The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-07-19
Navy For the Air
By Frederick J. Haskin.

INOl lOlJs dSO IuCIS was oil CAIChdSN
debate in the English House of Com
mons over some phase of the aircraft
situation. Finally arose a member, who
! is closely connected with the aircraft
| industry and the air service, and re-
marked: Gentlemen, if you will pro-
vide for the selection of our best aviator
and our best aeroplane, and the sending
of that man and that machine to the
United States, you will do more toward
winning the war than has been done by
all the debates that have been held in
this House since August, 1914
This man, who knows the problems of
building an immense fleet of aeroplanes
and sending them to the front in a
hurry, spoke from realization of what
are to be our two principal tasks in pre-
pairing our aerial navy. The task has
two main ts-getting the machines
and getting the men. The speaker in
the House of Commons indicated in a
somewhat epigrammatic way that by
sending her best battle-p planes to America
to serve for models and some of her
best men to serve as instructors,
England would be paving the way for
the return of such aeroplanes and such
aviators in the ratio of thousand to
one.
The United States will have the
benefit of the best English and French
experience in building battle planes. A
commission of l25 American experts is
already in England studying methods
and designs. A number of French
aYiators taken direct from the battle
front have been in this country for some
time acting in an advisory capacity.
There is no reason to doubt that we will
build as good machines as any that are
built in Europe. In certain types,
notably the small very fast and some
what unsafe machines used for attack
and pursuit, we have never built any
thing that quite equals the Allies
machines. This is due partly to the
fact that our manufacturers deliberate
ly keep the factor of safety high at a
sacrifice of some speed and quickness of
response.
Under the circumstances this is the
soundest policy. An aviator can learn
his trade in a machine making ITO miles
an hour sufficiently well to give battle
effectively in one that makes 1870 miles.
In the slower machine he is only about
half as likely to be accldently killed,
and each aviator represents national
asset worth some thousands of dollars,
taking six or eight months of expert
training to replace.
On the other hand, in the manufacture
Of certain types of machines we already
equal, if we do not excel, any nation on
earth. Our heavy bombing planes, our
seaplanes and our training planes are
recognized as equal to the best. There
is no reason to doubt that we shall pro.
duce the machines for our air navy in
sufficient quantity of the best types
The Aircraft Production Board, which
planned first to construct only 3, SOC
aerOplanes the first year, now feels con
fident that we can produce many times
that number. In the important matter
of engines indications are not lacking
that we shall develop a better type
than either the English or the French
At the Bureau of Standards they are
working on the perfection of an aero
plane engine to be known as the "Al
America, which will be standardized
for large scale production. Naturally
u nc details are to be given out concern
ing the performance of the model OF
which the standard is said to be based.
If the truth be told our chief rival il
the construction of efficient engines anC
the best types of aeroplanes will prob
ably be eventually neither England mol
France, but Germany. 1t is the opinion
of many American observers that from
the beginning OF the war Germany has
had slight but undenlabe superiority
in the type of her aircraft
This superiority has been more thai
overcome by the equally undeniabl'
superiority of the Allied personnel. l.
the Germans haye had the machine
the Allies have had the men. and tina
good men WIN even under a handicap l.
shown by the fact that it is the Allie
who hold the upper hand in the air to
day And this mention of personne
suggests the other half of our grea
task selecting and training the mel
for our air fleet.
Some of the more enthusiastic sup
porters of the aeroplane program speal
of 100, 600 aeroplanes flying over Ger
; many. Eventually we could come I,
that, but it is long way off. 1t would
l mean at least 300, 900 aeroplanes all il
/ all, and our pending bill only calls fo
{ AZ, 600 engines. Moreover 100, 900 ma
t chimes are probably more than we need
) Ten thousand aviators can turn thu
r