Stout Metal Airplane
Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and produced the Ford Trimotor. At the height of the Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production division in 1936, temporarily re-entering the aviation market with the production of the B-24, at the Willow Run aircraft factory during World War II. In 1909 Henry Ford lent three factory workers to his 15-year-old son Edsel, Edsel's friend Charles Van Auken, to build a monoplane with a Model T engine; the Blériot XI inspired plane featured wing warping controls and a radiator perpendicular to the wind. The plane did not fly well in multiple test flights from the Fort Wayne parade grounds − the final flight ended in a tree − and the project was put aside. In World War I Ford went into the aircraft motor business with production of the Packard-designed Liberty engine for the military.
Ford completed 3,950 Liberty engines. The newly formed Lincoln was bought by Ford in 1922. William Stout was appointed to the board of the Aircraft Production Board in 1917; the board awarded Stout with a contract to build a blended wing fuselage aircraft, the Stout Batwing, intended for the US Army air service. One example was abandoned. In 1919 Stout formed Stout Engineering Laboratories. With money from the Champion Spark Plug corporation, Stout built the three-passenger Batwing Limousine in 1920; this was re-skinned and had structural components replaced with duraluminum. Stout gave speeches across the country touting. Soon after, Stout received a US Navy contract for three Stout ST-1 aircraft; the ST-1 was a all-metal torpedo bomber. Its test pilot was a record setting pilot, Eddie Stinson, who moved to Detroit with his own all-metal Junkers-Larsen JL-6 mailplane. A 1922 crash of the prototype canceled the contract; this led to an innovative form of financing for a new venture. He began a letter campaign requesting $1,000 from over 100 prominent businessmen.
He got $128,000, including support from Henry and Edsel Ford. This started the Stout Metal Airplane company. After taking over the company, the less-than-successful performance of the Stout 3-AT, Ford reassigned Stout to speaking engagements and promotional tours. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took the Spirit of St. Louis to Mexico on a promotional tour following its non-stop flight over the Atlantic. Stout arranged with Henry and Edsel Ford to fly Lindbergh's mother to Mexico City to join her son for Christmas and to gain publicity for the new Ford aircraft. In addition to Mrs. Lindbergh, his wife, other Ford executives and two pilots went on the trip; the Ford Tri-motor they flew, NC-1077, is today in Greg Herrick's Golden Wings Flying Museum near Minneapolis and is the oldest flying metal aircraft in the world. William Stout left the Metal Airplane division in 1930, he continued to operate the Stout Engineering Laboratory, producing the Stout Skycar aircraft series and the Stout Scarab car. In 1954, Stout purchased the rights to the Ford Trimotor in an attempt to produce new examples.
A new company formed from this effort brought back two modern examples of the trimotor aircraft, the Stout Bushmaster 2000. Stout was to say, "The greatest single thing I accomplished for aviation was to get Mr. Ford interested in it." Edsel Ford became a stockholder in Stout's operations in 1922 at the age of 28. He became the president of the division in 1925. Edsel sponsored many aviation events from Ford Airport, cross-marketing his interests in airlines and aircraft production; the Ford National Reliability Air Tour gathered manufactures from around the world to compete in order to promote aviation. In 1926, he sponsored Admiral Byrd's flight to the North Pole in a Fokker F. VII named the Josephine Ford. In 1928, he sponsored his trip to the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor named the Floyd Bennett; the similarity of design between the Fokker trimotor and the Ford Trimotor was a source of contention between designers Stout and Anthony Fokker. In 1924 Ford and Stout negotiated the building of Ford Airport in Michigan.
A factory that would house Stout Metal Airplane production would be built if Stout could convince all 128 of the initial investors in his company to sell out to Ford. This was accomplished at a cost of $500,000 to Ford, the Stout Metal Airplane Company became an official division of Ford Motor Company on July 1, 1925. Ford Then invested an additional $2,000,000 in the venture; the airport site chosen was 260 acres on Dearborn's Oakwood Boulevard. Ford Airport featured an airship mooring station and hangar to test the Ford-sponsored ZMC-2 metal-hulled airship; the Model 3-AT trimotor was promoted by Henry Ford as the airplane of the future. Test flights proved otherwise, with the underpowered aircraft able to maintain altitude. After witnessing the tests, Henry Ford left disgusted, shortly afterward reassigned Stout away from engineering. On January 16, 1926 Hicks asked Tom Towle to bring all drawings of the 3-AT to the Ford Engineering Laboratory. At about 6am the next morning, a fire destroyed the Stout factory and all aircraft in it, including 13 new Wright Whirlwind engines, several 2-AT Pullmans and the Stout 3-AT Prototype.
Damages were claimed to be $500,000 in 1926 dollars. Tom Towle was placed in charge of engineering, hired MIT graduate Otto C. Koppen, John Lee, James Smith McDonnell. Together they refined the 3-AT into what is now recognizable as the Ford Trimotor. Ford visited and encouraged Stout that this was an opportunity to build an better facility; the new factory had two buildi
Pima County, Arizona
Pima County is a county in the south central region of the U. S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, the population was 980,263; the county seat is Tucson. The county is named after the Pima Native Americans. Pima County includes Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pima County contains parts of the Tohono O'odham Nation, as well as all of the San Xavier Indian Reservation, the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ironwood Forest National Monument and Saguaro National Park; the vast majority of the county population lies in and around the city of Tucson, filling much of the eastern part of the county with urban development. Tucson, Arizona's second largest city, is a major academic center. Other urban areas include the Tucson suburbs of Oro Valley, Marana and South Tucson, a large ring of unincorporated urban development, the growing satellite town Green Valley; the rest of the county is sparsely populated. Pima County, one of the four original counties in Arizona, was created by the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature with land acquired through the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in 1853.
The original county consisted of all of Arizona Territory east of longitude 113° 20' and south of the Gila River. Soon thereafter, the counties of Cochise and Santa Cruz were carved from the original Pima County. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 9,189 square miles, of which 9,187 square miles is land and 2.1 square miles is water. Mountains of Pima County Fresnal Canyon Interstate 10 Interstate 19 State Route 77 State Route 83 State Route 85 State Route 86 State Route 210 State Route 989 Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge Coronado National Forest Ironwood Forest National Monument Las Cienegas National Conservation Area Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Saguaro National Park The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan is Pima County’s plan for desert conservation; as of the 2000 census, there were 843,746 people, 332,350 households, 212,039 families residing in the county. The population density was 92 people per square mile.
There were 366,737 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 75.07% White, 3.03% Black or African American, 3.22% Native American, 2.04% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 13.30% from other races, 3.21% from two or more races. 29.34% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 22.80% reported speaking Spanish at home. There were 332,350 households out of which 29.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.70% were married couples living together, 11.80% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.20% were non-families. 28.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.40% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.06. In the county, the population was spread out with 24.60% under the age of 18, 10.90% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, 14.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years.
For every 100 females there were 95.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $36,758, the median income for a family was $44,446. Males had a median income of $32,156 versus $24,959 for females; the per capita income for the county was $19,785. About 10.50% of families and 14.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.40% of those under age 18 and 8.20% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 census, there were 980,263 people, 388,660 households, 243,167 families residing in the county; the population density was 106.7 inhabitants per square mile. There were 440,909 housing units at an average density of 48.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 74.3% white, 3.5% black or African American, 3.3% American Indian, 2.6% Asian, 0.2% Pacific islander, 12.3% from other races, 3.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 34.6% of the population. The largest ancestry groups were: Of the 388,660 households, 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.5% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.4% were non-families, 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals.
The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.06. The median age was 37.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $45,521 and the median income for a family was $57,377. Males had a median income of $42,313 versus $33,487 for females; the per capita income for the county was $25,093. About 11.2% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over. The United States Office of Management and Budget has designated Pima County as the Tucson, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area; the United States Census Bureau ranked the Tucson, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area as the 53rd most populous metropolitan statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012. The Office of Management and Budget has further designated the Tucson, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area as a component of the more extensive Tucson-Nogales, AZ Combined St
Conventional landing gear
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail. The term taildragger is used, although some claim it should apply only to those aircraft with a tailskid rather than a wheel; the term "conventional" persists for historical reasons, but all modern jet aircraft and most modern propeller aircraft use tricycle gear. In early aircraft, a tailskid made of metal or wood was used to support the tail on the ground. In most modern aircraft with conventional landing gear, a small articulated wheel assembly is attached to the rearmost part of the airframe in place of the skid; this wheel may be steered by the pilot through a connection to the rudder pedals, allowing the rudder and tailwheel to move together. Before aircraft used tailwheels, many aircraft were equipped with steerable tailskids, which operate similar to a tailwheel; when the pilot pressed the right rudder pedal — or the right footrest of a "rudder bar" in World War I — the skid pivoted to the right, creating more drag on that side of the plane and causing it to turn to the right.
While less effective than a steerable wheel, it gave the pilot some control of the direction the craft was moving while taxiing or beginning the takeoff run, before there was enough airflow over the rudder for it to become effective. Another form of control, less common now than it once was, is to steer using "differential braking", in which the tailwheel is a simple castering mechanism, the aircraft is steered by applying brakes to one of the mainwheels in order to turn in that direction; this is used on some tricycle gear aircraft, with the nosewheel being the castering wheel instead. Like the steerable tailwheel/skid, it is integrated with the rudder pedals on the craft to allow an easy transition between wheeled and aerodynamic control; the tailwheel configuration offers several advantages over the tricycle landing gear arrangement, which make tailwheel aircraft less expensive to manufacture and maintain. Due to its position much further from the center of gravity, a tailwheel supports a smaller part of the aircraft's weight allowing it to be made much smaller and lighter than a nosewheel.
As a result, the smaller wheel causes less parasitic drag. Because of the way airframe loads are distributed while operating on rough ground, tailwheel aircraft are better able to sustain this type of use over a long period of time, without cumulative airframe damage occurring. If a tailwheel fails on landing, the damage to the aircraft will be minimal; this is not the case in the event of a nosewheel failure, which results in a prop strike. Due to the increased propeller clearance on tailwheel aircraft less stone chip damage will result from operating a conventional geared aircraft on rough or gravel airstrips, making them well suited to bush flying. Tailwheel aircraft are more suitable for operation on skis. Tailwheel aircraft are easier to maneuver inside some hangars; the conventional landing gear arrangement has disadvantages compared to nosewheel aircraft. Tailwheel aircraft are more subject to "nose-over" accidents due to injudicious application of brakes by the pilot. Conventional geared aircraft are much more susceptible to ground looping.
A ground loop occurs when directional control is lost on the ground and the tail of the aircraft passes the nose, swapping ends, in some cases completing a full circle. This event can result in damage to the aircraft's undercarriage, wingtips and engine. Ground-looping occurs because, whereas a nosewheel aircraft is steered from ahead of the center of gravity, a taildragger is steered from behind, so that on the ground a taildragger is inherently unstable, whereas a nosewheel aircraft will self-center if it swerves on landing. In addition, some tailwheel aircraft must transition from using the rudder to steer to using the tailwheel while passing through a speed range when neither is wholly effective due to the nose high angle of the aircraft and lack of airflow over the rudder. Avoiding ground loops requires more pilot skill. Tailwheel aircraft suffer from poorer forward visibility on the ground, compared to nose wheel aircraft; this requires continuous "S" turns on the ground to allow the pilot to see where they are taxiing.
Tailwheel aircraft are more difficult to taxi during high wind conditions, due to the higher angle of attack on the wings which can develop more lift on one side, making control difficult or impossible. They suffer from lower crosswind capability and in some wind conditions may be unable to use crosswind runways or single-runway airports. Due to the nose-high attitude on the ground, propeller-powered taildraggers are more adversely affected by P-factor – asymmetrical thrust caused by the propeller's disk being angled to the direction of travel, which causes the blades to produce more lift when going down than when going up due to the difference in angle the blade experiences when passing through the air; the aircraft will pull to the side of the upward blade. Some aircraft lack sufficient rudder authority in some flight regimes and the pilot must compensate before the aircraft starts to yaw; some aircraft older, higher powered aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang, cannot use full power on takeoff and still safely control their direction of travel.
On landing this is less of a factor, however opening the throttle to abort a landing can induce severe uncontrollable yaw unless the pilot is prepared for it. Jet aircraft gene
Lynn Garrison
Lynn Garrison is a Canadian pilot and political adviser. He was a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot in the 403 City of Calgary Squadron, before holding jobs as a commercial pilot, film producer and mercenary, he became a political adviser in Haiti, is now an author. With regard to flying, Garrison is known for his oft-repeated comment, "If it has fuel and noise, I can fly it." Throughout the Second World War, Garrison's family hosted student pilots from the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during their fortnightly leave. Contact with these pilots stimulated young Lynn's interest and by the age of four, he had decided he would be a pilot. During April, 1946 his parents purchased a ride for him in an ex-RCAF Cessna AT-17 operated by Kepler Aviation, at Calgary International Airport. At the age of 17, Garrison joined the RCAF and trained at the RCAF Officer Selection Unit and Course 5411, 4 Flying Training School. During October, 1954, the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor was introduced to RCAF service in a quest to find a replacement for the Harvard.
Courses 5409 and 5411, at Penhold, were chosen as the test classes for the type. It was decided that the T-34 was too easy to fly and was dropped from the RCAF in February, 1955. A total of 48 students participated including Garrison. After completing the course on Harvards he advanced to 2 Advanced Flying School for jet aircraft training. Garrison received his wings on 6 April 1955 making him the youngest "winged pilot" in the RCAF since World War II, a record that still remains. Garrison's wings were presented by Wing Commander Joe McCarthy DSO, DFC, CD, a second world war veteran, famous for attacking the Sorpe dam on the Dambuster's raid. After completing additional training in the F-86 at RCAF Station Macdonald, Garrison returned to 403 City of Calgary Squadron, where he served for 10 years from 1954 until 1964. On April 1, 1958, Garrison piloted the last Canadian military flight of the Hawker Sea Fury; the specific aircraft was WG565, now displayed in Calgary. During April, 1958, RCAF Mustang 9281, 44-73973, was retired from service.
Most of its RCAF markings removed leaving only the squadron crest. June, 1959 saw Garrison involved with coordination of an air show at Calgary, he repainted 9281 for display. Instead of restoring the maple leaf Roundel Garrison took the lid of a large jam tin and made a red circle for the center. Since photographs of this specific paint job have been used as proof the RCAF used RAF Roundels as late as 1959; the American Aviation Historical Society published an article, with various markings for Mustangs over their years of RCAF service. 9281 with its jam can Roundel was illustrated there. On July 4, 1964, Garrison captained the last RCAF flight of the Avro Lancaster with Flight Lieutenant Ralph Langemann as co-pilot. Specially authorized by Minister of National Defence, Paul Hellyer, the flight was made more difficult by the fact that Garrison had never flown a Lancaster and had broken his ankle the previous day. Hellyer and Air Commodore John Emilius Fauquier DSO, DFC and Bar visited Calgary to witness the flight.
In his classic, Fighter Command Air Combat Claims, 1939–45, John Foreman commented on the question of pilot temperament and ability. Foreman observed that Garrison had once remarked, "In every squadron there were four or five pilots who exuded confidence, they knew. The rest knew sub-consciously, that they would make up the numbers, mill about, get shot at". In 1960, Garrison obtained a contract to ferry 75 P-51 Mustang aircraft, retired from RCAF service, to their new owners in New York. Milt Harradence, took time off from his law practice to accompany Garrison on the trips. Flying without radios for much of the time, they navigated by following the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks eastward. Harradence and Garrison acquired two Mustangs as part of their compensation and registered them RCAF 9221 44-74435"CF-LOR" and RCAF 9223 44-74446 "CF-LOQ". In 1962, Garrison served with 115 Air Transport Unit of the United Nations Emergency Force, on the Sinai Peninsula, where he flew de Havilland Otters and Caribous.
While with 115 ATU he acted as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Dr. Ralph Bunche's pilot. During 1963, with authorization from Paul Hellyer and the help of RCAF 121 Search & Rescue Unit, assisted with the salvage of a Vought OS2U Kingfisher from Calvert Island, it had crashed there during a ferry flight to Alaska during World War II. The aircraft was brought to Calgary, restored by Vought Aeronautics and donated by Garrison to the North Carolina Battleship Commission where it is now displayed on the stern of the USS North Carolina, one of the surviving Second World War battleships. In 1963, Garrison purchased the first Canadair CT-133 21001 for his growing collection of classic aircraft; the trainer, with 212 total flying hours, was stored at the repair facility in Alberta. It is now displayed on a pylon near the old site for Alberta's Municipal Airport; as an interesting fact, Lynn's son, Anthony Lynn Garrison purchased the last flying RCAF CT-133648 upon its retirement. It was readied for a ferry flight to Texas but was lost on take off, from CFB Trenton, Ontario on July 16, 2009.
An armament door opened during take off making the jet uncontrollable. In June 1964, Garrison purchased two Canadair Sabre Golden Hawks aircraft from the Government of Canada. One was dedicated for a project that would have seen Bob Hoover use it in an air show routine, alongside his ex-RCAF Mustang; the inability to acquire expl
Pittsburg, Kansas
Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, United States, located in Southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in southeast Kansas; as of the 2010 census, the city population was 20,233. On October 23, 1864, a wagon train of refugees had come from Fort Smith and was escorted by troops from the 6th Kansas Cavalry under the command of Col. William Campbell; these were local men from Cherokee and Bourbon counties. Their enlistment was over, they were on their way to Fort Leavenworth to be dismissed from service, they ran into the 1st Indian Brigade led by Maj. Andrew Jackson Piercy near the current Pittsburg Waste Water Treatment Plant, they continued to the north when a small group of wagons broke away in an unsuccessful rush to safety. The Confederate troops burned the wagons; the death toll was three Union soldiers and 13 civilian men, with the wagon train. It was that one of the Confederates had been killed. A granite marker memorial for the "Cow Creek Skirmish" was placed near the Crawford County Historical Museum on October 30, 2011.
Pittsburg sprang up in the fall of 1876 on a railroad line being built through the neighborhood. It was named after Pittsburgh and maps of the time give the town's name as "New Pittsburgh". George Hobson and Franklin Playter are credited with being the city's founders, establishing a government after its beginnings as a coal mining camp in the 1870s; the city was incorporated in 1879. The “New” was dropped upon incorporation of the City as a third class city on June 21, 1880, with M. M. Snow as its first Mayor. In 1892 it was advanced to a city of the second class, in 1905 Pittsburg attained the rank of first class; the first dwelling was built by J. T. Roach in July 1876; the first post office in Pittsburg was established in August, 1876. The post office's name was shortened from "New Pittsburgh" to "Pittsburgh" in 1881 and to "Pittsburg" in 1894; the latter renaming came after the United States Board on Geographic Names, in the interest of standardization, recommended that the'h' be dropped from place names ending in "burgh".
In 1910, the population of Pittsburg was over 14,000. Pittsburg is the home to Pittsburg State University, founded in 1903 as a normal training institution. Through the years the College became more diversified in its aims and goals, so that it became a multi-purpose institution, it has always had a strong manual and industrial arts program and has trained many of the area's public and private school teachers. In 1879, two miners from Joplin began the first commercial attempts at mining in close proximity of Broadway Street. A relic of the city's coal mining days was the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company, founded in 1885, one of the oldest continuously running coal companies in the United States. In September 2007, Chevron which owned the company, merged it with its Molycorp Inc. coal mining division to form Chevron Mining, thus ending the Pittsburg corporate name. Midway referred to a coal camp in eastern Crawford County, Kansas, "midway" between Baxter Springs and Fort Scott, Kansas. Kenneth A. Spencer, whose father was among the founders of the company was to play an important role in Kansas and Missouri philanthropy.
Pittsburg was the most unionized city in Kansas at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to some coal mining, the economic base of the City now rests on industry; the city has a rich cultural heritage from many Southern and Eastern European mine workers who settled in and around Pittsburg and Southeastern Kansas. It is situated in a once productive coal field, it now relies on education and government-related employment. Pittsburg is located at 37°24′37″N 94°41′59″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.90 square miles, of which, 12.80 square miles is land and 0.10 square miles is water. Pittsburg sits in a mix of prairie and forests, it lies 90 miles west of Springfield, Missouri, 124 miles south of Kansas City, 137 miles northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pittsburg has a humid subtropical climate bordering on a hot-summer humid continental climate. Summers are hot and uncomfortable, with as many as 73 mornings per year staying above 68 °F or 20 °C and eight mornings remaining above 77 °F or 25 °C – indeed in July 2012 the temperature did not fall below 69 °F or 20.6 °C.
The hottest morning, was on August 10, 2006 when the temperature did not fall below 83 °F, the hottest temperature has been 115 °F on July 13 and 14, 1954. Heavy thunderstorm rains punctuate the heat with heavy rainfall: 7.93 inches or 201.4 millimetres fell on July 30, 2013. However, long periods of dangerously hot weather without much rain are not uncommon: only trace precipitation fell between July 28 and September 10, 2000, only 0.22 inches between July 7 and August 20, 1984. During the fall season, temperatures cool off rapidly: the last 90 °F or 32.2 °C temperature can be expected on September 22, by the end of October temperatures have fallen to a comfortable level. Heavy rainfall from frontal systems or remnant tropical storms are common during this period: the wettest day with 8.77 inches was on September 25, 1993, a year which saw 47.85 inches between April and September as against only 10.54 inches during the same period in 1980. September 1993 was the wettest month on record with 19.37 inches or 492.0 millimetres, while the wettest calendar year ov
JAARS
JAARS is a non-profit organization that helps organizations around the world get practical, day-to-day support for Bible translation. As of November 2012, JAARS focuses on five main types of practical support: aviation, land transportation, water transportation, information technology, media. JAARS is a wholly controlled subsidiary of SIL International, but partners extensively with other organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators. JAARS doesn't start and operate its own programs overseas, instead working with local field partners; the type of involvement varies depending on the location and other factors. JAARS' headquarters in North Carolina is referred to as the "JAARS Center." While the JAARS Center serves as the home for all of the organization's core operations, it hosts staff from partner organizations. For example, SIL International has both IT and media staff working at the JAARS Center. In aviation, JAARS helps its field partners run local aviation programs; this help comes in the form of training staff, setting standards, equipping aircraft and more.
In turn, these partners provide a range of transportation services to a variety of people, including translators, support personnel, trainers, Christian mission organizations, local people and governments. These services can include medical evacuations and disaster relief work. JAARS' aviation partners fly a variety of aircraft, including: Bell LongRanger helicopter, flown by SIL International in Papua New Guinea Robinson R44 helicopter, flown at the JAARS Center and by SIL International in Cameroon Cessna 206, flown at the JAARS Center and by partners in Brazil and Papua New Guinea Cessna 207, Soloy Turbine conversion, flown by SIL International in Cameroon Helio Courier, flown at the JAARS Center Pilatus PC-12, flown by YAJASI in Indonesia Pilatus PC-6, flown at the JAARS Center and by YAJASI in Indonesia Quest Kodiak, flown by SIL International in Papua New GuineaJAARS was one of fifteen organizations that financed the prototyping and development of the Quest Kodiak. William Cameron Townsend co-founded Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1934, as the organization grew, he saw the need for airplanes and radio to reach remote areas around the world, to provide safe access to language groups.
JAARS was formed as Jungle Aviation and Radio Service in Peru in 1948 and moved to its current location in Waxhaw, North Carolina in 1961. In 1986, as a result of diversifying activities, JAARS dropped the original meaning behind the acronym and became "JAARS, Inc." JAARS operates two separate museums at its headquarters campus in Waxhaw, North Carolina: The Museum of the Alphabet was established in 1991 by JAARS founder William Cameron Townsend, focuses on the development of the alphabet and the history of writing systems and written languages. Exhibits include maps, sculptures, a copy of the Rosetta Stone, a Torah scroll, over 150 years old, a handmade lyre; the languages covered include Greek, Hebrew and African languages. The Mexico-Cardenas Museum was established in 1977 by Townsend with a focus on Mexican culture and Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico's president from 1934 to 1940. Cárdenas was close friends with Townsend. Exhibits include Mexican folk art, photos and clothing. JAARS.org JAARS Flight demonstration of Helio Courier landing ECFA Member Profile of JAARS Wycliffe and JAARS Missions Box Bio: William Cameron Townsend
Forward air control
Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller. A primary forward air control function is ensuring the safety of friendly troops during close air support. Enemy targets in the front line are close to friendly forces and therefore friendly forces are at risk of friendly fire through proximity during air attack; the danger is twofold: the bombing pilot cannot identify the target and is not aware of the locations of friendly forces. Camouflage, a changing situation and the fog of war all increase the risk. Present day doctrine holds that Forward Air Controllers are not needed for air interdiction, although there has been such use of FACs in the past. An additional concern of forward air controllers is the avoidance of harm to noncombatants in the strike area; as close air support began during World War I, there were pioneer attempts to direct the trench strafing by the ground troops marking their positions by laying out signal panels on the ground, firing flares, or lighting smoke signals.
Aircrews had difficulty communicating with the ground troops. Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg, an Austro-Hungarian pilot, pioneered the use of radio for fire control. Colonel Billy Mitchell equipped his Spad XVI command airplane with a radio, the Germans experimented with radios in their Junkers J. I all-metal-structure, armored-fuselage sesquiplanes; the Marines in the so-called Banana wars of the 1920s and 1930s used Curtiss Falcons and Vought Corsairs that were equipped with radios powered by airstream-driven generators, with a range of up to 50 miles. Another method of communication was for the pilot to drop messages in a weighted container, to swoop in and pick up messages hung out by ground troops on a "clothesline" between poles; the objective was air attack. Using these various methods, the Marine pilots combined the functions of both FAC and strike aircraft, as they carried out their own air attacks on the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1927; the commonality of pilots and ground troops belonging to the same service led to a close air support role similar to that sought by use of FACs, without the actual use of a FAC.
On 27 October 1927, a Marine patrol used cloth panels to direct an air strike—arguably the first forward air control mission. This distinctive U. S. Marine doctrine of interaction between Marine infantry and aviation would persist, recurring in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. French colonial operations in the Rif War from 1920–1926 used air power to the Marines in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas but in a different environment, the desert; the French Mobile Groups of combined arms air attack. These aerial observers called in artillery fire via radio; the German military noted close air support operations in the Spanish Civil War and decided to develop its forward air control capability. By 1939, they had forward air control teams called Ground Attack Teams attached to every headquarters from regiment level upwards; these Teams directed air strikes flown by Luftwaffe close air support units. Extensive coordinated training by air and ground troops had raised this system to state of the art by the beginning of World War II.
When the United States Army Air Forces was founded on 20 June 1941, it included provisions for Air Ground Control Parties to serve with the United States Army at the division and Army headquarters. The Air Ground Control Parties functions were to regulate bombing and artillery in close conjunction with the ground troops, as well as assess bomb damage, they were thus the first of similar units to try to fulfill the functions of the FAC without being airborne. However, these units were plagued by turf wars and cumbersome communications between the respective armies and air forces involved; as a result, it could take hours for an air strike requested by ground troops to show up. However, forward air control during World War II came into existence as a result of exigency, was used in several theaters of World War II, its reincarnation in action was a result of field expedience rather than planned operations. In the Pacific Theater, 4 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force began forward air control at the Battle of Buna-Gona, New Guinea in November 1942.
The RAAF continued forward air control in the Pacific for the rest of the war. By November 1943, the U. S. Marines were using forward air control during the Battle of Bougainville. On the Allied side in the European Theater, British forces in North Africa began using the Forward Air Support Links, a "tentacle" system that used radio links from front line units to the rear requesting close air support from the next "cab rank" of on-call airborne fighter-bombers; the requesting unit would direct the air strikes. The U. S. Army would not copy the British system until the invasion of Italy, but adapted it for use there and in France after the D-Day Invasion of 6 June 1944; the United States would end World War II still without an air control doctrine. When the U. S. Air Force split from the U. S. Army in 1947, neither took on the responsibility for forward air control. S. military thus had no functional forward air control. The United Kingdom and Commonwealth continued to build on its experience in the Second World War in various campaigns around the
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