FOUR MILES IN THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16621, 18 August 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOUR MILES IN THE AIR.

THE USES OF OXYGEN.

FAMOUS FLYING MAN'S EXPERIENCES.

"I am more and more convinced that if we find it necessary to keep up an enormous navy, say a two-power standard, to protect our island, it will be essential tj maintain at least the same standard in the air," said Captain B. C. Hucks in a lecture on " A Further Three Years' Flying Experience," before the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain.

"It may not generally be known," said Captain Hucks, discussing accidents, '• that there have been a large number of fatal accidents during the last three years entirely due to flying through clouds. In some cases pilots emerge from the clouds in a spin, others are known in which the planes have collapsed under the strain of the sudden pull-up from the vertical nose-dive. Recently a squadron commander told me that on one occasion when in France everything loose in his machine fell out while in a cloud. Just recently, on the south coast, a machine disintegrated in a cloud, and the main planes landed half a mile from the fusel'age. From my own experience, this is a very unpleasant state of affairs, and in consequence I avoid clouds when possiole- " The most marked development in the modern machine is its extraordinary capacity for climbing to a great height in a short time. At the beginning of the war the average height tlown on active service was 4000 to 5000 feet, simply because few of the machines then in use with the impedimenta carried could get much higher To-day a height of 20,000 feet is, 1 believe, on certain occasions reached, and it is fairly certain that if (progress continues at its present rate heights a great deal beyond this figure will be reached as a usual thing. These great altitudes hrin forward many difficulties which will have to be seriously considered. Comfortable At 21,000 Feet. " The first trouble in the winter will be the extreme cold to which the occupants will be subjected unless they are protected by special cowling, which will i gather in the warmth given off from the j engine. This, to a certain extent, is the j natural advantage obtained in the tractor, I the question of the difference in the com- | fort of machines in this respect wias shown : to me in a very marked manner last win- ! ter. I was testing the fall-off of engine | power at a height on a tractor twoJ seater, in which it was specially arranged ! ;>..it the warm air from the radiator and | engine passed along the fuselage to the | pilot and then to the passenger, and although at a height of over 21,000 feet, with the thermometer below, freezing at ground level, I did not suffer in the least from the cold, neither did my passenger, who sat behind, complain until i we shut off to descend.

" As a contrast to this, a few days later I was on a single-seater scout at an altitude of 17,000 feet, and although it was a tractor with a rotary motor, I suffered intensely from the cold, and became so numbed that my vitality must have been something akin to a dormouse under the snow, and in spite of being well-gloved, I had frost-bitten fingertips, which pained for many days afterwards. " 1 know from my experience when flying in France in the cold weather that the great discomfort owing to the extreme cold became intense when flying only at 6000 feet on a two or three hours' reconnaisance flight. This is a point to which designers should give attention. Oxygen As a Thirst Raiser. " I have found the effect of high— i.e., rarefied—air to be felt slightly at about 10,000 feet, increasing with the altitude. Breathing becomes affected, respiration shorter and quicker; there is a-curious oppressive sensation and a bulging feeling in the head until the height of about 20,000 feet is reached. lam told by a medical friend who has made rather a study of the subject that there is always a risk of a sudden collapse, and oxygen should be used whether the aviator feels fit or not. Of course, the effect varies considerably with individuals and with the state of one's health.

After reaching 20,000 feet I find it is only necessary to use the oxygen intermittently, and accordingly, I simply hold the mask, after turning on the gas, over the mouth and nose, and take a few breaths of it, perhaps every half-min-ute. The effect to me is remarkable; most of the oppressive feeling vanishes, and, excepting for the unpleasant bulging feeling of the head which you experience with a bad gold, the sensation is one of suddenly being again at ground level. The only after-effects upon landing from these high altitudes are that you seem to acquire a pretty good thirst, due, I suppose, to the use of oxygen."