The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1918-04-13
AMERICAN AIR PLANS

ne 1lfSt Amerlcan-oullt Dat.le
planes were recently shipped to the
front in France. The first ship.
ment, though in itself not large
marks the final overcoming of many
difficulties met in building up this
new and intricate industry, says a
statement authorized by the secre.
tary of war, for the purpose of in.
forming the American public regard
ing the problems and progress in
equipping the air service with fight.
ing planes.
These planes are equipped with the
first Liberty motor from machine
production. One of them in a recent
test surpassed all records for speed
and climbing for planes of that type.
Engine production, which began this
year, is now on a quantity basis.
Only the 12-cylinder type is being
made, as developments abroad have
made it wise to concentrate on the
high-powered engine instead of the
ight-cylinder.
These statements should not be
exaggerated but should be considered
in the light of the following facts
After three years of warfare, the
total number of planes able to take
the air at any one time on either
side of the Western front has not
been over $500. This, combined
with the fact that 46 men are re-
quired on the ground for every
plane in the air, gives a truer per-
spective of the European aviation
than commonly possessed.
Replacement Planes
For every plane in the air, there
must be two replacement planes on
the ground, and one training plane
for every pilot who eventually reach,
es the front, with a spare engine for
each plane. Moreover, while the
program has been delayed
by difficulties which were impossi-
bly, to foresee when the tentative
was adopted in all our lack
of knowledge last spring, it may be
said that American planes are not
due in France under the original
schedule until July
At the outbreak of the war, the
first step, both in sequence and i'm
portance, was to build up an indus
try to rush out the training planes
needed for the prospective aviators
who were Immediately on hand. This
fresh and most promising personnel
afforded indeed Americas largest
source of aid to her asso-
ciate nations in the war, which,
while we'll able to turn out the latest
type of airplanes, were seriously
drained of men capable of manning
them. The ultimate goal, however,
was the construction of large fleet
of battle planes. ~..
Two serious problems, interviewer
and reacting, were Immediately met,
he almost total lack both of airplane
industry and of airplane engineering
knowledge. The industry was rudi-
mentary, with only one company on
an appreciate production basis and
another dozen small experimental
companies. The metal work was
mostly done by hand, each machine
built as separate unit and little
attempt to manufacture from dies,
jigs, or gauges The estimates of
tire total value of the industry vary
from 100000 to $1O,OOO,OOO and
OF employees from o,UUU to lO,OUO.
The government was practically the
only purchaser, having ordered 366
planes the year before the war, of
which only 66 were actually de-
livered
Difficulties in Europe.
The engineering problems were
even more complex. Europe at war,
with the best engineers of each coun-
try pitted against each other in a
struggle which knew no close, had
worked out the most ingenious de-
velopments in the light of actual
fighting experience. Information
reaching here was generally frag-
mentary and always late. AS a re-
4