New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-05
Baker Hides
Aero Failure.
Engineers Say
country from finding out the character
of the official statements.
Continued from page 1

country from finding out the character
OF the official statements.
-. That accidents in training, while
not perhaps excessively numerous, have
! oeen OF such nature as to indicate
that IN part they were preventable, and
again IN part were due to improper
precipitation of flying and improper
handling of machines.
q. The recruiting Of men for the
nylng and Notifying services has been
sucn as to create a vast amount of nm
certainty in the minds of our voune
people and has been lately entirelv
discontinued, with the grave possibility
ona1 men who would make first class
nlers are being DETECTED into other
Siasses OF service where they may not
De as useful and are lost to the air.
craft service.
Production Tagging
.: The state of research in the conn
Try is such that at the time when the
enemy is pending every effort toward
producing better, faster and bigger ma.
chimes, the American inventive penins
IS lett unutllized, with the result that
Delays occur through ignorance of con.
oitions, and no improvements are manc
elther IN the planes now being nro-
duced or in those which NAV he o.
pected to be produced for the PRO.
gramme of 1919. In other words. even
the programme of the next year is i'm.
perllled unless steps are radically taken
to combat this evil.
&c. The production of tho fcbt;no.
planes for the front is tagging thronr5
lack OF cooperation between the emf.
neerlng' procurement and production
departments, which is due to their fail.
ure to understand how vast nroduc-
ton OF aeroplanes should be oreanizen
{! Inc entire system of production
IS such that delays will grow with thc
rate OF production, and the programme
lacks fexlblllty to such an extent that
no really large production from this
country can be expected unless the en-
tire system is basically changed. '''N VII
"S.-The Liberty motor is donh+,ess
a good design basically, but has been
largely discredited by exaggerated
claims and untrue reports about lie
performance, made by high officials of
the government. The production Of
the motor has been delayed in use
less and unnecessary manner, and the
DETAILS OF its design cannot be con-
sldered to be definitely established
even now 1t is progressing at a dis
couraglngiy slow rate, mainly because
the early reports, the officials con.
cerned therein do not dare to state
the present true situation, and thereby
TO secure the cooperation of men who
could be of service.
"9.-On the whole it appears that
less than per cent of the production
faculties of the country are utilized.
and those facilities which are utilized
nave peen IN many cases neither prop
erly selected nor handled in a manner
conductive to the highest efficiency of
production"
Statements Enthusiastically"
Proceeding to the matter of "offi
clal publicity" the committee saws il
early became convinced, "as has since
oeen proven to certain extent Off
clally, That the majority of the state
ments ISSUED by the government in
connection with the aeronautical pro-
gramme are untrustworthy."
AS an example it quotes from an Of
hclal bulletin of September 8, l917, by
secretary Baker giving the history Of
the Liberty motor.
This statement, saws the ronort
begins: The United States aviation
engine has passed its final test This
statement is unqualiiedly untrue. Ac-
cordlng to the statement of Major I
y. vincent at the annual meeting of
me Society Of Locomotive Engineers
IN December, 1917, the only test that
was apparently given to the engine
at that time was fifty-hour test, not
at maximum horsepower 1t is ridic-
ulous to call such a test final. In fact
u is doubtful if final test has been
given to the engine even now, in April.
1913. ''''
In the same statement it is said
that tools for building the first en-
glnc were made even before the draw
ings were finished on the assumption
that they would be correct 1t is abso
iutely impossible that this should he
true, as before the tools can be made
the dimensions OF the parts have to be
known"
Thirty days after the assembling
OF the first engine preliminary tests
justified the government in formally
accepting the engine as the best air.
craft engine produced in any country.
Inc 'lnal test confirmed our faith in
the new motor in every degrcc" We
know, however, that this is untrue. be-
cause the engine is barely in the final
stage even now.
The next statement which contains
inaccuracies Of still graver charac-
ter has been issued by the Secretary
Va al III OCtoDcr, lol T. AT that time
1t was stated that work is in prog
Der Of aeroplancs and motcrs for
which provision was made in the Avia
ton bill passed by Congress in July"
AS matter Of fact at that time prac-
tically no work was in progress on the
manufacture Of machines. In many
cases the buildings in which the ma
chimes we're to be manufactured were
not yet built.
""rhe types Of acroplancs now in
process Of manufacture cover the en-
tire range Of training planes, light,
high spced fighting machines and pow.
crfu' battle and bombing planes Of the
heaviest design Again untrue, because
al Shat time neither tho light, high
8pec1 fighting machines nor the ba,tlc
and bombing planes were in the pro-
rgs ~ manufacture. In fact, according
IN Harvard r. (oHin mn l,rht L,.L