cruising. As in many other phases of commercial aviation, the Army Air Service has pointed the way in the forest patrol. During the summer of 1922 the forest patrol was jointly operated by the Army Air Service and the Forest Service over the timber region of Oregon, and also for a short period in California. The system employed was a radical departure from the organization of previous years. Formerly patrols were flown at regular intervals over certain designated routes between definitely established bases and sub-bases. In 1922 the planes were held at base subject to call from Forestry officials and were used at different times for scouting purposes during unusually hazardous fire periods. In the California district 22 flights were made. Ten of these were over Santa Barbara Forest, using Santa Barbara as a base. In the North Pacific district 125 flights were made during the season, Eugene being the main base with Medford, Roseburg and Portland (all in Oregon) as landing points. The total area observed was about 2,153,370 square miles; the total number of miles flown 36,121. Four hundred and fifty-eight fires were discovered, of which number it is estimated that approximately 114 fires were discovered first by airplane-and it must be remembered that planes were flown only on call. Ten airplanes were in commission. Millions of dollars worth of standing timber was saved, it is estimated, through prompt reporting and checking of conflagrations. It is an astounding fact that the United States Forest Air Patrol, which has been so effective that private timber corporations in the northwestern states and in Canada are installing their own air branches, is at the time of publication threatened with discontinuation. The flights are made jointly by the War Department and the Department of Agriculture. Although both departments have urged its development, the necessary appropriations have been withheld and the Air Service, curbed and checked in other ways in the use of its equipment, may be forced to abandon its good work. The obvious value of the air patrol to the lumberman is the saving of time and the advantage of dominating elevation. By an effective combination of aerial photography and personal observation, patrol is joined with cruising, transportation and many other services. A Curtiss "Oriole" from the Foster Russell field in Spokane, made one flight of 200 miles in about two hours and a half with a cruiser aboard, thereby satisfactorily performing work which would have required weeks on horse and afoot. In Canada the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Mills, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and Laurentide Air Service, Ltd., Montreal, have carried on extensive aerial activities. At the request of the former the Dayton Wright Company of Dayton, O., designed, constructed and operated two special forest patrol-photographic seaplanes. Laurentide Air Service, employing Curtiss and Loening land and water craft, and a British amphibian, during 1922, patrolled 11,175 square miles of territory for fires. Twelve thousand square miles of territory between Transcontinental Bay and Hudson Bay were mapped for the Ontario government. SPECIAL AND UNIQUE SERVICES PERFORMED Commercial aircraft again served newspapers. Many publications at first utilized planes for publicity. As this no longer was novel, in 1922 many patronized operators as they would a taxi company for the transportation of reporters and photographers or of the editions themselves. This required much night flying, particularly for the Chicago Tribune (which also has several planes of its own) and the Chicago Herald-Examiner. While not performed by commercial planes, certain achievements of the Army and Navy should be recorded here as indicating the scope of commercial activity. At the time of the Argonaut mine disaster in California, surgeons and supplies were flown to the scene by the Army. The Army also figured in rescue work in the Texas floods. Naval planes were utilized to salvage a wrecked ship off Hawaii and on one remarkable occasion a seaplane alighted near a burning fishing vessel, took aboard the five survivors who were clinging to wreckage and carried them ashore. A new activity in which comparatively little has as yet been done, but which promises much, is the dusting, with chemicals, of infected crop or orchard areas. Experiments in 1921 in Ohio proved that airplanes could do this work. The idea was further pursued in 1922 by the Department of Agriculture and definite progress was made in finding new ways to combat wheat rust and the boll weevil, so destructive to two of the major crops of the country. A curious contribution was the part played by a Naval seaplane in facilitating mollusk research in Florida waters by the Smithsonian Institution. Writing to the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, officials of the institution said new possibilities in scientific study of marine life were thus opened up. The Alabama Power Co., upon whose long distance hydro-electric service great areas in the South depend, was confronted in the winter of 1922 with an alarming situation due to a sleet storm. The high tension wires were broken in many places. To have inspected the lines on foot would have meant days' delay. By using an airplane, flying low, officials found the breaks, rushed out repair gangs and by night the entire system was functioning. In the field of advertising aircraft made much progress due principally to the utilization of the aerial photograph and to the introduction into this country of the British method of "sky-writing," horizontal flying at sufficient height, the plane discharging smoke which, according to the state of the atmosphere and the skill of the pilot, left in the sky words and slogans of commercial significance. Demonstrations in many of the larger cities have proven that this novelty is profitable to advertiser and flier. With the extension of night-flying pyrotechnic possibilities promise interesting developments. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY During 1922 aerial photography developed into one of the most important and immediately profitable branches of aviation. The acceptance of the aerial photograph as an aid to industry, engineering and advertising, has been due largely to the efforts of several of the larger aerial photographic organizations, among which are the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corp., General Photographic Service and Hamilton Maxwell, Inc., of New York; the Eastman Kodak Co., of Rochester, N. Y.; National Aircraft of Washington, D. C.; Great Lakes Aerial Photographic Co., of Cleveland, O.; Pioneer Engineering Co., of Los Angeles, Cal., and Fairchild Aerial Surveys Co. (Canada), Ltd., of Grande Mere, Quebec. In addition to these, Aeromarine Airways, the Curtiss Exhibition Corp., Curtiss-Northwest Airplane Co., Foster Russell and others have carried on aerial photographic work. Aerial photography is divided into three classes-oblique or perspective; mosaic or survey, made up of vertical views, and the small scale plan map. Each class serves a distinct public need. Of the corporations engaged exclusively in aerial photography, the Fairchild companies have been the most active. During 1922 their machines flew about 200 hours, operations being conducted in many parts of the country. Fairchild has developed many new uses for the aerial photograph. Among these are the following: A company was formed for the organization of a new golf club, appealing to wealthy residents in and near New York City. To obtain the right kind of charter members complete visualization was necessary. Oblique views from the air provided the answer. In another instance, an engineering company, supervising a contract for clients 3,000 miles. distant, were able, by means of oblique photographs, to illustrate progress on a vast jettie development. In yet another instance, where property rights were involved, the claimant was able to show to the court and jury the effect of the sea on his land and thereby establish the injury suffered because of inadequate shore protection by the Government. Many instances have arisen of industrial plants reproducing aerial photographs as a part of institutional advertisingillustrating the character and stability of the organization. USE IN MUNICIPAL SURVEYS Intense interest by City Planning Commissions is reported by Fairchild. Both oblique and vertical types are utilized. The oblique view has been employed in zoning work problems, both as to correction of past errors and prevention of future ones. One of the first municipalities to adopt the aerial photographic map as a part of the fundamental city plan equipment was Kansas City, Mo., covering an area of more than sixty square miles, with differences in elevation amounting to 600 feet. Fairchild constructed a map consisting of 760 different photographs in ninety days from the time the contract was awarded. The scale of the map was 600 feet to one inch. This map has been carefully gone over by members of the commission and other officials and is regarded as invaluable. The city engineer said of it: "The entire map scales as closely as the usual city map prepared on the drafting table and sets forth the city as it is more clearly than any other kind of map possibly could." A significant development in this branch of aviation was the adoption of the photographic map by such power companies as the Public Service Electric Company of New Jersey and the Alabama Power Co. of Birmingham, Ala. The especial application of the air map has been to the laying out and purchasing of rights of ways, which has long been a difficult and expensive problem, entailing destruction of surface property and sometimes such speculation in ground values as to imperil the whole project. When the Public Service Company first considered air photography, they asked: "How can we find the actual property line?" This question was answered by Fairchild engineers who, by studying the actual public records, superimposed on the air map in bright inks the outlines of each land parcel, together with a key to the ownership. The large timber companies of Canada have long been seeking a speedier and more economical method of cruising timber. Experiments carried on by the Laurentide Company led to great extension and in 1922 the Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Ltd., of Canada, was formed to take over the photographic work. More than 3,000 square miles have been surveyed from the air and timber estimates furnished |