Page 138 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

production, and decreased cost of living, will reach figures almost ‘beyond the
dreams of avarice,’ not only for our country but for the entire world” (16). With
no further prospects for support from the military, it seemed that he would have
to realize his dream by raising private capital. But so far, the only investor was
Bancroft. Warren’s business plan (or vision) included a fleet of airplanes to clear
pollution, relieve drought, and suppress forest fires. Clients could be cities, farm-
ers, government agencies, railways, and steamship lines. The London Chamber of
Commerce estimated that dense fog cost the city £1 million a day (and he prom-
ised he could clear it out in a day). To undertake contracts like this, he proposed
the formation of the Warren Company, incorporated in Delaware with 100,000
shares at $8, with four airplanes, two assistants, a machine shop, and a lab, “War-
ren and his two assistants to devote their entire time, to the exclusion of all else,
to the work in hand for at least one year, without salary or expense charges to the
company, until the work is satisfactorily completed” (23).
Looking further to the future, Warren waxed philosophical about the pos-
sibility of constructing a radiant (ionized) metal plane charged to a potential of
100,000 volts. He wrote that such a plane would operate on what Sir William
Crookes had called a fourth state of “radiant matter”: “Such a radiant plane will
decompose the aqueous vapor immediately in contact with it, creating ozone . . .
and the hydrogen, nitrogen, helium, argon, neon, krypton, xenon, etc. or the
rare and inert gases will be repelled and forced away, through electric radiation”
(10–11). By creating its own partial vacuum, “the resistance to the flight of the
plane [would be] reduced to a minimum” and the plane would set new speed
records. Pure fantasy! But wait, there’s more: Warren wrote that the electric
charge would also de-ice the plane so it could fly in bad weather, and the ozone
could be collected and used on board “for the benefit of the engines and pas-
sengers.” A radiant plane would repel and efface everything in nature, “includ-
ing the frictional action of high winds, storms, tornadoes, cyclones, etc.” (11). It
could fly at any height in the coldest, iciest conditions; consume less fuel; and
attain great speeds. With no drag from the air, the plane would have increased
buoyancy, flying on a cushion of highly electrified air. It would be more easily
handled and controlled, “immune from all of nature’s attacks.” The title page
of Warren’s Facts and Plans is marked “Strictly Confidential, Not for General
Circulation.” The inside cover of Bancroft’s personal copy was inscribed by the
author: “Kindly keep in your own possession; Sent with supreme confidence in
the unexpected; Don’t Worry.”
But Bancroft did worry; he had lost confidence in Warren. His enthusiastic
partner, who likened his situation to the struggles of other famous inventors
(Morse, Bell, and Marconi), had a tendency to blame others for lack of progress.

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