The Washington times., 1917-05-23
U. S. AIRMEN SAVE
CITY OF VERDUN
Enable French to Keep Open
Main Supply Road.
LEON CAMMER TELLS STORY
FavOrs Final Drill Abroad Of
American AYiatOrs.

NEW YORK. May 23.-Ths demand
of the United States Government for
the production OF $500 airplanes this
year. the output to be doubled each
succeeding year. as announced by the
Council of National Defense. falls on
an industry which. last year. deliver
ed to the United States army "a out Of
a total order 366 machines. and which.
in the eight years preceding 1915. had
delivered only 81 out Of 50 machines
ordered, according to figures compiled
by the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics. Yet airplane max
ers, manufacturers OF motors. and
men who have financed the industry in
the past believe the demand OF the
Government can be met
"It Is perhaps not generally ap-
preciated by the American people.
said Leon Cammen. vice president Of
the American Aeronautical Society.
yesterday, shat the chief need Of our
allies and the one we should strive to
an frst Is aviators. France and Eng
land need them at the battle fronts
perhaps more than anything else. And
they need American aviators In partic-
ular."
Americans OuteIass French Fliers-
aAII we hear Of over here are the
exploits of the daredevils Of the air.
the men who have brought down their
nineteenth OF their twentieth 'Boche.'
We don't hear Of the less spectacular
but fully as valuable work OF the
men who fly In sauadrOns against
squadrons of the enemy. who do re
connoissance work or who act a. the
eyes Of the big guns and hover over
the section under bombardment spot
ting the falls OF shells and directing
the xunnerS. And II isn't generally
known that American fiiers ars ideal
for such work just as they are un-
surpassed for the more thrilling task
OF single combat
The point Is that the French are
not so. There r. in France a class OF
men who are pre-eminent as indi-
viduai hiers, whose skill and daring
may be matched but cannot be ex-
ceIled even by an American. But this
class IL limited IN number and back
OF Il the average Frenehman doeI not
make an ideal aviator. II Is the
American who has shown himself es-
pecialIy adapted to this work
at was a group Of American nlers.
the Esquadrille Lafayette. who saved
verdun. That surprises you? But IT
Is true. / have II on authority of
Frenchmen themselves. army men and
hiers, and there Is no doubt of the
truth. II was at verdun, too. that
military men first realized the value
OF the airplane for something more
than bomb dropping work. For, you
must remember. aviation abroad was
not much further advanced at the
outbreak of war than Il Is here to-
day; not so far. At first the planes,
just ordinary exhibition machines,
were employed to carry bombs to be
dropped on enemy territory. 1t was
verdun that taught their value for
reconnaissance and gun sighting.
AIrpInnes Saved Verdun.
do you recall that the attack on
verdun came so suddenly and so un-
expectedIy that for three or four
days the French thought II a feint
designed to force the withdrawal Of
their men from about Ypres so that
the Germans might break through to
Calais? When the French found that
It was a genuine attack they faced.
the Germans already had sent their
airmen scudding over Verdun and its
environs. They had mapped the two
railroads-one a broad gauge, one q
narrow gauge-that entered Verdun
from the southwest and provided the
only mechanical road for the en-
trance Of munitions into the fortress
and town
The salvation OF Verdun, and prob
ably of France, depended on keeping
open the motor road from Verdun to
Buc, yet the German fiiers had already
begun to speed past Verdun. directing
the she'll fire Of their big guns
against just this road. Petain sent
an urgent call for aviators to drive
OF the German fiiers and to confound
their artIIlerymen by depriving them
OF the services OF their flying spot
ters.'
"And they sent him the Esquadrills
the American fiiers who al
ready had made a name for them
selves by their daring and hardihood.
The Americans went aloft over Yer
dun and gave battle to the Germans
They drove them back and kept them
back so that no man might direct a
gun against that road to Buc-La
Vote Sacree,' or the Sacred Road. as
the French now call II.
"And over II rolled the trains of mo-
tors bringing the munitions and sup
plies that made Verdun a turning
point in the war. So much the Es-
quadrille Lafayette accomplished. Do
you wonder they want American