11. Flight control was achieved pneumatically
Kettering sacrificed his personal player piano and pipe organ – both of which were in his home – to craft a compressed air system which operated the control surfaces of the Bug. When Midgley and Kettering were convinced the system, which used suction from the crankcase of the DePalma engine to operate a bellows, worked sufficiently he sought a subcontractor to manufacture it. He found one in the Aeolian Company of New York City. Aeolian was not involved in the aircraft industry, nor weapons for the military. They were the nation’s largest manufacturer of pump organs and player pianos for the home. In 1916 they also began manufacturing phonographs and records.
By late summer, 1918, Kettering and the Army were at odds with one another, the latter demanding a flying prototype, the former concerned with reimbursement for expenses. General Squier, through Army representatives dispatched to Dayton, began to take control over the project, much to the annoyance of the Dayton inventor and businessman. Squier wanted Kettering to give his full attention to Project Liberty Eagle, to the detriment of the many other projects which occupied the inventor’s mind and time. In late summer the general’s personal aide began to appear in Dayton, to discuss the Bug and the problems surrounding the project. He was Lieutenant Colonel Henry Arnold, known to all as “Hap”.