CO

At the beginning of the 17th lap of the Thompson Trophy Race at Chicago last year Capt. Arthur H. Page, U. S. M.C., led the field by nearly a full lap in his swift Curtiss-Hawk. Then, without warning, the ship dove out of line at 200 m. p. h., crashed its pilot to death. No satisfactory explanation of the tragedy was ever reached; but many onlookers, including David S. Ingalls, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics, suspected carbon monoxide. The same hazard--odorless, colorless CO gas from the engine exhaust, soaking into the pilot's blood until lack of oxygen overcomes his senses--may have caused many another unexplained crash. Secretary Ingalls soon put in motion a thorough study of the hazard by the Bureau of Medicine & Surgery and the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics.

In his annual report last week Rear Admiral Charles E. Riggs, surgeon general of the Navy, pointed with pride to practical elimination of the CO peril in Navy flying as the year's outstanding achievement of his department. Twenty-five pilots and researchers conducted the tests at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory at Anacostaia, D. C., the pilots taking up all types of ships used by the Navy under all kinds of conditions, bringing down samples of air from cockpit & cabin, giving samples of their own blood for analysis after each flight.

It was found, as expected, that cabin planes were free of the CO menace, as exhaust gas cannot enter the cabin in quantities. Worst offenders were observation and bombing planes, both open cockpit types. Two observation pilots showed an absorption of 15% CO in the blood. A pilot and observer in a bombing plane showed 10% absorption. Such amounts of the gas, if not retained too long, might cause nothing serious; but frequent subjection over long periods of time might sap the pilot's strength and alertness. Exhaust stacks were redesigned to lead the gases down and away from the cockpit. Thereafter all CO tests within the plane were negative.

For further precaution a CO meter to register presence of the gas as low as .02% was perfected by the Navy and Mine Safety Appliances Co. The device may be installed on the instrument board of any plane. A special type, with an auto-matic alarm, was designed for the U. S. S. Akron.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.