The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-09-04
BY Frederick NJ. kerby
N. E. A. Staff Correspondent

~, PASSED by U. S. Censor)
Dayton, Ohio-Is the whole Ameri
can aircraft program a total failure?
Have American engineers and manu-
facturers proved themselves incapa-
BILE of designing and building aero
planes that will stand up with the
European product? Are we to find,
after all, that aircraft production is
something beyond America? n'
These are the questions millions Of
Americans are asking themselves.
. They are hoping everything>is all
right, but: they are fearful everything
may be all wrong. a. 81 ~,
have been doing my best to an
swer these questions on the ground.
At the%Curtiss plant at Buffalo, the
Fisher Body Corporation in Detroit;
the Ford and Packard plants in De-
troit;& at the Dayton Wright Co.'S
plant near Dayton, have spent days
going over the plants, asking ques-
lions, collecting. information, figures,
facts, opinions.
H.. When we entered Inc war our gov
no such thing as an aircraft industry
in this country; the greatest number
OF machine the army had was 54, all
useless in warfare. A modern field
army must have five types of plane:
a single scatter high speed pursuit
plane; two-eater fighting plane; day
bombinb plane, army observation
plane, corps" observation plane.
The problem was this: Should the
United States attempt to develop and
build all types? 1t was decided that
Americas contribution to aeronautics
must be quantity production-thous-
ands of planes of the latest design.
What is the net result of the eff
fort at airplane construction since We
entered the war?
In the first place, manufacturing
industry has been created. So A work
ing force of many thousands of men
and women has been assembled.
Buildings costing millions of dollars
have been erected. Thousands of
plants which were making other prOt-
ucts have been Communicated for
making Sairplane parts. VITA .,....,
~ Next, the production Of raw MATER
ial has been organized; spruce, ash,
mahogany, iron ore, etc. ~ 50.
I, 1t was no SLOUGH ia job to create
an industry out OF nothing. Mistakes
were made hundreds Of them, but
what could be expected? Not half a
dozen men in the United States knew
enough about aeronautical engineering
to be worth while. The very motor
chat was to be used in our aerOplanes
hadn't even been conceived. Yet our
engineers produced motor that has
proved superior to any airplane mo-
tor ever built. The Liberty motor is
Internationally success. The Brit
ish, French and Italian governments
have asked for as many as we can
turn out.
The American factories, created al
most over night, have turned out
thousands of training planes. Without
them our battleplanes would be use
less. The Curtiss Company>at Buffa-
10 up to July l had turned out more
than 1900; the Dayton-Wright Com
pAny built 400 before they started on
battleplahe productions; the Standard
Aircrafe Corporation of New Jersey
Completed big order; SO did the
Fisher Body Company of Detroit. Up
to July l., approximately 5000 planes
had been turned out.
d In the meantime the types Of fight
ing plane that America could build
depended upon the performances of
tie Liberty motor. 1t took time to
perfect t. but it is now as nearly
perfect as It Is possible to build a
motor. Production has reached 100 a
day, and the volume increases weekly.