The Aviator and the Weather BureauCarpenter, Ford A. (Ford Ashman)
History
The Aviator and the Weather Bureau
Carpenter, Ford A. (Ford Ashman)
Aeronautics; Meteorology in aeronautics
_Early Studies in Aëronautics._--Unofficially, however, the coöperation
extended back some fifteen years prior to that time, when the writer
was in charge of the local office of the Weather Bureau at San Diego,
and assisted the aëronautical engineer, Octave Chanute, in his
observations and experiments on San Diego Bay.[G] At this time hundreds
of photographs of sea-gulls, pelicans, and other soaring birds were
made, and both birds and photographs studied and analyzed. Ever since
then more or less interest has been taken by the writer in aërial
navigation. During an assignment to the Central Office the work of
the Wright brothers was observed and studied. The association with
the late Octave Chanute and his friends, the Wrights, during their
experimental flights at Fort Meyer, Virginia, in September, 1908, is
counted among the many pleasant memories of the Washington visit. It
was here that was witnessed the first flight with a passenger (see Fig.
4), Mr. Orville Wright taking up with him Major (now Colonel) George O.
Squier, the present head of the aviation branch of the army. Such was
the infancy of the flying-machine that at that date no fatalities had
occurred. A few years later the writer had the pleasure of accompanying
Mr. Glenn Curtiss while he was determining a site for his school, which
was finally located on North Island. (See Fig. 6.) Shortly afterward,
from this place, Harry Harkness made record amateur cross-country
flights in an Antoinette monoplane.
[G] “Climate and Weather of San Diego,” Carpenter, 1913, 57–59,
San Diego.
_Active Work of the Weather Bureau._--During the score of years that
the writer has been in charge of the San Diego and Los Angeles stations
of the Weather Bureau, interest in flying has been cumulative. Efforts
have been made to furnish aviators with available data so that at the
present time a day seldom passes without conference With officials or
students of Government or private flying schools in this vicinity.
_Lectures on Meteorology as Applied to Aviation._--Through the War
Department, October, 1915, on request of the commanding officer of the
Signal Corps aviation school, at San Diego, the writer was directed by
the Chief of the Weather Bureau to deliver two lectures of which the
following are outlines:
“_What the Weather Bureau Offers the Aviator_”
(Illustrated by 37 lantern-slides from photographs by the author)
Introductory:
Weather service once part of the Signal Corps, U.S.A.
Transfer in 1891 to the Department of Agriculture.
Distribution of weather stations in the United States:
Character of data obtainable:
Advance data from the daily map such as
Position of high and low areas.
Weather conditions from sub-stations in vicinity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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