Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-10
PLANE PROGRAM NOT
UP TO EXPECTATIONS
GContinued From First Page.1
furnished to meet all requirements o
fraAne in .ENro

furnished to meet all requirements of
the troops in France.
One-man control of production Is
proposed and the committee sug-
gests that building be taken entirely
out of the hands of the Signal Corps.
Delay is charged not only in the
manufacture of Liberty motors and
machine parts, but in the training
of flyers as well. ..
President to Name Administrator
The committee recommended that
the one-man administrator be ap-
pointed by the President and assist
ed by q corps of expert engineers
and designers. 1t suggested that
mo man who has any near or re-
mote interest in a company manu-
featuring airplanes or engines should
be permitted to act as adviser or be
in authority" ..
The Liberty motor. the committee
declared lis just emerging from the
development or experimental stage"
and "is not designed for or can be
used in the swift single-seated fight
ing machines" OF 22,500 Liberty
motors ordered, the committee said,
only 122 have been completed for
the Army, 142for the Navy and four
shipped overseas.
The production Of Liberty mo-
tors to date is, of course, gravely
disappointing" says the report.
Government officials have
made the mistake of leading the
public and the allied nations to the
belief that many thousands of these
motors would be completed in the
spring of 1918. Information of this
sort. not borne out by the facts, has
been injurious, and it's constant dis
semination the committee regards
as misleading and detrimental to our
cause"
No Planes For Cadets in Training
Regarding the training of aVi-
tors, the committee found there has
been very serious delay" in pro-
viding them with training planes.
"As a result" the report says,
Several hundred of the American
cadets have been virtually idle and
have made no progress
About 1900 cadets were sent to
England, France and Italy last year
to receive primary and advanced
training.
''The experience of a great many
of these men has been most unfor-
tunate," says. the report, "in that at
some of the schools a very serious
delay has occurred in providing
them with training planes which it
was expected would be manufac-
tured in sufficient number.
about 450 of them are reported
as having completed the primary
training after long delay. The Sig
nal Corps is giving serious consid-
Grafton to the advisability of bring
ing the remainder back to the Unit
ed States"
Few Have "Advanced" Training
With four new schools under con-
struction, to be finished in June, the
committee said the Signal Corps is
now conducting twenty aviation
| training schools in this country with
total capacity of 5000 cadets.
Graduates have numbered 1926,
commissioned as reserve military
aviators. but every few have re-
ceived their advanced training.
With the exception of what the
committee referred to as severe dis
appointment" the primary training
of aviators was said to appear to be
progressing favorably. Fatalities
from accidents. the committee
said, were distressing, but appear
to be less frequent than in the
schools of our allies"
Regarding airplane construction
the committee found that from the
| inception OF the work on primary
training planes it gave ground for
grave concern"
I'm recent weeks, however" the
report said. 'the output has been
greatly increased and there seems
to be no doubt OF the Signal Corps
having an amply sufficient number
| in the future. On April 1, 3,45S
primary training planes had been
completed, of two standard types.
In advanced training planes. four
| types are being made, the total num-
ber to date manufactured being 342.
In these planes three types of en-
| gines (all of foreign design but
American manufacturer, will be
used. of which 965 have been con, =
HSzd.