bollingfield

Perhaps a crude dynamometer for an aircraft engine?

I am not positive, but I believe this airplane engine was adapted for agricultural use. The wind generated was used to prevent frost from forming on crops. The same technique was also used to keep birds from eating certain crops at harvest time.

I like Christian's idea. Notice there are some wheel chocks to keep the back wheels from rolling.

The engine resembles an Hispano-Suiza 8 aero engine in a V-8 arrangement. (The engine would have been common in US stocks, as it powered a number of US military aircraft and it was produced under-license by the Wright Company). What is unusual for the era (if the 1922 photo date is correct) is that the engine appears to be driving an adjustable or variable pitch propeller - which is a type that would have been a cutting-edge technology under development during the time. Given that information, I can say with an almost certainty that this is a photograph illustrating a demonstration of the Paragon Adjustable and Reversible Propeller, most probably at or near Bolling Field in Washington, D.C. The December 1922 Aerial Age Weekly (Vol. 15, Pages 585-589) details the apparatus and the adjustable pitch propeller demonstrated, note also the photos on page 588 of the linked article which appears to show the test stand photographed above. Also, after examining the finer resolution TIFF version of this photo at the LOC site linked above, it would appear that Spencer Heath (1876-1963), the man who developed the variable pitch propeller being demonstrated, is the bearded man in the white (or light colored) coat leaning over the controls in the photo. Here is another photo of Heath: www.cooperative-individualism.org/photograph_heath-spence... Spencer Heath distinguished himself in a number of varied fields. See his Wikipedia entry: Spencer Heath From Aerial Age Weekly, (December 1922, Vol. 15, Pages 585-589): Paragon Adjustable and Reversible Propeller

The Paragon adjustable and reversible aircraft propeller, the invention of Spencer Heath, the pioneer propeller maker, made its official debut on October 11 at Bolling Field in a demonstration to representatives of the offices of the Chief of Air Service, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy, of the Air Mail, the Press and motion picture news associations. The automobile truck trailer, upon which the propeller and a 150 h.p. Wright-Hispano engine was mounted, was made to maneuver about Bolling Field at the will of the operator. What new stunts may now be evolved with the aid of a reversing propeller may be left to the imagination. One can easily imagine the two-seater of the future suddenly reversing into a stall and taking a shot from underneath at his surprised adversary overhead. The device is to the aircraft what change speed gears are to the automobile. . . . Demonstration Under Power To show the action under power the propeller has been installed on a 150 H.P. Hispano-Suiza engine mounted with gasoline tank, observers’ seats, etc., on a trailer truck weighing about two tons which is free to roll on the ground. In the demonstrations thus far made the device is put through its entire range of performance, which includes disconnecting the pitch limiting mechanism so that the blade angels are controlled throughout a compete revolution of 360 degrees, both forward and reverse. With the engine turning at 1500 r.p.m. the angular change from full speed ahead to full speed astern is accomplished in about 3-1/3 seconds.

Excellent work.. that's definitely the same thing pictured in the December, 1922 Aerial Age.

This same photo appears on Page 376 of the March 21, 1921 issue of Aviation and Aircraft Journal, Vol. X. No. 12, with the following caption:

THE FIRST LINK IN THE AMERICAN MODEL AIRWAY; DC 1, THE MARKER FOR WASHINGTON, D.C. - Photo U.S. Army Air Service

The accompanying story begins on that page, reads:

Opening Exercises of America's First Airway

The inauguration exercises in connection with the preparation of the model American Airway which is to extend from Washington, D.C., to Dayton, Ohio, via Moundsville, West Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio took place at Bolling Field, Anacostia, D.C., on Feb. 12, 1921.

There were approximately one thousand Boy Scouts there. The Boy Scout organization is to assist the U.S. Army Air Service in the preparation of this route by clearing the landing fields selected and establishing proper identification markers on them. There were a number of very distinguished people present, prominent among them were Brig. Gen. William Mitchell, Mr. Huston Thompson, Mr. Isaac Gans, Mr. Edward D. Shaw, Mr. A.G. Batchelder and others.

After the huge marker "D.C. 1" had been laid and whitewashed by the Boy Scouts a talk on what air transportation means now and in the future and how the airways of the United States serve the airplane just as the road ways serve the automobile was given by Brig. Gen. William Mitchell. . . .

This photo, also just posted by the LoC, of General William "Billy" Mitchell (US Army Air Service), would also seem to tie in to the aforementioned event. Note the speaking platform on the berm in the distance in the photo above, and the photo of Mitchell below:


Here's more on the event and the "Model Airway," along with another photo of Mitchell:
AvStop.com - Scouts Lay Cornerstone for Model Airway

The four expedition DWCs ("Boston", "Chicago", "New Orleans" & "Seattle") departed Sand Point (near Seattle), Washington (USA) on 6 April 1924. "Seattle" (s/n 23-1229) only made it as far as Alaska before crashing beyond repair on 30 Apr 24, while "Boston" (s/n 23-1231) was abandoned in the Atlantic near the Faroe Islands. "Chicago" (s/n 23-1230) and "New Orleans" (s/n 23-1232) completed the global expedition on 28 September 1924.

The third a/c pictured here is "Boston II", the re-christened prototype (s/n 23-1210) DWC which joined the two surviving a/c on the final leg of their journey across the US in September 1924.

"Chicago" (restored in 1974) is in the Smithonian's A&SM in Washington D.C., while "New Orleans" was displayed in the NMUSAF from 1957 until 2005; more recently, it became part of the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, CA. The "Seattle" wreckage was recovered and is now displayed hanging from the ceiling in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage, AK.