Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-12-27
british plan
TO CONTROL AIR
VAST AIR FLEET BUILT AND BE-
ING PUT INTO ACTIVE SER.
VICE At HOME.
THOUSANDS TRAINING
TO BECOME AvIAToRs

Daily in Various War Zones-P'ane'
Now More Common Than Motor Cars
in Country Districts.
London. 27.-Some idea of the rap'o
and extensive growth of the BRUSH
aerial service Is given by c. q. Grey
editor Of the Acceptance. writing IN
London newspaper. He says:
Great as the growth OF the British
army has been, one may fairly assume
that the growth of the British nylne
services-which comprises the roya
flying corps-has been greater. ohe
cannot, of course, give numbers, sc
one can only indicate in general way
the immensely of the expansion wnicn
has taken place.
"As a branch Of the senior services
the r. n. A. S. must be considered frst
When war began the r. y. S. had JUST
completed q concentration OF Gil theii
available machines for the naval re-
view-which turned out to be the MOD
ilization Of the fleet - at Spithead
They managed to raise on that occas-
ion about twenty seaplanes, one nvlhs
boat and about twenty shore going
aeroplanes. The service was command
ed by q post captain, who had one
commander under him and about nall
a dozen squadron commanders, VINO
ranked as lieutenant commanders.
There was one big station for land
machines and five seaplane stations
along the coast. The admiralty re-
garded the whole thing as rather an
interesting hobby for few enthusiasts
backed by Mr.. Winston Churchill.
Deeds Of Filters Thrill.
Besides seaplanes and asropianes
the r. n. A. s. had a small but good
German airship, a small French air
ship which was nearly as good, ana
some curiosities in the way OF httie
British airships which had been hand
ed over by the army. Today the ad-
m!ralty thinks so much Of the n. N.
A. g. that 1t issues special commun-
iques almost daily recording the PROV
ess of naval aviators ashore and adoat;
in fact, the r. N. A. g. covers more pa
per in this way than does the whole OF
the rest OF the British navy. The Il.
N. A. S. is commanded by commo-
dore Of the first class, who Is also All
lord on board Of admiralty. He mas
two other commodores as coueagues
and probably half a dozen post cap
tains among his subordinates. Wing
commanders, who rank with command
ers r. ~, are reckoned by the dozen,
and squadron commanders are 30
numerous that without7'a copy Of the
navy list ono could not hope to keep
track Of them. ;.
There are naval air stations all
along the coast, and almost any one
Of them has more machines than the
whole r. NJ A. g.. possessed before the
war.
In Every 1hsatsr Of War.
I'm addition to coast defense work,
which includes submarine catching, the
r. N. A. 8. has stations abroad, espe-
cially in the Mediterranean, whence II
chases submarines. and 1t has large
number Of seaplane-caryins ships,
which enable 1t to work farther from
land than its coast patrols dare to 30.
Detachments Of the r. N. A. g., some
times with seaplanes. sometimes with
shore going machines, are cooperating
with the army in Flanders, in the Bal
kans, in Egypt, in German East Africa
and in Mesopotania, each detachment
being many times az large ~ the
whole Of the original r. N. A. 8.
IN addition &c rs ss.r!s:e. ana
land aeroplanes, the R. N. A. 3. has
hundreds Of airships Of various sizes,
which do good work in patroliins for
submarines and escorting food ships
in dangerous waters. Also 1t has many
kite balloons which are used for artii-
lery observation. The airship ana
kite balloon sections employ thousands
Of officers and men. so one may well
imagine how vast thing Is the X. n.
A.. s. Of today.
Vast as is the r. n. A. g., however,
it Is comparatively small anair
compared with the royal flying corps.
At the outbreak Of war the r. F. G.
was little. If any, stronger than the
r. n. A. S. Only month before the
war concentration Of all the squad
rons OF the r. F. c. was held on Sails
bury plain. To the best Of my recol-
lection the five squadrons there as
sembled could only get together about
40 aeroplanes.
Flying Corps an Army Now.
when war began I'VE sduadrons
were more or less fully equipped by
borrowing machines and motor trans
ports from the Central Flying school,
and all flew the channel to France sue
cessfully. which was a great feat IN
tinose days. Tic +. +. c., -:
commanded by brigadier general and
he had about seven or eight majors
under him commanding the squadrons
or on the STAFF. Today the r. F. @. is
a whole army in itself. Its then COM
mander is now lieutenant general Z
rank which would entitle him to COM
mand an army corps on the feld.
"As in the case Of the r. n. A. q,
the r. F. c. has special communicates
all to itself, issued by the general oni-
GERS commanding in -chief in various
parts Of the world, which is an honor
not accorded to any other branch OF
the kings army. The. r. F. O. nov
fights it's own battles in the air and
takes hand in everybody elses bat
ties as well, whether at home OF
| abroad.
Even in England one can obtain
some Idea of the expansion OF the corps
When passed an aerodrome neal
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