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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1304.PDF
452 FLIGHT, 7 September 1956 ". . . the inevitable cavalcade of tankers and other servicing vehicles that wends its way from landing site to landing site." AN AIR WAR IN GERMANY ... effectiveness, and, at the same time, to give complete coverageof the foliage without affecting the ground fauna. In pine woods the coverage had to be so fine and sufficient as to cover eachand every pine needle; in orchards the chemicals were supposed to wash off the fruit easily, yet be sufficiently effective to preventthe flies from laying their eggs in the newly formed fruit. We soon learned that the seemingly impossible had to beachieved in order to establish the overall supremacy of the heli- copter, and our helicopter in particular, in these fields. Theequipment originally at our disposal had to be altered and re- newed. New pumps were installed to give a higher and moreconstant pressure; spray nozzles had to be exchanged for finer types, giving the minute droplet size required. Our technicalstaff were busily engaged during the winter in perfecting and improving every aspect of the system. Slow-motion films, madeduring some of the trial contracts we had undertaken during the previous year, showed all too clearly that our work was notyet perfect. Differences of such minute proportions of 3/20ths of a second in the fall of the spray before the downwash of themain rotor blades had to be allowed for, and the angle of the spray bar adjusted accordingly; from these films charts weredrawn up indicating the "turn and bank" tendencies of branches and foliage, in order to assist us to approach perfection as closelyas it was humanly possible. Tests were carried out, in the com- parative seclusion of a quiet corner of our airport base atFrankfurt/Main, by laying literally miles and miles of paper strips and flying over them again and again at various heights,testing droplet sizes, swath widths, pump pressures, deliveries and the suitability of newly installed plastic tubing. Late in April, because of the extremely cold spring, the firstcall came to begin the big operation against cockchafers in the thickly woeded areas of southern Rhineland-Pfalz and the hillyEifel area in Western Germany, along the Rhine and Moselle. The spade work had been done. Dozens of landing sites hadbeen carefully selected in the somewhat difficult terrain and marked and fenced, suitable spots usually being available in theform of village football grounds and recreation centres. The total area was about 15,000 acres, in two main districts of 9,000and 6,000 acres respectively, and we had barely a fortnight in which to complete the operation successfully if good results wereto be assured. The weather was not exactly ideal, and on some days flying could not take place at all because of low cloudsand driving winds and rain. The chemicals (D.D.T. compound and water) were mixedinto a foamy white liquid and the helicopter's tank filled in 80 sec. Fuel was taken on in small quantities after every thirdor fourth landing in order to allow the largest possible disposable load for insecticide.Hour after hour, with few but welcome breaks, Old Victor sprayed the insect-killing lotions over the forest areas, leavinga white swirling trail behind him. Lane upon lane could be flown easily without marking, but yellow flags were used to show thearea boundaries. The large-scale operational maps, duplicates of those held bythe pilot, were checked constantly by the ground staff, and as soon as a part of the area was finished the machine was positionedto the next landing site, the caravan of trailers, trucks and cars, often a line of ten vehicles or more, following it along. Everynight, back in the village hotel which was selected as the opera- tional "headquarters," the amounts of chemicals used werechecked against the areas reported to be covered; and, rather to everyone's surprise, they worked out perfectly, down tofractions of gallons. The most encouraging feature of the cockchafer destruction,from our point of view, was the receipt of quick and regular success reports. As soon as 15 minutes after spraying, the insectsbegin crazy zig-zagging, then become paralysed and fall by then- hundreds to the ground. Counts are taken in various parts ofthe forests, and 300 and more dead insects per square yard, sometimes covering the ground to a thickness of two inches ormore, are no exception. The larger of the two areas, in Rhineland-Pfalz, was sooncompleted and OV started his positioning flight of about 80 miles to the Eifel hills. Here, on the picturesque plateau dottedby vineyards and dark green needle forests, the operation was renewed. Nosey neighbours, big Sikorsky S-55s from nearbyAmerican airfields, came over to hover in the fields near our landing sites, or followed Old Victor on his spraying trips; and,as always, dozens and dozens of children lined the fences, gaping curious and open-mouthed. The entire operation was completed within 14 days, of whichtwo-and-a-half were non-operational because of the weather, and in just over 60 flying hours, including positioning. More than300,000 litres of chemicals were sprayed, and we calculated that in these two areas alone more cockchafers were killed than thereare people on the earth. Then Old Victor carried on to his next call, in the picturesqueRhine valley not far from Riidesheim, which is no unfamiliar name to lovers of Rhine wines. The Hesse State Vineyards wereour next order, a meadow our landing site; the beautiful Eber- bach Monastery was a landmark in the distance, and the veryold, completely walled-in vineyard of about 70 acres of some of the best and most expensive wine in Germany was our hard andexacting task. Not more than two days were needed for this work, on varioussmall plots of a few acres each. Only very short positioning flights were necessary, but the very large delivery of insecticiderequired for certain kinds of vineyard work increased flying times considerably. The Hesse pest-control authorities, among the most progres-sive in Western Germany, now approached us with an out- standing request, which we lost no time in meeting. With halfa day to spare for cleaning and checking all equipment and positioning the inevitable "tail" of vehicles, we presented OVin the quiet town of Rhens, near Koblenz on the Rhine. Here, for the first time in Europe—and, we believe, the first time inthe world—cherry orchards were to be sprayed by helicopter. Various individual small owners in the total area of some1,050 acres had joined together in a group under the auspices of the Government authorities; and all of them, with their wivesand children, had assembled at a vantage point on one of the neighbouring hills to see their orchards sprayed. Single lines oftrees in between vineyards and along the roads in the sleepy small town could not be left out, and it was a most impressivesight as OV swept down the hillside and on through the valley below us, the spray billowing out in huge swirls from the spraybars and extending far on either side. From Rhens, several of the small Rhine islands were sprayed—on these, only minutelanding sites were at our disposal—and from there we moved to the next bigger areas along the Moselle river. In spite of "The large-scale operational maps, duplicates of those held by the pilot, were checked constantly by the ground staff."
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