Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-11-18
j. s. ARMY AERO
FLEET WILL SOON
TRY FIRST FLIGHT
Journey through Air from Fort
Sill, Okla, to San Antonio,
Texas, Will BE Begun
Saturday Morning.

Fort Sill, Okla, Nov. 1.-THE first aero
squadron of the United states army. de-
signed for use in the field in connection
With troop operations. will fly from its
temporary station at Fort Sill to it's per-
manent home In San Antonio, Texas, in a
few days. Six aeroplanes will make the
fiight--the first OF it's kind in this country.
The aerial journey will he made unde:
conditions as nearly like those encoun
tered In actual wartime as possible. Tho
start is expected to be made On Novem-
Der 90 Bad weather or delay in compile
ton Of hangers, barracks and quarters at
San Antonio, however. may delay the trip.
The distance to be covered Is 45o miles.
Stops will be made at these points in
Texas: Wichita Falls. Bowie Decatur,
Fort Worth. Cleburne. Hllshoro, Waco,
Georgetown, Austin and possibly at Gram
ger and Temple
The flight is intended to give line on
just how army aviators may be expected
to work during a war. 1t Is desired to
test to the utmost the ability of the fliers
to follow a previously designated route
over unknown country; it will give an
opportunity to try the army transport sys-
TEN under stipulated war conditions, since
trucks following the aeroplares will be
forced to make an average of eight miles
day on land; it will test the power of
the motors to stand up under service con-
ditions and the resourcefrlness and adap-
, liability Of the army flying organization
particularly its supply department
| To each aeroplane will be assigned one
| track as tender carrying the crew. TOOLS
spare parts and other supplies. a newly
developed machine shop truck, carrying
lathe and forge, will be along to MAIN
tain the squadron on the way. For minor
repairs to aeroplanes forced to land
through motor trouble, a corps of six
motor cycles carrying emergency repair
Kits and all capable of great speed, will
be depended upon.
The first aero squadron. signal corps.
L. 8. A.. is the official designation Of the
flying unit. The squadron Is divided into
six flying sections. a transparent section.
supply section, an engineer section
charged with motor repairs. and a head
quarters section. The officers are Captain
B. D. Foulois, commanding. and 1.ieuten-
ants T. D! Milling, c. c. Chapman. ]. Z.
Carberry, T. s. Bowen and I. A. RAIDER
Captain Foulos is the olderst military
flyer in the United States in point OF
service. With Orville Wright he COM
pleted the first cross-country flight mad,
by military aeroplane. This was made
at Fort Myer. Va. in 1908.
As the 1st army squadron is for
service with field troops. it must be
separated from the Army Aviation
school at San Diego. Cal. where OPP
portunities for the preliminary train
Ing Of aviators are excellent. but
where no large bodies of troops are
available for reconnaissance work.
observation of artillery fire. and many
other important duties demanded Of
the military flyer to-day.
| Fort Sill was chosen as a tempor-
airy station for the squadron because
OF the opportunity for work in CO.
operation with the artillery arm tho
School Of Fire for training artillery
Officers in the conduct of fire and in
the difficult art of supervising a bat
terry under war conditions, is held
| every fall at Fort Sill, because its
terrain and great extent of reserva-
ton afford the best opportunities for
operations. Conditions on the Texas
border which took many troops from
Fort Sill made 1t impossible to hold
| N'N NNioOA Va L iit tlIIS ear. HOW
ever. the aviators of the squadron
have taken advantage of many OPP
portunities to observe the batteries
| remaining at the Oklahoma reserva-
| ton. Much experience also has been
| gained in aerial map reading. in To-
eating targets, watching the fall OF
shot fired by the batteries and spot
ting the hits on the maps and pick
| Ing up the batteries themselves on
the march and in position.
| The invention of an automatic survey
camera has occupied much OF the tims
OF the aviators. This apparatus, " hon
set In operation by the pilot OF the aero-
| plane In which II Is installed, takes
| continuous series Of photographs of the
! grounds uud meath the line of flight The
| photograph can he made ready instantly
on landing and gives a connected group
| Of overlapping pictures to which scale
can be applied and from which the range
to any point shown on them can be 1T
once obtained, In addition to this sur
vey camera telephoto lens can be nut
In operation which will search out with
provision impossible to the fast travelin.
aviator, the ground below for evidences
OF concealed troops. batteries and COM
voys, Similar experiments will be con.
tinued at San Antonio