The Washington times., 1917-04-14
CITES AERIAL NEED
OF UNITED STATES
Alan r. HawIey, New Club Head,
Shows Nation Is Unprepared
for Emergencies.

In highly interesting article on
I Flying" Alan R. Hawley. president Of
the Aero Club OF America. sets forth
the salient points Of aero service for
possible national exigency.
He says the United States would be
considered partly prepared If It had
1000 aviators. 500 observation balloon
operators, and 100 dirigible balloon
pilots"
But. 1t develops. we have less than
900 military aviators, including all the
officers engaged in the administration
side of the service. and fewer than half
dozen officers familiar with the op-
GRAFTON Of observation balloons and
dirigibles.
Hawley thinks I'VE must act and we
must act quickly on substantial plans
which will give us 1000 aviators within
the coming six months. and 5000 avia-
tors as soon as possible"
Nearly All New Concerns.
"As the situation stands, there are
about a dozen aeroplane factories pro-
ducing for the army and navy. With a
few exceptions. they are all new con-
Germs which have had to do all the pre-
nminary work OF manufacturing and
are now just about to deliver machines.
But their total production Of aeroplanes
would not go very far IL the army and
navy undertook to train 1000 aviators.
These concerns and a score of other
firms are, however, ready to establish
large factories and develop large pro-
duction, and have offered their services
- Anfr a. ~. n .avaN
The solution Of the problem Is to place
substantial orders for steady deliveries
so that the manufacturers can order
and purchase the material needed and
keep their trained personnel happy with
a reasonable certainty Of permanency.
Heretofore the manufacturers have
had only small orders from the army
for quick deliveries, and they had moth
ing to look forward to. SO that they
could not afford to develop their manu-
featuring facilities, and their trained
personnel were everlastingly looking
for other positions. not knowing
whether when one order was completed
there would be any further business.
Can Get Ten n Day.
The United States army and navy
can. by placing orders today for deliv-
cries after sixty days. begin to get aero
planes delivered at the rate OF about
ten or more a day thereafter. But the
orders must be for steady deliveries so
as to make n possible for firms to pur-
chase the material needed and assure
their trained personnel of a steady job.
Getting dirigibles is quite a DIFF
ferent matter IL II means getting large
dirigibles. While the United States
army was one of the first armies in
the world to order a dirigible, having
issued specifications for one In 1907,
no encouragement whatever was
given thereafter to the developing
of dirigibles.
"The United States army ordered q
small dirfgible two years ago, but
that was all. So little was done in
that direction until several weeks ago,
when the United States navy ordered
si1teen small coast defense type
dirigibles of the type wlGch is used
in large numbers by the allies.
Fortunately, these small dirigibles
are easily manufactured and are very
efficient for coast patrol and hunting
for submarines. There will be more
difficulty in establishing the stations
and buildings for housing these and
training the pilots than there will be
in getting more dirigibles-provided
liveries so that the manufacturers can
get the materials needed for manufac-
turing.
"As amazing as 1t may seem, there
are only about half a dozen observa-