The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-06-29
AMERICAS PROGRAM BEING PUT
INTO DEFINITE
SHAPE.
FRENCH AND U. S. FIELDS
Main Training To BE Here, Finishing
Touch Given In
France.


is being planned on a scale sufficient
tosweep the German flyers out of the
air and literally blind the German
army. is already under way.
Congress will within the next few
days he asked to appropriate $780,
100000 to carry out these plans, but
in the mainline the various branche s
of the Federal Government that deal
with aviation are pushing the work
of preparation on a large scale with
money already appropriated.
Three of the great aviation fields
which the War Department has plan
ned are actually under construction
sites for the other six fields have
been chosen and work on them will
soon begin. Cadets are now in train
ing schools established in six repre-
sentative engineering colleges ami
universities. Training planes have
already been ordered and will be
ready by the time the aviation fields
are completed; and the instruction
of the first group of 500 aviators will
begin not later than August 1.
Americas Contribution.
France and Great Britain, as well
as our own experts, have made it
plain they expect aircraft and avia-
tors to be one of Americas greatest
contributions to winning the war.
The Government can now say it is
actually embarked on the task of
overcoming it's present deficiency in
T."tcry aviation. We believe the
outlook promises a quick develope-
ment of the enormous latest air re-
sources of the United States, which
may be unprecedented in the military
history of the world.
America is responsible for the in
vention of both the submarine and
the aeroplane. In the development
of both she has allowed Europe to
outstrip her. 1t is for us to show we
can yet surpass both our enemies and
our Allies in the development of
these two great inventions which
NH4tIlNdiS III 81 COllttlNtu.
L. $. Has Rushed Plans.
1t will surprise many people to
know the United States has not only
rushed plans for completion of a
large number of aviation training
schools in this country, but has Sc
lected a site and let contracts for
construction of a duplicate of the
American standard two-squadrOns
flying field in France to receive the
first flyers graduated from the Ameri- |
can fields.
1t takes only four months to train |
flyer. As Americas new airmen |
finish their training they will embark |
for France. On French soil, under |
French instructors and with French |
machines they will complete their
preparation for work at the front.
This training field in France will |
be entirely product of American
brains and American energy. The |
buildings will be constructed and the
plans prepared by an American con-
tracing firm with materials shipped
from the United States.
Construction Work Begun.
Thousands of men are now engag-
ed in preparation of the aviation
fields at Dayton, Ohio, Champaign,
H., and Detroit, Mich. The Govern
ment has made them emergency pro-
Jccls and nothing is being permitted
to hamper their rapid construction.
The work on these is being separately
conducted and they will in no way in
terfere with the new army canton
ments.
Work began more than two weeks
ago on the big four squadron field
at Dayton. 1t is significant that this
field of $500 acres, the largest of all,
is on the site of the original field on
which the Wrights developed their
first successful aeroplane. The mod
est field of sc acres in which the
Wrights carried out their expert
ments is within the boundaries Of
the big, new Government field.
The Dayton field, which is twice as
big as any of the others, will accom-
modate l44 aerOplanes and 800 flyers
can be trained there at one time. As
the training period is just four
months this means that this one
field should graduate nearly 1000
flyers within one year. Including
officers, enlisted men, instructors and
mechanics, there will be 100 or
more persons at the school.
Aerial Navy Certainty.
Thoinstructors for these fields will
be members of the aviation section
of the regular army who have been
at the Mexican border, and as fast as
the cadets are trained few of the
most promising will be utilized for {
training newcomers.