Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-07-18
Air Craft Bombs
Soon to Turn
Tide of the War

lcS pcSll d iiitIi htu AiiipAp'S
ment in aircraft production of late,
and the Liberty motor is now being
produced in quantity-the leading
company shipped its one thousanth
engine the other day; but it has been
evident for some time that unless, as
John D. Ryan advised, a federal cor
poration was formed TO manufacture
airplanes. progress would be spasmodic
and the aircraft program would never
be speeded up. We are getting the
ships. We must have the airplanes;
that Is 10 say, the fighting and the
bombing machines.
There would probably never have
been German spring offensive and a
crisis in the situation on the western
front II the American aircraft program
had been put in the hands of master
organizer like Mr.. Ryan year ago and
manufacturing corporation had been
created to carryout his plans. The de-
signs OF the hest French and British
motors would have been accepted. and
they would have been turned out in
quantity while an American motor was
being developed. BY January of this
year airpanes would have been
shipped to the other side in quantity,
and as many more would have been
assembled in France. The allies would
have had the mastery OF the air by
March !, and could have smothered the
reconnaissance Of the enemy.
A dispatch from British headQuar-
tiers in France in the New York Times
! OF yesterday told the story OF how
General Haig's aviators had at last
fought their way to supremacy in the
| air. In the early days of the great Of
fensive the Germans held their own. il
! they did not have an advantage. Their
first rush caught the French and Brit
| ish airrr,en off their guard. 1t must be
admitted that the Germans, who had
been making preparations in their
methodical way to surprise the enemy
in the air. proved to be much stronger
than they were supposed to be- On the
British front II was only by daring and
desperate work that the German avia-
tors were checked after they had done
great deal of damage and obtained
valuable information. British resources
and resolution began to tell after
while. In the last month 1t has been
a case Of eclipse first and the Germans
nowhere.
The Germans have been outfousht,
with heavy losses, and they seldom
venture to try conclusions with the
British airmen now. When combats
occur, the British have to seek the
enemy inside his lines. and there they
harry him necessarily. In duels the
British are almost uniformly success
full They do not escape losses, for the
German aviators are crafty in their
I formations. quick to swoop down when
they have mum erical advantage: but
the German losses have recently been
disastrous. It is, however, in the
handling of their bombing machines
that the British are especially formid-
able. They go far afeld and drop
many tons Of explosives in every raid.
Here is sample report: Our air
planes attacked fnight of June 26-2O
the factories and railway sidings at
Saarbrucken, and the aerodroIne at
Bclchen." Another report Our
bombing machines dropped fourteen
and a half tons of explosives on enemy
| railway stations, dumps, transports,
and on Bruges docks" The dis
patch before mentioned said that "the
loss OF life among German troops in
concentration camps has been exceed
ingly heavy" The British, flying low,
also use their machine guns effectively.
They give the enemy at the front and
at fortified places and depots no rest.
Imagine the British and French avi-
ators, reinforced by as many or twice
as many American fighters and bomb
ers, all hunting their quarry over the
lines and carrying the war far into
| Germany. A German offensive would
no longer be possible. and the enemy
country as far as the Rhine. and be-
yond, would be devastated. That con-
| summation will soon be in sight when
| the Emergency Aircraft Corporation,
to give it name, attaips quantity pro-
| duction and can deliver and assemble
1000 bombing machines in France
every month.-New York Times.