Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1917 — “STRIKE GERMANY THROUGH THE AIR,” SLOGAN OF AIRCRAFT ORGANIZATIONS [ARTICLE]

“STRIKE GERMANY THROUGH THE AIR,” SLOGAN OF AIRCRAFT ORGANIZATIONS

Recent Conference in Washington Shows the Great Importance of the Participation of the United States in This Regard—Has Better Facilities Than the Allies Had at the Beginning ofthe War.

Washington.—“We Must Strike Germany Through the Air” is the ntew slogan which has resulted from, the meeting in Washington of members of the aircraft production hoard of the United States and the board of governors of the Aero Club of America, after study of the present war'situation and of the ways and means for carrying on an effective campaign of education. Alan R. Hawley, president of the Aero Club of America, issued the following statement; “Germany’s U-boat warfare and the necessity of keeping the German fleet bottled up are occupying the navies of the allies, and no decisive victory over the Germans is expected in naval actions in the near future. Likewise advances against the Germans on lantl are slow, and Germany has seemed able so far to always throw new thousands of men and new lines of trenches and countless guns to meet the advances of the allies. The only victories on the part of the allies so far have been as a result of supremacy of the air, as a result of the matching of skilful, .daring allied aviators agaipst German aviators and observation balloons.

Masters in the Air. “It was not until the Germans were deprived of their aerial eyes and the allies’ aviators, being masters of the air, could follow the movements of the enemy and locate their batteries and their strongholds, that the allied victories became possible. “While the United States is beginning to help substantially now, effective help of the kind that leads to permanent victory can only come .at the end of months of preparation, and in considering in which way we can best prepare to help to achieve permanent victories it is found that the aerial branch of the service affords the greatest possibilities. - “British, French, Russian, Italian and American authorities who have studied the matter closely have come to the conclusion that the addition of 10,000 aviators today to the allies’ present aerial forces would insure blinding the German batteries and preventing German aviators from conducting operations over or near the allies’ lines. An additional 10,000 aviators would make it possible to conduct aerial raids on a large scale and to strike Germany in the most vital places, to strike hard enough to lead to permanent victories.” The authorities who met in Washington readily agreed that every effort should be concentrated in striking Germany through the air. Several instances during the meeting emphasized that although different persons present had obtained their information from separate sources, their information was practically alike. Board of Governors Meets. The meeting of the board of governors of the Aero Club of America was held in Washington and Howard E. Coffin, the chairman of the aircraft production board, who is also a member of the board of governors of the club, presided. The members of the board present were: Mr. Hawley, James A. Blair, Jr.; W. Redmond Cross, Charles Edwards,, Max H. Fleischmann, John Hays Hammond, Jr.; Capt. James E. Miller, Raymond B. Price, Henry A. Wise Wood and Henry Woodhouse.

Having reached the conclusion that efforts must be concentrated to get and train thousands of aviators and arrange to manufacture tens of thousands of modern airplanes of different types for training, bomb-dropping, artillery spotting, fighting machines and subm arme des trovers, - the - boar d

next turned to consider the ways and means of getting the aviators and machines. To do this the aviation training facilities and the sources of supplies for aircraft must be greatly extended. It was shown that at the beginning of the Britain did not have third of the aeronautic manufacturing facilities we have in the United States today and there was read a statement from the British controller of aeronautic supplies reporting that there are 958 firms engaged on work for the British directorate of aeronauticsupplies, 301 of which are direct contractors and 657 are sub-contractors. This report states that the total number of hands employed by the 50 firms of greater prominence is 66,700. There was also brought out the fact that the British budget for aeronautics for the present year totals $575,000,000. This is made public as. a result of its publication in connection with a discussion which took place in the house of commons recently. England ami France had to come up from a production of a few airplanes a m-snth to the present production of about 4,000 airplanes a month and have had to do that with limited resources in personnel and materials. The United States today has a better start than either France or England had at the beginning of the war and it has tremendous resources in workmen and materials.

It is all a question of adopting an extensive enough campaign to insure large production and of placing orders for continuous deliveries of airplanes and training of aviators and mechanics in large numbers. To do that there will be required large appropriations, but no trouble is anticipated In that direction. The government’s committee on public information has issued the following statement regarding part of the details of the steps already taken to train aviators in large numbers: “Last month a group of army officers visited the training camp of the Flying corps at Borden, Ont., one of the four camps established in Canada, and the aviation school at Toronto, where cadets are trained under military discipline for the service. In these schools there has been incorporated the latest European experience in the development of this new’ art of the air. “Our officers were deeply impressed with their observations, and as a result we called together here the heads of six prominent engineering schools, which also have military training, and made arrangements to establish a similar system in the United States. The six institutions are the Universities of California, Texas, Illinois and Ohio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Corhell university. Three technical instructors from each of these places were sent to Toronto. They returned after a comprehensive study of the course given there, prepared to teach it themselves. These six engineering schools have opened similar cadet aviation schools at their respective institutions.

Courses in Aviation. “These cadet schools might be described as laboratory courses in aviation. The students are given thorough instruction in the theory of flying, including the necessary physics and mathematics and the mechanics of airplane construction. The training schools are thoroughly equipped with samples of airplane parts and instruments for demonstration, as well as text-books. Technical matters relating to map-making, photography, bombdropping, sun-sighting and all simitar subjects which a military aviator must know rireaTsotatight. Allduring this time the cadet is under military training, following the methods Which Great Britain and Canada have found so successful. At the end of two months of this preliminary work the cadet is given a final -test to determine whether he shall go on to the aviation camp. “General Squier’s office has been handling these schools. All applications from persons who' wish to become military aviators have - been- turned over to this department, pver which Prof. Hiramlßingham of Yale has been" gi<ven~general direction by General Squier, and there have been far more applicants than could be admitted. The" schools began on May 10 and 25 cadets a week—are .entering each of the six colleges, which means that as soon as the first entering class completes its preliminary work approximately 150 students a week will be

available for the regular training camp with a'good ground work on which tostart their practical training. Six Hundred Cadets in Six Colleges. “There will be 600 cadets In the six colleges by July. In the meantime arrangements are going ahead for the nine aviation fields to receive their men when they are ready. The aircraft production board Is working constantly with’ the military departments in preparing for the construction of these fields. The standard field on which we are basing our program will provide for accommodating squadrons of 150 students each with the necessary officer instructors and enlisted men, together with a certain number of additional e«listed men

who wflll be training at the same time. “The hangars will take care of 72 airplanes. The preparation of these fields will cost approximately a million dollars each, including the construction of the necessary buildings, dormitories, work shops and hangars. A standard set of buildings has already been worked out, the fields will be approximately a mile square, and great care is being taken by the military officers as regards their location. “We are estimating about four months as the period for getting these students ready for army service. “The aircraft production board is working hard to assist the military departments in their arrangements to have all these related activities coordinated and at the same time to get the necessary training machines ready in time for their use. “Both the manufacturing problem and the 7 training problem will be much simplified the second year if we can establish the proper co-ordination of effort this year. ’ The manufacturing -capacity-can easilybe -doubled- the second year. In getting the co-operation of the manufacturers in placing their facilities at the disposal of the government we have found the organization of the Aircraft Manufacturers’ association, effected last February, of great assistance. “A prominent British general has asserted that America’s greatest contribution to the war will be aircraft and aviators. We believe that once started upon quantity production Xtnerican mechanical genius will over' iwjne any present obstacles to the prog<_ Egress of the art.”