The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-06

| SQuadrOnS for the preparation of the
! coast defenses and for the concen-
| tration of troops, if necessary, while
| reserve planes hurrying out will keep
| the approaching craft under contin-
uous inspection while themselves in
visible. I'VE,
Had there been such a system
| round the British isles the Lusitania
| horror would not have occurred
Follow me moment. One of
| these seaplanes is patrolling fifty to
| 100 miles west OF San Francisco and
1900 feet or more up in the air. A
| ship or ships appear on the horizon
| fifty miles farther out. The power
full glasses are brought into play by
the observer. His trained eye recog-
| nizes the. number, character and
course of the ships The wireless
crackles the, information to the shore
station. The shore station trans
mits it to the great government wire
lless station at San Diego. That sta
ton snaps it eastward across the
Rockies. In a few minutes Washing
ton knows all about it, and if neces-
sary orders are snapped back to San
Francisco for whatever action is ad-
.visable
Spying Oh the Enemy
Let us imagine it is war. This
advance notice of the approach Of the
enemy is the first step. In modern
warfare hours and even minutes may
spell victory. The enemy is still un-
aware that his approach is known,
for the sentinel seaplane was invisible
to him. With the next step a cloud
of scout seaplanes sweep out in such
numbers as to, overWhelm and destroy
the enemy's aeroplanes, leaving him
blinded. Then follow the squadrons
of great battle triplanes, each machine
carrying several tons of high explos-
ives to drop upon the hostile fleet.
You can imagine the result.
"Aeroplanes are constantly being
perfected. Our facilities for building
them are increasing rapidly. But
machines are of no use without men
to drive them, and it takes six months
training to render a man fit to handle
an aeroplane and year or two more
to make him an expert.
''The passage of the aerial coast pa
troll bill and the efficient carrying out
Of it's provisions would in a years
time add some 1900 men to the coast
defense aviation personnel Of the
country. This is a matter Of pressing
individual interest to Philadelphia, to
Baltimore, to Washington, to Port
land, to Seattle and other cities.
Might Ruin One of Our Cities.
"In the present development of the
science of aviation a tramp steam
ship with squadron of .aeroplanes
and few tons of high explosives,
creeping inshore in thick weather,
might ruin any one of these cities in
a single night.
The tcoast patrol, however, is but
e1e feature of the country's needed
aerial development. To obtain that
development, to give us an air ser
vice. sufficient for our protection, to
secure for us that vital command of
the air, there is one basic thing which
we should have now, department
of aeronautics, separate from and in
dependent of both the army and the
navy, its head member ofs the presi-
Dental cabinet, in full and undivided
control of a comprehensive aero coast
defense system, which our peculiar
geographical position and extInded
coast line render Imperative; of a
system of aviation training schools To-
Gated lin each Of the principal geo.
graphical divisions of the country and
of the civil and commercial avenues
Of /aeronautic usefulness.
with our resources and mechani-
cal genius under the spur Of con-
centrated and undivided attention
such a department may in the near
future be more vital to our national
safety and integrity than either the
navy or the army.
Zone week of war cost will give us
projections. One week Of present
war cost to Great Britain would give
this country such a feet of aero
planes as could in an emergency rise
from our shores literally, like a. flock 4
of seagulls to defend and insure our
national integrity