Page 136 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

along, yet constantly worried about the expenditures, doubted this. Concerned
about possible lawsuits downwind of their operations, he recommended that
they conduct field trials not over cities but over the Atlantic ocean, both as a
safety precaution and as an opportunity to experiment on marine fogs.

round 2: aberdeen and bolling

In March 1923, seeking better access to government patrons, Warren moved the
test flights to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, on the Chesapeake Bay north-
east of Baltimore. It was an adequate but not ideal site. only about a third of
the area was available for tests, since the army’s gun-firing range was given first
priority. There was no machine shop or other manufacturing facilities, so War-
ren purchased commercial transformers, which turned out to be too heavy to fly
and more costly than originally budgeted. other delays were caused by problems
with workers, a continual lack of funds, and an inordinate amount of red tape.
After more than a year of struggles and setbacks, on July 8, 1924, a plane from
Aberdeen carrying Warren’s equipment encountered an intense thunderstorm
over the mouth of the Susquehanna River. The crew of two aviators reported:
“Immediately following the attack [with 10 pounds of negatively charged sand]
there was no more lightning or thunder, and a gentle rain of over one hour’s
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duration followed, purely local.” Warren claimed that this result was far from
coincidental and that the plane’s intervention had upset the electrical balance
of the storm. More intense lobbying followed. on october 30, 1924, two planes
equipped with electrified sand dispensers conducted a demonstration over
Washington, D.C. Warren sent messages to President Calvin Coolidge, mem-
bers of his cabinet, and members of Congress to “watch” as the planes “attacked”
the clouds over the city. There is no record from eyewitnesses, but Warren noted,
“We scored a most deplorable failure, as not a thing happened” (5). Disappointed
but not deterred, Warren moved his operations closer to Washington, to Bolling
Field. Less than a month later, Time reported a subsequent set of successful sand-
ing demonstrations over Washington. Captain L. I. Eagle and Lieutenant W. E.
Melville flew their De Havilland airplanes to an altitude of 13,000 feet, where
they “shot down” a series of cumulus clouds with a barrage of electrified sand. As
the planes circled overhead, a clearing opened up. “A miracle!” cried some of the
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watchers. Still, although Warren had busted clouds, he had not yet cleared a fog
or made it rain. Positive press clippings notwithstanding, Warren and his A. R.
Company had not earned a penny on his invention, and Bancroft was still writ-
ing the checks.

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