Existing comment:
Invisible Guides in the Sky:
With the onset of US air mail flights, the need for radio navigation aids to assist pilots in zero-visibility situations became even more apparent. After an initial series of experiments with the Post Office Department at the College Park Airfield in 1918, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) again took the lead in this effort. From 1926 until 1933 the NBS worked to develop and perfect a system that enabled them to locate an airport from the air as well as a suitable point of landing in zero visibility. This navigational system was successfully tested by Jimmy Doolittle at Mitchell Field, Long Island, in 1929. But more work was needed. After adding a landing beam or glide path indicator to that system, instrument landings now became possible. On September 5, 1931, Marshall S Boggs and James Kinney accomplished the first blind landing using only instruments at College Park Airport. Over 100 hooded landings were made using a collapsible hood to cover the pilot's cockpit without obstructing the view of the backup pilot. |