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Show U. S. Park Service Acquires Autogiros ' WASHINGTON. The national park service is taking a tip from the hummingbird, the stationary flier. Unlike that small but pugnacious species, park aviators will not fly sideways or backward, but they will hover over treetops, lakes, and streams by the use of two 225-horse-power autogiros which have been acquired through transfer from the war department Under favorable conditions the machines are capable of maintaining stability at a virtual standstill over a chosen spot. Standard planes have been employed em-ployed from time to time for several years in national parks and allied recreational areas in fighting forest fires, finding lost persons, and transporting trans-porting medical supplies and food to isolated stations. It was not until 1936, however, that forestry experts used an autogiro tor forest spraying. In that year a successful pioneering experiment In distributing a wet spray over cankerworm-lnfested trees was carried out at Morristown National Historical park, New Jersey. Jer-sey. Special Uses Also. Special uses are contemplated for the two transferred autogiros. They will scout out forest fires occurring in "blind spots" behind ridget where tower lookouts cannot see, and search for "sleeper" fires that smoulder for several dayt before bursting suddenly Into a general conflagration con-flagration of teriout proportions. A few mlnutet early In the life of a fire, national park forestert point out, are worth many hourt later. - tvv osn oiit 250-foot take off without wind. Power it tupplled by a seven-cylinder radial engine. The autogiros also will be employed em-ployed In scouting tree diseases, surveying sur-veying Insect Infestations, and taking tak-ing censuses of wildlife populations. The tlow, low-flying machlnet likewise like-wise are adapted specially to precision preci-sion in certain typet of aerial photography, pho-tography, a feature which will make them serviceable to landscape architects, archi-tects, park planners and others who have the task of preparing general development programs for new recreational rec-reational areas. |