The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-07-23
H. &. Coffin, Of Naval Consult.
ing Board, Predicts Marvel.
GUS Aerial Progress.
HE F0RESEES MAILS BY AIR
Declares Standardization will
Soon Place America Ahead
Of Europe.

NEW YORK. July 23.-"I have reason
TO believe that within the next six
months a giant Zeppelin will fly across
the sea from Berlin and land in New
York City"
This statement was made To the
United Press today by Howard e. Cof-
fin. chairman Of tho Naval Consulting
Board on Industrial Preparedness.
Internationally II was the arrival Of
the submarine at Baltimore that scared
Congress into appropriating millions for
army any navy development" he de-
clared.
The quicker the Zeppelin arrives the
better. for It will scare us into more
preparedness.
aerlal development Is a tremendous step
Forward. With this encoura cement we
engineers today are starting to stand
ardize and develop aerial DEVELOPMENT
In the United States.
Within three years from today the
United States will have an aerial army
Europe cannot begin to equal
Expects Marts by Aircraft.
within two years the entire mail
service OF the United States will be
handled via aircraft.
'ANhi ehc same perlOu great pas
senser carrying airships will follow air
routes all over the county. This il
not flight Of fancy. but Of fact. Tho
explanation is simple:
American industries can be co-ordi-
mated and standardized. Europes cam
not. What happened In the automobile
industry proves that. In 1905 foreign
cars were far ahead Of ours. In 1903 the
American engineers got together. stand
s Msm e. their ,, processes. and paved the
To-day there are 2.s00.O00 American
made cars running in the United States.
and of the 100000 cars running in ali
other countries. more than half Of them
are American make.
That's what will happen in aerial de-
yeiopment within very few years.
The $0. 1000 appropriation started the
ball rolling. Our engineers are together
for the first time on aircraft. Our
dreds Of millions into the industry.
To Surpass Development Abroad.
'Europe's aerial development has
been neither healthy nor normal. It
has been too feverish. The fact that
they are fighting among themselves
prevents universal European Standard
cation. hence prevents the aerial devel-
Could t AK On st the to SAs IL field within
q few minutes ride Of where we sit
this minute and show you a fighting
aeroplane that outstrips anything the
Europeans have dreamed Of.
TT Is a plane with a secret auto
matte control by which 1t can be
started In the waters of Lake Michi-
gam skim the surface for q given
number of miles, automatically rise
to given height in the air, go a pre-.
arranged and exact distance in one
OF several directions and automat.
ically alight at a given point in Texas
or elsewhere.
"This type of aeroplane will be de.
veloped into the elf-directing aeria
torpedo. All this torpedo will need
rs was said Of the AZ centimeter gun
will be the enemy's address.
Automatic Fighters Likely.
We will have dirigibles Of the Yep
pelin type Germany never will have
We will have fighting planes and
scouts Of such makeup and in such
numbers as France and England
never dreamed Of.
"A fleet Of automatically controlled
aeroplanes with machine guns mount
ed on them and timed to begin thei.
charge after going hundreds Of miles
to find an enemy, without the pres
enee Of a single pilot is a very immi-
This aerial development may mean
the difference between victory and
defeat to us. We are getting started