Arizona republican., 1915-10-27
Affairs of Army Aviation School at San Diego Are Made Public at Military Trial of Officer Charged With IncOmpetency
WAS NOT A
 "RIRD MANI
Drew Biz Pay as all Avia- tion Expert, and is AL legged to Have Never Been More Than Eighty Feet Above Earth in Flight
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcH1

SAN FRANCISCO, oct. 26.-Letters purporting to show there was an Gn- derstanding between Captain Arthur Cowan, commanding the North Island aviation school. near san Diego and Colonel Samuel Reber. head of the avi- ation section in Washington regarding the promotion of certain officers of the aviation corps, were introduced at the court martial of Lieutenant-CoIo Lewis Goodier, judge advocate of the western department Goodier is ac- Cused of having improperly advieed younger officers in preferring charges against Superior Officer Cowan, who has been drawing flying pay for two years.
 Lieutenant Dodd one of the San Diego army aviators who preferred the charges against Cowan previously tes- tfied that :he school commander was incompetent The hearing was ad- journed last week to await the core spondence of Colonel Reber and Cap tain Cowan during the last year and d half. CoWan spent the day on the stand. He was called by the prescott tion. The several letters, he said, were purely personal.
 Some one must have gotten access to my personal file" CoWan said. T had no knowledge that certain letters were to be brought here. Neither did I give my consent"
 Following this statement the court considered the question behind closed doors. Captain Geary. the trial judge advocate said the letters had been sent from san Diego in response to a formal request through the war de partment.
 In a letter written July 21. 1914. by Colonel Reber to Captain. Cowan. the commander was urged to have certain aviators qualify as soon as possible to fly so as to be eligible to flying pay
 "All you have to do.'' the letter read. lis to sit tight and draw your pay"
 IL was brought out during the day that Lieutenant Patterson had been recommended as junior military avia- tor early in 1914 and received his ap- pointment soon afterwards although he had never made a flight alone He had been drawing nearly s4O0 a month since september of last year as extra pay it was developed. Asked by counsel for the defense how long Lieutenant Pat terson had been flying alone. Captain ~'''eNii ctiiSN titQ dDOul one month.
 A letter written in January of this year was introduced from Colonel Re Der to Captain Cowan in which Colo nel Reber stated that Tie11tauant Pat JerSon's name had never appeared up the weekly flight reports.
 T am afraid some day some one Is going to question how he qualified as an aViat tor"
 According to the correspondence Colonel Reber wrote Captain CoWan in December last saving:
 Tt is rather embarrassing to rsd be- cause Lieutenant Patterson has not spent an hour in the air. Nobody has noticed it vet and no questions have been asked
 Tn response to question by Captain Greer counsel for the defendant. Can tain CoWan said that Lieutenant Pat terson had spent but 54 minutes in the air at the time he qualified as a junior military aviator.
 Captain COwan said his first actual illsht alone was in July 1913. This was 2 straight away flight. taking him. he Sald' only eighty feet in the air. About the middle of August this year he said. ne made another flight. this in a hydro aeroplane- Since then Captain Cowan said he had made five or six fIights alOpe