El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-04-19
Over 100 German Air
Craft In Mexico, Says
Briton
PLANTS STARTED
TWO YEARS AGO
Southwest Would Be AT
Mercy of invading
Aerial Fleet


\ Lieutenant J. B. Felkner, Of
the Imperial British Flying
Corps, in an interview printed
in The Philadelphia Inquirer,
declares that there is an avail
able squadron of more than
100 German airplanes in Mex
leo. He obtained his lnforma-
ton, he says, from captured
German aviators with whom he
talked more than eighteen
months ago. 1t was then he
learned that in the fall Of 1914
German mechanics and ma
chinery-the latter designed
for manufacturing motors, the
former being expert machin-
ists-reached Mexico. Among
other things, Lieutenant Felix
ner says:
"Two years ago captured
German aviators did not hest
tate to tell of the presence in
Mexico Of German airplane
factories, under the direction
of German mechanics. They
also said several expert Ger
man aviation instructors had
been sent to Mexico. Within
the past few months, however,
the German aviators captured
have professed to know moth
ing about the Mexican enter
prise.
when we first heard Of the Mexi-
can airplanes we paid little attention
to it. I remember we used to specu-
late on the possibility of a feet Of
German airships getting away from
Mexico. sweeping northward over the
United States with an occasional stop
for fuel at stations secretly provided
and descending on Canada. That was
when the Canadian flying squadron
was just being formed and there were
less than a dozen w~arplanes in Can
ada and fewer men to handle them.
'In the light Of present events I
understand the purpose of Germany
in establishing an airplane base In
Mexico. If the plans talked about by
the German aviators were carried out,
and there were many details given
that at the time made 1t seem highly
probable they had been, Germany
was then preparing to make at least
n stab at the United States in case
of war. and the one against which
your country Is the least prepared.
Possibly in the records of your
tate department or in the archives
where President Wilson keeps his
private information, your government
has facts similar to those we learn
ed during the two years / was active
ly flying In the war zone.
while In Canada recently I repeat
ed the stories told by the German
captives and / was told, and my in
formant was in a position to know,
that among the German suspects ar
rested by the Canadian government
several had been found who predict
ed that in case of war between the
United States and Germany the peo-
pie of the United States would be
given a greater surprise than when
the Deutschland bobbed up ON this
side the Atlantic and again when the
German U-boat entered Newport. We
simply put two and two together, and
the four looked like an air raid from
the south.
II have passed the point where II
>...ssider myself an alarmist. l can
hOt of my personal knowledge say
there Is a single airplane in Mexico.
But as o sporting proposition, from
what ! was told by the German air.
g / would bet there are, and ex-
pect to win the bet.
"Do you know there are German
owned estates in Mexico where a han
gar accommodating 500 airplanes
could be put in and no one be the
wiser? Another thing, remember, If
Germany has an airplane station in
Mexico and a flying squad. she would
treat Mexico Just as she did Belgium.
Mexico's neutrality would not protect h