Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-07-12
A NAVY FOR THE AIR
BY FREDERIC J. HAsIkIN


WASHINGTON. July 1o.-The poo
pie OF tho United States. through their
representatives in Congress-. are asked
10 appropriate the neat sum OF $685.
100000 for tho building Of lighting
force Of airplanes., Upon what evidence
do tho supporters of this program base
their request for, this large sum? Hero
10 some OF the moro striking owl
dence Of tho efficiency Of the airplsne--
and let It be stated at onco that every
dollar invested In an air fleet will be
money we'll spent. even IL the projected
Sum 10 doubled.
We want airplanes because they arc
tho most promising means in sight to
win this war quickly. cleanly. with
economy OF American lives. Airplancs
lave proved this In the last two years.
a great deal has been written OF what
atrpinnes mny dc. k.htlr siastio writ
els and Rrtists have written and
sketched descriptions of n hundred
thousand American airships scattering
death and terror over Germany. de-
stroying munition plants. blowing up
submarines bases attacking and scat
tertng troops in reserve miles behind
the fighting line. and generally leaving
the Prussian no haven on earth or in
the waters under the earth. The air
plane may yet do all these things.
But 1t is necessary to dip into tho
possibilities of tho future to find ample
justification for the most ambitious and
expensive airplane program. Let US
stick to the things eirplanes have actu-
ally have proved they can do-the
things they have actually done.
Eyer of the Army.
Without airplanes an army cannot
a
domination. and artillery domination
means land victory This is proven
principle of modern war. and Il IS
being proven over again every day on
the western front. Without a certain
amount OF supremacy In the air. tho
allies could not push the German limo
back. Given complete supremacy in
the air, they can break that line. We
can give them complete supremacy II
we strain our Industrial resources to
the utmost.
Tho airplnne In It's eeagoing form,
the lying boat or hydroplane, is the
best of all methods to fight the subma-
rine The aviator can see tho subma-
rine from thirty to 100 feet under water
He can see the wake Of a periscope
with ease, where ship can only see
1t with difficulty. He can swoop on
tho submarine In a few seconds. lie
can sink 1t with bombs, or IL he has
one of tho big new airplanes. he can
sink with one single shot from his
three-inch nonrecoil gun. All these
things have been done. From the very
beginning Of tho war submnrines have
been sunk from airplanes and dlrigibles
There arc score OF recorded in
stances, and how many subs the Brit
ish have destroyed this way. only the
Admiralty knows. Only few days ago
submarine rose and cleared her deck
guns to sink an Italian freighter in
IA rraF A
droplane dropped $500 feet and began
to drop bombs. The U-bont submerged
without ceremony. and may have been
sunk. The freighter was unframed
This sort OF thing is OF frequent occur
renee.
Within the flying radius OF the sea
planes. they make tho most effective
conveys. We car extend that radius
across the ocean by building bigger
and better seaplanes and by estab-
fishing ocean bases or mother-ships
The biggest and best flying boats in
using In this work. are built In
America.
Airplanes can sink battleshtps
single handed by the use Of torpedoes.
The form OF airplane used for ;his
purpose. tho torpodo-pla with its ac-
companying device for launching tor
pedo. Is tho invention Of an American.
Admiral Fiske. No battleship has yet
been runl by an airplane. but a Ger
man plane. using tie Fiske torpedo
launching device. has torpedoed and
sunk 3.5oo-ton British ship. the Gena-
Airplapes can inflict and have in
hicted. severe military damage on for
tined towns. mnnition bases. and sub
marine bases. Air raids by the Eng
fish on the German bases OF Ostends
and ZeebruGge. have inflicted such.
damage. as was admitted by the Ger
mans.
Repeatedly Rout Infantry.
Airplanes have repeatedly attacked
ana routed strong bodies OF infantry