Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-07-22
GIVES HIGH PRAISE
T0GERMAN. A|RMEN
Personal Desires Subjugated to
Aims of Commanders, Says
Won Hoeppner.
MACHINES BEST IN WORLD
Allies Now Developing Type of
Craft That Give Teutons
! Trouble.
MACHINES BEST IN WORLD

THE HAGUE. July 21.-Gencral Won
Hoeppner, the communicative chief of
tne German aviation corps. has granted
an interview to the Berlin corresponds mt
OF Dutch news agency. in which he
admits the numerical superiority of
! tho allied air forces. and pays a high
efficiency of the British battle flyers.
In regard to the comparative strength
OF the air fleets. tho general said:
To Judge the results obtained by
, our aviators properly it must be taken
into consideration that the allies have
far greater number of airplancs than
We. especially on the western front.
In tho east we are little stronger
than the Russians, but on the Balkan
front the numerical advantage is de-
cidedly on the side of our opponents.
Numbers, however. mean little. The
main thing is the quality of the flying
machines and the efficiency of their
crews"
To the question whether the German
aviators were morally superior to their
opponents, the general replied:
The French Ayers do not equal our
men. but the Englishmen prove. espe-
cially as aviators. that they are OF
Germanic race-and fighters.
AS u rule, the French only attack
when they feel themselves numerically
superior. They mostly avoid a battle
under equal conditions. while the
British look for it. The Frenchman.
as rule. retreats IL his first attack
is not successful. but Britisher never
gives up. and fights until either he or
his adversary is shot down.
The English airmen are admirable
lighters. but in the most important
part OF the service they do not come
up TO the standard OF our carefully
trained aviators, who have been taught
that their principal duty is to obtain
reliable military information and good
photographs OF the positions of the
enemy.
Our aviators are. first of all, OBJ
servers. and as such have proven their
superiority This is partly due to the
excellent quality Of our airplanes
which surpass those of the enemy in
many respects. although the new Eng
lish 'Spads and the Scockvis triplancs
are splendid machines and almost equal
to our best.
There is a constant race in the con-
and battle airplanes. and at present
we arc ahead
FAILURE TO GET TRAINING
HAMPERS ALLIED AIRMES
Still more important than the quail
ity of the machines is that of the
crews. The battle aviators of the
enemy are as we'll prepared for their
work as ours, but not the observers.
lar
training. which is mediocre with the
French and poor with the English.
There our superiority lies. Our OBJ
servers have the highest appreciation
Of their duty and know that they are
not TO fight if they can avoid it. but
to get all possible information and
transmit II to the commanders with
the greatest speed.
True and we'll trained soldiers every
one of them, they carry out their work
successfully from day to day, in spite
of the numerical superiority and un-
questioned bravery of the enemy battle
aviators.
To the Englishman flying and fight
ing are sport. They always seek a
battle, no matter whether 1t is neces-
sary or not If there is a chance for
them TO fight they forget that they
were sent out to get information. and
that their safe return with good re.
port and photographs is of far more
Importance to their army than the pos
sible destruction of one O.. two Ger
man airplanes.
They take all kinds of unnecessary
risks and see their chief duty in fight
ing. The German aviator, on the other
hand. is no sportsman, but every inch
a soldier. and carries out his orders as
he has received them.
Our losses SO far have been COM
paratively small. because our COM
manders never send their men on err
rands that are foolhardy or impossible
Our aviators never fly singly. They
are always sent UP I'm small squadrons
so as TO make sure at least some of
them will return with the desired in
formation.
This is far more important than all
sporting spirit and bravery. Our fliers
are as courag eous AIS those Of any
other army. Every one of them wants
TO become a Boelcke and death has no
terror for them. but tic solution Of
their military problems means more
to them than all the glory that may
be gained in battle"