Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-21
10 BERLIN BY AIR,
PLAN OF ALLIES
u. S. Can Make Invasion
Possible by Supplying
Great Battleplane Fleet
FRENCH EXPERT EXPLAINS

WASHINGTON. June 2l.
Invasion Of Germany-carrying the night
into the Kaiser's territory through the air
with success deemed certain by allied
war heads, is the plan Of the Allies, II be-
came officially known here today.
ChIeftains Of visiting war commissions
insist the plan will bring complete victory
nearer by many months, provided the Ma
tional Defense Councils aircraft produc-
tion boards program goes through. That
program calls for 1000 American air ma
chimes for the fighting front by April and
for 10000 by August, 1913.
Lieutenant Almaury de la Grange, noted
French air fighter, today made this revela-
tion. He emphasized the Importance with
which the Allied general staffs regard
Americas capabilities In furnishing the
"air preponderance" and said he was con-
vinced this would make possible the shat
tering OF the Teuton battle lines.
Nothing is impossible II the Allies get
and hold mastery of the air." Lieutenant
De la Grange SAID convnclngly. Berlin is
even open TO us. Let America contribute as
her biggest share toward re-establishment
OF democracy the air preponderance, as she
can do, and then, indeed, will German 'di-
vine right rulers call for real peace in
stead OF a pseudo peace.
put through this proposed program and
you Americans will have done more to end
the war with less cost IN money and lives
dozen ways.
put through this program and we can
destroy the great German munition works.
their great mobilization depots their great
factories for production Of motor transport
and flying machines.
CAN DESTROY KEEL CANAL
Put It through and you Americans will
make possible the destruction Of those bases
from which steal the murderous subma-
Nab tn
great air sduadrons and we fighting men
will make scrap paper Of the great Ger
man naval bases. The Kiel Canal will be
made useless II we have sufficient ma
chimes.
with sufficient machines we fighting men
YOURS and ours-will render impotent the
huge guns Of Helgoland and make possible
the notwithstanding OF that fortress by
your battle fleets and ours. Anything Is pos
sible. If you but furnish the preponderance
IN the air.
Germany has declared 'verboten' certain
sea zones with complete air mastery we
will declare forbidden zones In German ter
ritory-say a zone 100 miles behind the
German lines. We will give civilians ample
time 70 move away.
WOULD CRIPPLE GERMANY
Then with numerically superior air
fighters we can conduct super-ralds behind
the lines, over munitions plants, on troop
mobilization points and on artillery sta
tions that will make it impossible for the
Germans to withstand any series Of attacks.
but we must have four to one German
machine to do this America can do II.
'Now, there are three major styles of
machines-the training machine, the OBJ
servaton and the battleplane. The first
needs little explanation. 1t is the style ma
chine America first made and is now maxi
ing. 1t is cheapest
"The observers machine without which
effective artlllerying or in fact any sort
Of ground fighting Is useless in this day
IS not a fighting machine, although 1t Is
armed for defense. II carries only small
machine gun. II is helpless before battle
plane Its duty is to seek out enemy bat
teries keep tab on enemy troop movements
direct artillery fire. And during attacks
Il is only through the observation machine
that the staff behind our lines can tell how
an attack is progressing. An attack in
great force is terribly handicapped and
at times Its success is completely endangered
through lack of observation machines. We
need thousands more Of them. They do
their talking to the ground by wireless !;
( they receive instructions via sort Of wig
wag system.
but observation work is impossible
without battle planes The battle planes
make observations possible. At first each
observation machine was conveyed by one
or more machines. Now we do II differ
entity. The observation planes 80 about
their work alone at a height Of from 500
TO 1000 feet. Two or three battleplanes
are kept in the air 10 repel attacks on each
observation plane. Battleplanes carry the
fighting into enemy territory.
WOULD INVADE GERMANY
"Jt would be the battle planes with which
we would invade Germany. But we must
have thousands and thousands more OF
) them to do it. BY having two planes 20
protect each observation plane we can
save the reconnaissance planes, but this
won't give us air supremacy.
ITO get this supremacy we must put to-
gether great bombing squadrons and send
! them far into German territory.
up to now we have been, with rare ex-
ceptions, using the aeroplane as an instru-
ment of information, but II can he power
full weapon If used in large numbers. We
Z In Europe cannot produce as many ma
chimes as we want. You in America can
You can build an unlimited number. You
can give us absolute air supremacy. Then
we can go where we please.
You Americans can open the road for
democracy directly into Berlin"