October 23, 1994

Flying Bug

With thanks to Col. George Ola, Claude Jones,
Col. Read Harding, Luke Wilson, and Howard Melton.

First of Two Parts

Adolph Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, unleashed his "secret weapon" during the closing months of World War II in a desperate attempt to bring Great Britain to its knees. The device was a small, unmanned plane built around a one-ton bomb. Upon reaching its pre-selected target area, the engine shut off; and the flying bomb dived to destruction.

British called it a "buzz bomb" for the sputtering sound of its air-breathing ram-jet engine. Hundreds were launched but many were shot down over farm fields by Royal Air Force pilots.

In recent wars, rocket propelled missiles have been employed that are uncannily accurate and devastating.

Intercontinental missiles are capable of spanning the oceans or Earth poles to explode a nuclear bomb within five yards of a chosen target.

The U.S. cruise missile, with a TV camera in its nose, flies a photographed path and can dive down a smokestack.

It was a decisive weapon during the Gulf War.

Few people know that the prototype guided missile was invented during the First World War by an American named Charles F. Kettering -- and successfully tested in DeSoto County which then included today's Charlotte County. Germany declared war against the other European nations in 1914. The United States attempted to stay neutral. However, it broke off diplomatic relations in early 1915 when the Germans sank the R.M.S. Lusitania.

President Woodrow Wilson asked France how the U.S. could help. French authorities replied: "Invent new weapons and train our soldiers to fly." The airplane, perfected by the Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio, then was in its infancy.

A French delegation came to Florida immediately to help find a suitable air field for their cadets. The big prairie east of Arcadia was ideal because of its flat, treeless terrain and year-round flying weather.

The U.S. Army chose a site southeast of Arcadia. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad built a spur from its main track to bring in building materials. Construction was barely underway when the United States entered the war in April 1917. An airflight training center for American pilots was designated due east of Arcadia, and the rail line extended there. Wooden hangars and barracks with corrugated steel roofs were constructed hurriedly.

The first field was named in honor of U.S. Army Air Corps Pilot Victor Carlstrom killed in a flying accident up North. The companion field was named for Stephen H. Dorr, Jr., also killed in a training accident elsewhere two days after enlisting in August of 1917.

While the French and American fields were being built, the Navy Consulting Board convened to study possible new weapons. An "aerial torpedo" seemed promising. The Army Chief Signal Officer appointed a committee to study the Navy suggestion. A majority report rejected the concept of "automatic flying" as impractical for military use.

However, a minority report by Kettering -- a Dayton, Ohio electrical engineer newly appointed vice-president of General Motors Research -- persuaded the Army to let him try and develop a flying bomb.

What Kettering proposed was a complete little biplane made of cardboard and sticks. Orville Wright, co-inventor of the first, practical airplane, designed the fuselage and 12- foot wings. Ralph de Palma, a racer and engine designer for the Ford Motor Co., built a 4-cylinder 2-cycle motor to turn the propeller. Elmer Sperry, inventor of the gyroscopic stabilizer, donated blueprints of his device and sent his son Lawrence to supersize installation by C. F. Harding of the Dayton Metal Products Co. F.W. Warner of the Aeolian Organ Company contributed pneumatic controls.

The flimsy contraption weighed only 300 pounds but could carry a payload of equal amount. Workers called the machine "Kettering's Bug."

First test of the assembled craft was held at Wright-Patterson Field in Dayton. It is reported that the flimsy plane rose about 150 feet, then whipped around to dive at the crew that had just launched it. Subsequent, short tests were more promising. The Army ordered production of 36 aerial torpedoes for testing under field conditions.

Col. H.H. "Hap" Arnold, was enthusiastic about the potential of the flying bomb. He went to France in October 1918 to brief Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Force. Germany surrendered November 11.

Thus, Kettering's Bug was not put to combat use. Nevertheless, the Army wanted to evaluate the aerial torpedo's practical applications. Twelve were shipped in the Fall of 1919 to Carlstrom field where their flights could be easily monitored over the prairie.

Tests began October 21, 1919. Representatives of the Army, Navy and civilians involved in the project came to observe.

The missiles were mounted on a carriage that ran down a long narrow-gauge track. At takeoff speed, the plane lifted away from the carriage.

Distance of the target and wind speed were calculated, then the launching tracks properly aimed. An electrically driven gyroscope, linked to an altimeter sensitive to atmospheric pressure, maintained level flight. An odometer coupled to the motor's crank shaft activated electric motors after a pre-determined number of revolutions. These drew out bolts holding on the wings. With this, the fuselage and payload -- a 300-pound chunk of concrete -- plunged to earth.

The number of variables to accommodate were daunting.

The first several flights were erratic which frustrated Kettering. When one missile failed to level off and instead climbed out of sight, Kettering muttered, "Leave the damn thing up there," and stalked off the field. Crewmen in a Model-T Ford started across the prairie in the direction the pilotless plane was heading. They found it 21 miles away.

Finally, one of the flights proved satisfactory. The missile traveled its programmed 15 miles and simulated bombing only two degrees off course.

Historian Gene M. Burnett records in his book Florida's Past that among the observers was a young lieutenant named Jimmy Doolittle. As a Colonel in World War II, he led the first air raid against Japan. Doolittle's report on the Arcadia field tests was pessimistic:

"The torpedo took off in a zoom, climbed to 200 feet, fell off and crashed.

"Torpedo flew 1 3/4 miles and crashed due to motor failure.

"The last torpedo, constructed from salvaged parts of previous wrecks, flew about 16 miles. It was approximately on its course, the proper altitude was adhered to, and the crash was caused by motor trouble. The motor is not sufficiently reliable to permit the torpedo flying over friendly troops."

The tests completed, the aerial torpedo project was discontinued by the Army. The Navy continued experiments under the supervision of Lawrence Sperry. He solved the accuracy problem by remote, radio control.

Carlstrom and Dorr fields continued as flight training schools until 1922. The best cadets formed the Carlstrom Aerial Circus which performed for crowds in Victory Bond drives.

A prize student at Carlstrom in the post-war period was Lt. Colonel Charles H. Danforth. He was assigned Commander of Langley Air Field, Virginia, in 1920 but did not know how to fly. Consequently he was detailed to Carlstrom for basic flight training. He soloed in six months.

During Danforth's flights from Carlstrom he noticed beautiful Shell Point on the lower Peace River now in Charlotte County. Shortly before retirement in 1936, Danforth bought Shell Point acreage and built a lovely home there. Charlotte County purchased the structure in 1966 for a public meeting facility. Upon being closed down, the DeSoto air fields offered their "Ox-Jenny" Curtiss JN4D planes with OX 5 engines to buyers at cut-rate prices. The Arcadia Enterprise noted:

"You can buy an army plane now for a pittance of $400. Uncle Sam has a flock of them at Dorr Field that he is offering to first comers. Sportively inclined folks hereabouts who have been hankering for an air flivver of their own need only line up now at the bargain counter."

Historian Claude Jones of Arcadia recalls that a man named Simmons bought one of the obsolete planes and taught himself how to fly.

"I and a buddy liked to hike out to his place and watch him take off and land. One day he asked us if we would like a ride.

"Of course we were thrilled. I was afraid to tell my father about our adventure because he and other townspeople thought Simmons was a nut to risk his life in such a primitive plane.

"Nonetheless, he eventually heard about it and was the maddest I ever saw him. He threatened to give me a whipping I would never forget if I ever flew again.

"Some of the buildings out at the fields were sold and moved. Some were dismantled for materials. The remainder just fell apart from neglect. Weeds grew up in the old runways."

Next Week -- World War II Rebirth

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers

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Photo courtesy of Claude Jones

Kettering's Bug was an "aerial torpedo" tested at Carlstrom field near Arcadia in 1919. The pilotless craft was the prototype of today's guided missiles.

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Photo courtesy of Howard Melton

Army air cadets pose with their Curtiss "OX-Jenny" air plane.