One Pilot Can Fly Two Planes by Transmitting to Robot

Item

Robot planes flown by radio signals transmitted from a companion plane or from a truck are undergoing army tests at Selfridge Field, Mich. Theoretically the pilot of one army plane could actually fly two planes at once. In the current experiments, however, a pilot rides in the robot plane ready to flip a switch and take over manual control in an emergency. Remote control has proved feasible so long as the robot is in sight of the operator. The airplanes being used were originally two-place ships, now converted into single seaters and carrying the intricate radio-receiving apparatus in the fuselage behind the pilot’s cockpit. Tricycle landing gear has been added to simplify takeoffs and landings. The control pilot uses a wheel resembling that of a transport plane, which he manipulates as in normal flight to operate the controls of the robot plane. Coordination of the aileron and rudder controls into a single unit, which is directed by the wheel instead of foot pedals, limits maneuverability so most acrobatic stunts become impossible.

Title (Dublin Core): One Pilot Can Fly Two Planes by Transmitting to Robot
Subject (Dublin Core): en Technology; en Airplanes and Zeppelins
Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core): One Pilot Can Fly Two Planes by Transmitting to Robot
Language (Dublin Core): eng
Temporal Coverage (Dublin Core): World War II
Date Issued (Dublin Core): 1941-04
Is Part Of (Dublin Core): Popular Mechanics, vol. 75, n. 4, 1941
pages (Bibliographic Ontology): 486
Rights (Dublin Core): Public domain
Source (Dublin Core): Google books
References (Dublin Core): Selfridge Air National Guard Base; Michigan
Archived by (Dublin Core): Enrico Saonara; Marco Bortolami (editor)
Spatial Coverage (Dublin Core): United States of America

Item sets: Wars of Wonders; checked

Media: One Pilot Can Fly Two Planes by Transmitting to Robot