum s i a i l a r to that of the Junkers-Larson 6

used by Eddie Stinson. I recently talked with Frank Vidmaa, who is treasurer of the

J. C. Vidman Company, and he said Ms company M i made parts of veneer and wood and so forth for, undoubtedly, the f i r s t plane as well as the second plane. After shop inspection and so forth, this plane was taken to Selfridge Field for f l i g h t . The enclosed snapshot shows B i l l Stout and this plane ae i t was wheeled out of the hangar at Selfridge Field,

At this particular time the Havy assigned a Haval Inspector named Lieutenant Commander Frank Smith to sake contact with Stout for

the Bureau of Aeronautics. I don't know i f a contract was pending or a contract had been made, Or just what that was. Those are details with which I aa not acquainted.

However, this new plane a s transported again to Dayton, Ohio, and successfully flown. B i l l Johnson, a civilian aviator, put It through certain flight tests. I don't know i f the characteristics that developed concerning the f l i g h t were on record with Stout's company. However, i t le of interest that about this tias B i l l obtained the interest of, I believe, Secretary of the Havy idwin C. Benby, a Detroiter, who gave tbe friendly sod to further development with this type of plane- for the purpose of encouraging more private development, as against strict experimental development by departments of the .Army or the iavy.

A contact 1 bad during this period occurred during the time the Bavy successfully made Its f l i g h t to the Azores and then'to Portugal..

Brown and Aleoek ted flown from Nova Scotia and landed i n Northern Ireland Instead of the $2,500 goal—Paris. Nungeseor had made an unsuccessful f l i g h t , Lindbergh was around searching for a possible type of airplane and chose a high-wing monoplane mde by the Ryan Engineering Company, which I believe was designed by a form&r Havy Department airplane designer, B i l l B o l l l n , He was tb<= actual mathe­matician and designer of that Ryan plane, Up to that time, Ryan Aircraft Company had only mde ten or twelve planes. The plane for Lindbergh was one? of the very good ones and had f l i g h t capacity as well as load capacity, but a very, very low speed of 110 toots.

The use of the airplane bad thus reverted to i t s original type—the high-wing monoplane, passengers carried beneath ths wing, engines in front, ailerons more or less i a the conventional way, and so forth, aad very raueh resembled the Bleriot monoplane type which surprised the world in 1909. Many of the characteristics of that Bleriot plane remain today in his concept of f l i g h t . I t i s the out­standing plane of the century.

What happened to Stout aad the selling of his company to Mr, Heary Ford undoubtedly was introduced through the sporting side of it—through the sportsmanship, through Interest l a pioneering things, and through the interest of sports.

Mr. ford himself was a sportsmn. & picture of Mr. Ford

being only interested l a aanufacturing i s erroneous. Manufacturing caae

-53-

after hie primary interest of toeing a competitor, Ming a sportsman, sad feeing more or less ©f an athlete. 1 think that Mr, Ford expressed internet through the sporting side of i t . Fortunately, he had sufficient Betas to take development Interest aad acquired the interest of the Stout .; ,11-metal iirplane Ccapany for pioneering his original aircraft idea.

Admiral Moffett had recognized the poteatial possibilities of certain designs, particularly that of carrying a l i v e load of aaaauai-tion i n the form of* a torpedo to i t s target, aad encouraged the interest i a i t . Unfortunately* we cannot question Mair&l Moffett oa that subject because bo lost his l i f e in the crash of the airship ''Akron" off the coast of lew Jersey, which was a etorm very much like that recently reported hurricane. The meteorological science had not yet been developed, weather reporting me i a i t s infancy aad very few observation points could predict storms and things like that. He actually became a victim of the stona that caae on across Mount Vashingtoa, lev Hampshire, aad went oa down Cape Cod aai M t the airship Micron'* at a location off Atlantic City. A l l 'but two seamen lost their lives. This storm, as I re c a l l i t , rocked ay house. I thea lived in ffewtoa, Massachusetts, aad the velocity of* that stona wee over 150 Biles per hour*

That seemed to finish the Savy'e interest i a lighter ~than-air airships and, therefore, emphasized the work which had been pioneered i a the h.. avier-than-air type of uirplaa s. The wing supporting the load beneetb I t gave better characteristics for military as well as other uses.

Eventually the suspension of a cabin below the wing to carry passengers, undoubtedly, had reached the point of a new era in aircraft and i t s use*

Mr. Ford, having the transportation active in a l l this, again recognised the possibility of extending transportation by using the new bigh-ving all-metal plane to go between Detroit aad Buffalo carrying freight every day on aa exact schedule, leaving at a certain tias and returning at a certain time, ffais was extended to Chicago and 1 believe those two- lines operated for a year or more, It was the principle of real schedules following the iron-mike chart (railroad r a i l s ) , rather than radar which i s now used, but r e l i a b i l i t y of both engine aad plane was proven.

the facts are froa memory and I cannot verify the correctness of them as to dates, details, hours, and so forth. However, having been bora l a 'Detroit, aad having been an old friend of the Ford family, Including Mrs. ford, Mr. Edsel Ford, and other meabers of that family, i t i s a pleasure to relate sofflsthlng of the personal approach pertaining to the i n i t i a l interest of Mr. Henry Ford In the furtherance of aviation, which eventually proved a means of defense for this country at a later date when another world war took place*-"To lad A l l World Wars."'

The Reminiscences of Mr. Grower Farnsworta Index

"Akron" airship, 'jk Alcock, Captain, 5:1 Alger, Russell, lp-1.6 Automobile racing, es-.rly days of, 2-5, 7-8» 10 Aviation, early years of, 9-20 Aviation, post World War I, 1**?-¾ Aviation, world Uajr I, £1-42 Baker, Hewton D., 2̂ -̂6 Balloon ascensions, 8-9 Bleriot, Louis, 10-11, I'f-i8, !>3 Boeing airplane Company, :1.-6, kj Boll in, !-illioja, •)< Bristol "Bullet" airplane, 23-?¼ Brown, Arthur V.., Sir, 53 "Bullet'' airplane, 2'^~A Burgess, Edward Sterling, 17 Burgess Airplane Company, 26 Burgess-Curt1ss airplane, 17 "Camel" airplane, ?3 Carbon Steel Company, 28 Central Alloy Company, 20 Chandler, Henry, 28 C i v i l Var, 9 Coffin, Howard, 13-15 Craven, Thomas, kj Crucible Steel Company, 28 Curtlss Aeroplane Company, 26 Daniels, Josephus, 25 duVinci, Leonardo, 10 Bay, Thomas Fleming, l6 Denby, Ldwin C , 5? Detroit Athletic Club, 29 Detroit Boat Club, 3 Detroit Country Club, 24-15 Detroit News, 16 Detroit Yacht Club, 3, it Edison Illuminating Company, 5 Fame worth, George, I Farnsworth, Grover, passim Flying Stinson Circus, 45 Fokker, Anthony, ?.},, 42 Fokker airplane, 2k Ford, Edsel, y)

fhe Reminiscences of Mr. Qrover fsrasworta ladex

Ford, Edsel imerica Cup Races, kh

Ford, fleanor Clay, k, 55 Ford, Henry

America Cup R-.-.ces, 44 \viation, interest i a , 1, 17-1./, 53-55 Car design, ideas about, 6-7 Saeing, early participation l a , 2-7, 10

Ford Motor Company iv l i t ion, 1, 53-55 Ford airplane, 1901, 17-20

Engineering Research & Devclopia -nt Amor plate, 28-25

Production, 1¾ Model 1, 6-7

Fort Myer, 12 Fort Vayne, 19 Franco-Prussian V r , 10 Pulton, Garline* Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation, 26 Grosse Folate Driving Club, 2 Grosse Folate Race Track, 2 Hamilton, Edward, 13 Henry Disston & Sons, l a c , 28 Hickman See. Sled, M3 Rlspano-Suiza engine, 24 Hunsaker, Jerome C , 17, 26, 2-8, 3::, 41, U8-49 Internal combustion engine, development of, 1-2, 9, 13, k2 Jay, Webb, 3 "Jenny* airplane, 25 John D. Mabley's Haberdashery, 4 Johasoa, William, 52 Junkers, Hugo, 23, 36, 42-43, 45 Junkers JL-6, 44-4<i, 50-52 Kramer, Ifett, 3*4 KuLick, Frank, 7, 10 Larson, Mr. (airplane aanufacturer), 45 Lindbergh, Charles A., 53 Lipton, Thonns, Sir , 43 Loawis, Ann, 15 Loosais, Beth, 15 Massachusetts Institute of technology, 17

The Ifaaiaiscettces of Mr. firmer Farasvortb Index

Miller, Betty, 15 Miller, Sidney T., 15 Mineola Field, k$ Mtche.il, V.Illiaiit, 'J 5 Moffett, r-illlam H . , 48-i*9, 5¾ Must in, ii. C, -V8 Nav«.l A i r Station, Rockavay, 4 j-45 "999/ 2 Nangesser, Mr. (pilot), 53 Bands, William C., 29, 31-32 '"The Resolute, " kj Roosevelt, Franklin D., .?5~£6 Rudder Magazine, iu Ryan Aircraft Company, Ryan Engineering Company, 53 Schiff, Hubert, kk Schiff, Mortimer, kk Scripps, Villiam, 16 Scripps-Booth newspaper syndicate, 16 Sears, £Ieanora, IT Selfridge, Thomas 0 . , 12 Selfridge yield, 52 "Shamrock I," k$ ''Sialia," kk Smith, Frank, 52 Sopvit '"'Camel" airplane, 23 SPAD airplane, 2j-2k Springfield rifles, 28 Stapelton, Villiam, 7 State lair Grounds, 7-8, 10, lk Stinson, Edward, 50-51 Stinson, Jack, -+6 Stinson, Katheriae, ho Stiiison, Marjorie, U6 Stout, William B., 27-29, 31-32, 35-3% 39-¾!, k% Vf, k9

First airplane, 23-32, 35-36, 38-¾!, 3̂ Torpedo plane, 51-5«!

Stout Ali-Metal Airplane Company, 5̂ Sweeney, John, -̂5 United Alloy Steel Corporation, 28 United States Government, 31 Army, 25, 28, 1*2, 5~ army-Navy Technical Bourd, 26

-58-

#

the leaialscenees of .Mr. Grwer Farnawwtb

Index

United States Government Ariay Signal Corps, 9, 12 Bureau of Aeronautics, 49, cj2 Bureau of Construction and Repair -Aeronaut ics, 32, h& Bureau of Standards, 17-38 Snvy, 1, 25, -?7, 29, 35-39, *1, 48-49, 58, 5*

Van Auken, Charles, l8~20 Walker, Caldwell, 6-7 '-alker, Harrington, 6 Walker, Hiram, 6 vashington Ivening Star, 48 Widiaas, Charles, 37 "Widsaon, Frank, 5¾ Viuiaa.n, J. C , Company, 37, 52 \Inton, Alexander, 2 Vorld >ar I, 20-42 World ;>ar II, 29 Vright airplane, l l - l o '.••right brothers, 9

«59-