High altitude physiology research and training platforms used by American physiologists during World War II: innovative altitude chambers and high flying bomber aircraft

Abstract

America's fledgling aviation medicine program had only 3 man‐rated chambers in 1940, located at Wright Field's Aero Medical Lab (AML: H. Armstrong, D.B. Dill & F.G. Hall), Mayo Clinic (W. Boothby & W.R. Lovelace), and Harvard School of Public Health (C. Drinker). This poor state of affairs was best exemplified when members of the Committee on Aviation Medicine inquired about using the elevators in the Empire State Building for physiological studies of “rapid” decompression. Eventually, research facilities for rapid decompression were established in the Physiology Department at The Ohio State University (Dr. F.A. Hitchcock). Numerous altitude chambers were set up across the US in the ensuing months, which were used to study the physiology of O2 want, decompression sickness, and explosive decompression. A Boeing B‐17 bomber (Nemesis of Aeroembolism), assigned to Wright Field's AML, flew above 40,000 feet to test flight gear and provide a research platform for physiological studies. The high altitude research program was complemented by an indoctrination program that reached its zenith in 1945: >200 physiologists, using 65 altitude chambers at 45 air fields, taught ∼58,000 men/month how to protect themselves during high altitude flight. The success of America's aviation medicine program contributed significantly to the allied victory in the air war and laid the foundation for aerospace medicine.