The Washington times., 1918-05-22
CURTISS FACTORY
PRODUCES PLANES
TO TRAIN FLYERS
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Continued from First Pags.)

4
sential though in the waters sur
/ rounding Great Britain where thu
hunt for submarines 10 carried on
/ II Is to be presumed that the Britisl
are supplying defense machines Il
/ protect the flying boats as they 10
/ cate the undersea boats and droT
their depth bombs
These navy craft are all equipped
with Liberty motors which are work
ing well, too So again one discovers
advantages Of versatility IN that
much abused but nevertheless effe,s-
tive standardized motor.
But a big plant like this cannot
keep its organization together and
all its working units intact on the
small amount OF work the navy will
have or merely on training planes II a
plethora in thta type is being reach
ed. Il can be readily seen why 90
much confusion as to who Is right or
wrong in the whole aircraft business
exists, when things which am about
to describe happen.
Last October drawings were ready
for the immediate manufacture OF the
"Spad" or one-seatsd fighting scout.
The month OF November was waited
trying to make the Liberty motor ut
NAAAa ANANN.e-A - ~ 1A1 AAAA-AAa 81
other motor wa; being tried out when
word came t. stop building -Spads."
That word came from General PERISH
ing and IL never hsa been explained
whether ~ was confident he cOuld get
all me scouts he wanted from the
French or whether he began to see
that the scout was not going - be Of
much further use as a fighter.
Ideas From WashinEto7.
Anyway. the Curtiss people were
told to build Bristol two-seated hght-
ers and had some trouble with the
drawings. Finally in January thcy
started to make twenty-five Bristols,
but II was decided in Washington that
bomb dropping devices, oxygen tanks,
heating instruments, harelights, and
other things be added to the equip
ment
throughout March and April and the
''Eo ahead" received early In the
present month. The general impress
sion seems to be that the Govern
ment Is trying to make the Bristol
do things II cannot do and that the
orders for this type will not be re-
peated.
Now imagine an organization Of
several thousand men gotten together
and specially trained and then have
chanEes-perfectly necessary perhaps
and ineVitable-eoming along TO de-
lay and disrupt the best laid Of
plans. It takes q long time to get
drawings ready and models made
after they are once decided upon
and unless on finishing one order.
the working force Is ready to start
in with the next order, employees
cannot be kept They viii not be
impressed or held II gaps" occur
in production
The Government must keep an eye
on the working force, especially when
It Is considered how much time and
money Is invested indirectly by the
Government in training those en-
ployes.
am convinced that the large
plants can turn out any kind OF aero
planes that are designed, but the
policy Of the Government heretofore
has been to scatter its orders among
smaller concerns that to date do not
seem to have added materially to our
production
Outlay Of Money.
Congress and the people generally
nave no uOuDA pGGu given AA9 AAAPANS-
sion that much money has been spent
AS a matter Of fact, less than two
hundred millions has actually been
disbursed out OF appropriations and
authorizations many times that sum
Extravaganza unquestionably there
has been here and there. meddling BY
Germans has been suspected as behind
some delays, but in neither of these
q ~ anA FfTnAmunanFn1
for the absence OF battleplanes at the
Curtiss plant They haven't been
built apparently because Washington
didn't want Bristol machines in a
hurry or possibly not at all But the
request for Bristols has now been re-
neWed. Has anyone planned what q
TO be built thereafter The designs
ought be here now but they are not
Success in aeroplane building will
come to the nation that looks ahea1
and plans ahead and keeps its organI-