CATAPULTED FROM WARSHIP

Evening Star, Issue 19020, 15 August 1925, Page 3

CATAPULTED FROM WARSHIP

A PRESSMAN'S EXPERIENCE AIR CRUISE IN THE GALLOPING GOOSE. An Auckland ‘Star’ reporter was permitted to take part in tho aerial display on Tuesday. Proceeding out on the Harbor Board’s Waitemata with Captain Sargeant and the other pilots he boarded the United States Mississippi by means of a rope ladder. Once on board ho was mot by Lieutenant R. M. Signor, and conducted to the bridge, where Captain T. C. Hart extended a. warm welcome. Whistles blow, signals were hoisted, and the next minute tho drone of the M 0 monoplane seaplane could be heard as tho 350 h.p._ Curtiss engine was being warmed up in readiness for the flight. After the writer had been taken below to the ship’s office, where he was asked to sign a document which absolved tho United States navy and the Government from all liability in the event of an accident, ho was escorted through lines of smiling sailors to the top barbette, 50ft above the quarterdeck. The monoplane, tho largest in tlib American navy, rested on its catapult cradle. “ I guess you’d better don this parachute,” said" the pilot, Lieutenant Signer, and with his assistance and that of another nnvn[ officer the very weighty safety device was strapped on the reporter. Then the pilot and the mechanic adjusted their parachute gear, and all was ready lor the flight. “THEN JUMP.” Tho next move was to crawl along under the catapult device, and under the whirring propeller, which was “revving” at 2,000, and enter the ‘ Galloping Goose.’ for that is tho name by which the big seaplane is known by those of the fleet. Entrance was gained through a door, the pilot sitting well up in front, the mechanic next and the writer well back In the tail in tho gunner’s cockpit. Slowing the engine down for a few seconds, Lieutenant Signor gave the writer a. few nstrnctions. “ Now, if anything should happen, just you pull that oord,_ which will open tho parachute. Then jump, he said. After this cheerful advice tho writer was strapped into his seat to await tho signal for the release of tho seaplane from its platform high up on top of the big 16in guns. _ A minute later the pilot raised Ins right hand. This was the signal for the gunnery crow just below the catapult platform. Immediately afterwards an explosion followed, and the was m tho air 100 ft out from the Mississippi. The sensation of being catapulted from tho gun turret was not as unpleasant as one might imagine. It seemed as though somebody had given you a particularly violent push in the small of tho back. A minute later the seaplane was high above the Mississippi. It would be hard to imagine anything that could exceed.the beauty presented from the air by Auckland and the contiguous coastline, the beautiful Waitemata, glistening like a diamond, with tho mighty ships of the American battle fleet below, brom the docks of the war vessels tiny figures waved to greet the seaplane’s occupants. The fleet looked like a long line of tractors, trekking slowly over a desert of blue. The scene below \Mis a beautiful one. ' Fringed by tlio blue Pacific, the picturesque coast could be seen for hundreds of miles, while the West Coast was clearly visible to the south. As we headed for the leading vessel, the flagship California, we gained a considerable height. Having feasted our eyes on the glories of the North Shore suburbs and the hundreds of small vessels which were circumnavigating the vessels of the fleet as they moved up towards North Head, the pilot steered a course over tho city, and zoomed down to within a few feet of the Perry Buildings. The crowded foreshore, tlio wharves, tho ferry boats, and craft of all descriptions, made a ■■never-to-be-forgotten picture, _ and the harbor, with its numerous little hays and red-tiled houses, running down to the water’s edge, presented a veritable fairy scene. Passing tho flagship of the squadron, we dipped ns a salute; then we cruised over the Philomel,_ and also saluted the old vessel. Still higher we went until we reached an altitude of 6,000 ft. ONLY ONE Off ITS KIND.

looking down again to the fleet the eight battleships were still moving along slowly towards their moorings; Then the anchors were dropped, and all camo to rest in the harbor. Pretty pictures they made against the city on one side and tho green hills of Orakei on the other.

Other seaplanes joined us, and for quite a long time afterwards we flew about, occasionally coming down in spiral volplanes to within a few feet of tho masts of the vessels, then ascending again to proceed to the outlying marine suburbs to announce ( that the United States navy, or part of it, had arrived in Auckland.

The “ Galloping Goose,” which flew perfectly throughout the long cruise, came down on the harbor very gracefully, and was secured by a party of sailors, who towed her back to the Mississippi, After his “bus ’’ had been safely moored, Lieutenant Signer went to great pains to describe thesoanlane ana catapult gear to the writer. The “ Galloping Goose ” is a fiveseater aeroplane with a high-powered Curtiss twelve-cylinder which gives it a speed of well over 100 milos per hour. Lieutenant Signer stated that the Mississippi is the only ship in the world to be fitted with the explosive catapult contrivance. It was placed on the Mississippi for the world cruise as an experiment- Most other catapults for discharging aeroplanes from the decks of vessels are worked by hydraulic pressure. But the catapult on the Mississippi is discharged _ by_ a full charge from a sin gun, which is placed just below the car, or plunger and recoil cylinder, filled with glycerine and water. On this the seaplane rests. The charge is fired from a regular Sin gun chamber, to which is attached the plunger. A safety device is fitted in case the charge misfires. Lieutenant Signer explained that so grgat is the charge that the seaplane is given a launching speed ef fifty-five miles an hour. From zero the seaplane attains just on sixty miles an hour at the point of hopping off. , It was a gracious act on the part of Admiral Robison to select the br#t seaplane in the fleet for the ‘Star’ representative’s flight over the fleet yesterday. The writer subsequently was informed that he was the first civilian to enjoy the unusual experience of being “ shot up ” from this explosive catapult.