The Washington herald., 1913-11-23
AIR Army OF U.S..
Inflow STANDING
Brig. Gen. Scriven Tells Of
Needs Of Flying Arm
of Service.
MEXICO'S FORCE BETTER

I'm this country It is not TO be doubted
that interest in aviation for exhibition
purposes and for sport is dying out. or
at least is not increasing" said Brig
Gen. George P. Scriven. chief signal Of
ficer Of the United States army In charge
OF Uncle Sans aviation corps.
Outside Of the army, interest in ayia-
ton may be on the decline, but inside
the army interest is todzy greater than
ever, and growing all the time. Military
men in this country, as well as thes- pro-
fessional brothers abroad. have no end Of
faith in the aeroplane. 1t has possibili-
ties. Just what they are no one seems
to know. Imagination has gone SO far
as to picture the craft OF the air as the
decisive factor in future warfare.
Newspaper readers may recollect sew
eral instances of the Use OF aeroplanes
in the Balkan war, but nothing happened
of sufficient importance to create deep
impression.
The Balkan war experience. nev1rthe-
less, did impress the military experts:
Aviators, not aviation were charged
with the shortcominEs Sincs-the cessa-
ton of hostilities, war game experts have
been studying in the minds eye the
moves that were made in the Balkans.
Now, lust when our own-experts are
prepared to try out some OF their the
ories, IL is found that there Is shortage
of aviators. If the demand for aylators
in the commercial and sporting nelds "
diminishing, as Gen. Scriven believes,
then it stands TO reason that the army
must develop its own aviators or do with
out them. Adding to his opening remark
Gen. Scriven said:
..Should the necessity arise for the sud
den expansion OF the flying arm we could
not go into civil life and obtain enough
qualified aviators. Even If We could nnd
a suficieut number of pilots in civil NE
their lack of military knowledge would De
a fatal drawback to reconnaissance work
This, of course, is due largely to the
want of practice under military condluons
required in cross-country work. am
not critieising the civilian pilot as a
pilot. but as a military aviator. for the
latter must be more than mere avia-
tor. He must have the military knowl-
edge to gather information that may oe
of use TO a commander N the field. and
be capable Of submitting an intelligent
report. an
Aviation" continued the general, "is
something new. We must develop as
other nations are developing. AoroGd' a
here, the last few years have seen tht
aeroplane much to the fore The fact
that France and Germany, however. are
paving SO much attention to the dirig-
ibles shows that the lighter-than-air ma
chine Is to be only one OF the great eie-
ments of aeronautics Of the future. II
follows that we should develop both tne
aeroplane and the dirigible. the latter al
least to an appreciable extent
Consider the present equipment OF ths
army in this respect We have no dirig'
ibles; there are eighteen aeropianes II
commission; four about to be delivered
and three large war planes are nearD
completed
ssThe appropriation for the current veal
is only s125. 600. Against this Germany has
fifteen dirigibles. fve under construction
42s aeropIanes. and 800 military riiofs
Russia has twelve dlrigieles, ten undel
construction. 200 aeroplanes, and eighty
military pilots. Even Mexico Is rePSrtec
to have seven aeroplanes and flye militar,
pilots. and the appropriation for lslS wa
$4,000