The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-09-19
xom Observation-Disclosures Observation-Disclosures

water, but also from the air, steps must and
should be taken to muster an air feet absolutely
second to none on either hemisphere"
The reason for the selection in the Hay bill
Of the army for the first experiment is because
the army is at present far behind the navy in
attention to aviation and in the success attained
by its corps. This is due to the fact that the
army has been very much hampered by lack of
sufficient funds and by the failure Of congress to
designate any single branch Of the service as an
aviation corps, placing the burden Of the air work
on the Signal corps.
The navy, on the contrary, has for some time
possessed an aviation corps which has done splen-
did work. The recent movement of the base of
this corps from Annapolis, Md, to Pensacola, Fla,
has given the navy additional opportunity for ex-
cellent work.
When the fleet was ordered to Vera Cruz the
battleship Mississippi, which acted as the home
station of the hydros, was sent south with the
other fighting units Of the navy, and the work
of the navy's aeroplanes in the neighborhood of
Vera Cruz was the subject of more than one
complimentary message from Rear Admiral
Fletcher.
The army sent no aeroplanes to Mexico for a
very good reason-it had none to send that could
do the work demanded of them.
The army's fleet of aeroplanes is divided into
four sections, one at Galveston, Tex; one at San
Diego, Cal; one in the Hawaiian islands and
one in the Philippines. These military aero
planes are out of date in the sense that they are
capable of being used only for scouting purposes
and are not fitted for either defensive or Of
fensive purposes.
In the event Of an invasion of Mexico the army
aeroplanes at present in use would be invaluable
for use in determining the position and number
of the enemy's forces. But when 1t cam to
active participation in a battle they would be
practically useless. while the majority of the
European air corps are fitted up with special
rife rests, ammunition carriers and munitions of
war in order m reDu1aa attach from ahova r. IN
offer fight to forces on the ground.
I'VE must start by perfecting our scouting sys-
tenn" Is the opinion of Col. Samuel Reber, who Is
in charge Of the present aviation squad, "as a
child first learns to crawl. After that he may
take up walking and then running. In the case
of aviation running means we will have a. fully
equipped fleet Of offensive eirships-our actions
will probably consist Of anything but running In
the literal meaning of the word.
"rhe advantage of the a~eroplane for scouting
purposes can hardly be overestimated. The mill
tary pilot seated five hundred or a thousand feet
in the air is able to see points Of vantage and to
catch glimpses of men on the ground which
would be entirely invisible either to the com
mander or to his scouts on the level. The num-
Der in any one detachment could be ascertained
with a surprising degree of accuracy by a pilot
versed In the art of war and the information
which he brings back to earth would be invalua-
BILE to the commander planning his campaign for
the next hour.
I'VE have succeeded in bringing our aviation
scouting operations to such a degree of success
that the time is entirely ripe for the next step in
the logical sequence-the establishment of a
separate aviation corps which will be powerful
enough to defend itself IL attacked or to give bat.
tie to small bodies of men on the ground, in addi-
ton to making the highly important and inn
mensely valuable surveys of the territory in front
of the advancing army"
The Hay bill provides for the creation of IAN
aviation corps which shall be a. part of the line