PERILS OF SPEED

Evening Star, Issue 20052, 18 December 1928, Page 14

PERILS OF SPEED

WHAT CAM MAN STAND ? New record-breaking air flights are being prepared for nil over the world, and at the same time, we learn, medical specialists in various countries are studying the effect upon the human body of extremely high air speeds, and also of the strain imposed by rapid manoeuvring in aeroplanes and by the attainment of great heights. Many years ago, wo are reminded by Harry Harper, in the London ‘ Daily Mail,’ some doctors declared that anyone daring to travel at sixty miles an hour would bo risking heart failure, but now, it is pointed out, men are flying at mere than five miles a minute. Secret aeroplanes, equipped with “ hushhush ” devices, and piloted by airmen wearing altitude suits which make them look like deep-sea divers, are now being made ready to rush miles above the earth to heights hitherto unattainable, it is related, and technicians are discussing now wonder craft, with tiny wings and huge engines, which are intended to devour distance at 420 miles an hour, or seven miles a minute. This informant continues: _ “The flying machine, in its speed and power, is progressing by giant strides. But what of the man who controls it during its msteor-like rushes through the air? How far can ho adapt himself? What is the greatest strain ho can stand? Even men of superb physique confess that the nerve strain of high-speed flying is tremendous. One crack air racer has told of the sensation which overcame _ him soon after he had soared aloft in a great contest. Just for a moment he felt unequal to the task of guiding and controlling that roaring, tearing, terrible machine. But almost as soon as tins shrinking of the flesh had come, brain and nerve had triumphed over it. Man —so small, so weak, and yet so strong—was master again of the machine. “It is remarkable how the human senses may become accustomed to speed. If it were possible to take an early cave man, place him in a motor car, and take him for a rapid drive, he would be in a state of painful agitation. The speed',we have become accustomed to would he a terrible ordeal for him. It is all a matter of habit. From the leisurely days of the stage coach we have passed to the rushing roar of the express train. “Ajad now, when in haste, w© are abandoning the railway _ in favour of tho airway. An irresistible desire for speed ami still more speed seems ingrained in the human consciousness. “But what of the medical aspect? The answer of science is that he can, always assuming that one is dealing with a man of superb physique and perfect nerve. No limit is yet in sight to the physical endurance of a speciallytrained speed or altitude pilot, granted that the former is placed in a suitable wind-shielded cockpit and the fatter is protected against the cold and . has an adequate supply of oxygen.” But one limiting point, w© are told, seems indicated as a result of medical inquiries, and it concerns making rapid turns in any tremendously fast aeroplane. Centrifugal r orco may ir •such a case, it is declared, act mosf powerfully upon the human _ body, drawing the blood- from the brain anc producing in extreme cases a temporary jmconscion ■■ v •