The Washington herald., 1918-06-27

parts.
Airpianes are being shipped from this
country In a disassembled form with
out markings. The crates. when re-
ceived on the other side, can be OPEN
ed and the parts assembled without
any regard to the building operation
on this side, and as / remember.
cable received only a few days ago
stated that within q few hours Of the
receipt of a certain shipment upon
the other side, planes were assembled.
and the engines running.
How U. 8. Does ThIngs.
That is the way In which America
viii build airplanes. II has taken time
to build the tools and the fixtures that
have made 1t possible to manufacture
parts. s. A. e. mem-
bers with their knowledge of manu-
featuring and repair problems will
realize what engine construction and
airplane construction mean when 1t
comes to keeping these machines in
operation at the front, because no mat
ter how many airplanes we ship to
Europe. IL the interchangeable repair
parts are not there. and IL the men
skilled In maintenance are not on
MANU. uldCfllhlCS Will 10 llIllG
good. We have heard a great deal
said about the possible time loss in
an American engine when
it was seemingly perfectly simple and
easy to adopt foreign engines, bring
them to this country and put them in
production. but II any one will show
me an institution in this country that
has adopted q foreign engine and put
1t into production In less than one or
two years, then will grant that the
argument may have some force. 1
might ask Mr.. Houston to tell you
about the, wright-Martin
experience. I think an order for en-
gines for the French government was
a year behind the estimate in deliy-
ry.
Qn response to a question from Mr..
Coffin. Mr.. Houston stated that the
time was just exactly a year,.
Year Behind DELIVER.
Just q year, behind the specified do
livery, although the drawings, the
engineers and the sample engines
were all brought to this country at
the same time. The General Vehicle
Company might tell a story about the
Gnome experience, and l know that
the treasurer of the American Loco
motive Works can tell a sad story
about the Berliet.
Those who have seen the engine ex-
hibit in the pavilion realize perhaps
some Of the reasons for hesitation IN
adopting certain engines when the
great point was speed and quantity in
production. After analyzing the situ-
alton and past experience from start
to finish. 1t was decided that Ameri-
can engineers working in the Ameri-
can way and with American machine
tool designers working with these en-
gineers. results could be gotten
months earlier than II foreign en-
gines were put into production in this
country. I think II is a fact that can
be borne out by any representative of
the British service that after three
years OF war. with some ten thousand
men In the main works, the leading
British company is producing fifty
engines per week. each develops fift-
horsepower less and weighs one hun
dred pounds more than the Liberty.
Now that gives a little insight into
some Of the arguments leading to the
design and putting into production of
the Liberty engine. 1t is Americas
purpose to build engines not only for
our own navy, our own army, but for
foreign countries as well. There is
n great difference between fifty en-
':ines a week ana nifty to one hun
dtcd engines a day, an output any
one OF a half dozen of the plants OF
his country plan to be producing in
ide or the next ninety to one hun
dred and twenty days.
Linen supply Important.
We have heard a good deal lately
about the Irish situation in England.
and that the linen situation was tied
up with 1t. The English aircraft pro-
duction was dependent upon this sup-
ply. The development In this coun-
try OF q substitute for linen made of
Sea Island long staple cotton, which
has In actual test been proved the
superior of linen, Is another of the
great influences in the DEVELOPMENT OF
and the participation of air.
craft in the war.
A third one is one that we PERHAPS
had to force upon some of our allies.
because or the spruce shortage we
insisted that satisfactory aircraft
could be built Of Douglas fr. BY
force OF necessity our allies were
obliged to begin using Douglas nr.
Inc latest experiments have shown
that Douglas ir is not only the equal
OF spruce. but is probably the su-
per1or, So that very much of the
spruce difficulty will be removed.
IL mas been an unfortunate handi-
cap to the air services from the be-
ginning that the matters Of censor
snip have been so exercised that the
truth Of the difficulties and accom-
could not be told, This
very fact, I think, has been largely
responsible for most of the exagger-
ated stories which have certainly
been contributing causes to the mis-
of the situation now
existing in many sections of the coun-
try.
am sure that all Of US who have
enjoyed the hospitality Of the Dayton
engineers feel that we can congratu-
late them. not only upon the style of
entertainment which they have af-
forded us. but upon the very real ac-
complishments which they have
shown US, and which will 20 a long
way toward showing our friends on
the other side that America il taking
her place beside them in the air, and
VIII go a long way toward helping
win the war.
II