Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-10-07
AMERICA TO GIVE
UNDREAMED-OF AID
English Observer Says United
States Is Pursuing Wise Course
in War Preparations.
FLYING PLANS ARE ADMIRED
Many Features of Construction
Developed Here Recognized
by Foreign Engineers.
FLYING PLANS ARE ADMIRED

| MANCHESTER. October 6-"Amer-
| lea will make bigger difference than
most people. optimists included. think"
| says writer in the Manchester OBJ
server. THE voting OF 100000 900 for
| aerial warfare Is a mere financial pre-
liminary to administration that neither
hides nor reveals the scale OF Amer
ica's plans. Our new ally is bringing
! into this vital part OF the war that
! persuasive energy that makes her SO
| great In commerce Vast as the sum
voted is as compared with the five
! figure total parsimoniously doled out
| in peace time. 1t probably would not
seem eXtravaGant IL we could compare
it with our own outlay on aerial war.
fare on tho big scale In which we have
at last. realized 1T has got to be con-
hductcd
America is going to lay this money
out wisely. To an extent undreamed
OF by those who are too apt to judge
/ from The mere sensational and tech
nically absurd newspaper cuttings that
| reach this country. the very closest
possible cooperation between tho
i.American air service and our own
l'test technical and military author-
lies is now in full swing. and has in
deed existed from the day the United
States declared war. Necessary though
they are. one regrets the restrictions
on the free discussion OF the intensely
interesting details of the system and
of the big plans that are rapidly In
the making. That they concern aerial
offensive on huge scale is however.
| notorious.
I'm flying craft tho United States
starts where we are to-day, quick to
! learn both from our successes and
our mistakes far less hide-bound than
we have been. Her manufacturers,
having access to our best types, will
improve on them, unhampered by tech
meal shibboleths. And there is not a
doubt that the influence of the best OF
American designers and inventors will
| renvtgorate our own methods, official
and manufacturiis4that IS lie the ALI
/ board will act up to It's office and en-
sure that our best brains have full
scope. Among American machines aro
features and details deserving par
ticular attention from the Royal Ex-
detrimental Air Factory
AERONAUTIC MYOPIA L.
EVIDENCED BY GOVERNMENT
The only limits are those set by the
/ more or less restricted supplies Of GER
tain woods of labor, OF aerdrome space
ana the human material of which pilots
are made. That there must be diver
sion OF material and men from other
activities goes without saving. and it
is for our military leaders to decide to
what extent the part to be played by
I, aircraft justices :he diversion OF energy
\ from other military needs
Let them not again make the mis-
take--as they certainly have almost to
this very hour--of falling to see tho
possibilities There is plenty of evil
1, dcnce OF myopil If one refers back
either 10 government or public treat
mcnt Of aeronautics in Britain. France
and America, both before and after the
| war began. Our present enemies saw
| clearer In some ways: they saw the
need for high-powcr aero-engines-and
| In Germany there was no official en-.
| phasis on particular design OF modest
power tair-coolcd) to the discourage
| ment of the others; their imagination
ran to Zeppclins.
This matter Of tho engine is tre-
|
certainly on two occasions jeopardized
our supremacy in the air, and has
grave!y handicapped our air services
| IT might almost have rost us the war.
For the want of II shoe nail. might
not Il kingdom be lost?
Here the Americans have much leo
| way TO make Up for--but not for the
same rcason---tney have spent their
! energies on small motors. But the
| pubic must realize that the building
! OF vast aerial fleet takes many things.
Labor has TO be expended upon aid
dromes. of which one seldom finds; the
surface ready made. 1t involves
! square miles Of shcd-I rom. II demands
the training of tens OF thousands OF
craftsmen and engineers IN specialized
| directions. IT calls for hundreds upon
Hundreds OF instructors; and for thous-
ands upon thousands OF dying pupils,
Of whom three months IF preparation
eliminates n certain proportin of unit.
1T Is in some OF these things that
the United States. coming fresh into
the fray. can do what perhaps we alone
could never have done. They have
been hard at il a'rea6v. and by the
| early days OF next sprins the world
/ may have great Occasion for wonder"