Army-Navy Precipitation-Static Project: Part II-Aircraft Instrumentation for Precipitation-Static Research

Aircraft instrumentation for research on precipitation static is required to provide and record relevant data. It must be rugged and reliable and not constitute a hazard in flight. Electric-field meters and wick dischargers are mounted at various places on the external surfaces of the airplane for measuring intensity and direction of electric fields. An artificial charger provides a means for causing the airplane to assume, in flight, potentials of any desired sign or magnitude, within limits, for simulating natural autogenous charging. A radio-noise meter is used to measure the interference level associated with precipitation static. Search electrodes, termed patches and probes, provide both integrated and detailed information on the charging processes concerned when precipitation strikes solid surfaces. An air-conductivity meter is provided for measuring the conductivity and ion content of the atmosphere. An accelerometer utilizing a telegauge tube measures turbulence. Data from the above and other instruments are brought to a central meter panel and intermittently photographed in flight. This photoobserver is supplemented by a disk voice recorder.