The Washington herald., 1917-06-06
Army and Navy News
Best Service Column IN city.

Three aviation fields-at Dayton,
Ohio; Detroit and Champagne, III
are now actually under construction,
and the Government is preparing in
earnest TO train ayiators for work in
for Sse b, 1sI gsS m eifs but T n tse pc esn rsay
time cadets are In training at the tenn
porary schools established in six en-
gineering colleges and uniyersitieS
France and Great Britain have made
It plain again and again that they
expect aircraft and aviators to be
uons 10 success in the war, Howard
z. Coffin, chairman OF the board said: /:
The Government can now say that
1t Is actually embarked on the task
Of overcoming its present deficiency
Il the % Outlook % promises y" a OeTdeS ouieS t6ee aee
velopment Of the latent air resources
Of America, which may be unpre-
cedented in the military history Of
the world.
vention Of both the submarine and the
aeroplane.. In the development of
both she has allowed Europe TO out
strip her. 1t ts for US to show that
We can yet surpass both our enemies
and our allies In the development
don for which we ourselves are re-
sponsible. We believe that we are
making progress IN our air program.
and We intend to increase rather than
diminish speed a swe go forward"
U. s. Aerial Base in France.
The board announced that the
government not only has rushed its
plans for the completion of its
American fields, but that q site al
have been let and preparations for
construction are under way for a
duplicate of the American standard
two-squadron field to be prepared
in France for the first aviators
graduated from the American fields.
can fields at the end Of their
four months training, they will fly
to the Atlantic coast and embark
for France. On French soil, under
French instructors and with French
machines. they will complete their
preparation for actual work at the
front.
This American field in France will
be entirely a product of American
brains and American energy. The
buildings will be constructed and
the field prepared by American con-
tracing firms and IL will be an ex-
act model OF aviation fields which
the American government II now
constructing in the United States.
The material for its construction
will be shipped to France from
America Thousands of men are
now engaged in the preparation OF
the aviation fields at Dayton, De-
troit and Champagne.
I'VE are perfecting plans as We pro-
gress for more thorough cooperation
with our allies on problems Of aero
We shall be in constant cooperation
with European aeroplans constructors
in exchanging designs and ideas for
combat machines, and although We
are. Of course, under a preliminary
disadvantage. Americas mechanical
adaptability will rapidly enable us to
speed up quantity production ana
begin to overhaul Europe in the de-
velOpment Of the industry"
The Dayton field is the largest OF
the new government fields. 1t Is 250U
acres in area and is built to houso
two. The hangers will house IA
aeroplans, and so students can be
trained there at a time. Including Of
ficers, enlisted men, instructors and
workmen. there will be in all LOO
school lies within the state-owneo
conservation territory Of about 1900
acres, and it will therefore be pos
sible to add any amount OF land
necessary should It later prove de-
sirable 10 increase the size Of the
field.
The government is engaged now in
investigating locations for the six
two-squadrpn fields. the sites for sone
OF which have not yet been chosen,
and work on these will begin as soon
as they are selected. The instructors
for these fields will be drawn from
the members Of the aviation section
OF the regular army who have been
at the Mexican border and as fast
as the cadets are trained a few of
the most promising will be utilized
for training newcomers.