The evening world., 1919-07-30
OFFICER CHARGES
army. DESTROYED
AMERICAN PLANES
Offers Written Statement Of
Aviatofs Tat Machines Were
Wilfully Smashed.

given at the Hotel afcAlpin this
morning before the seb-oommittee
inVstigating expenditures Of the War
Department. Chairman Royal c.
johnson Of North Dakota presided
and some Of the questioning was done
by. Congressman Oscar T.. Bland.
CahlegramB that passed between
Gen. Marsh, Chief OF Staff and Gen.
Pershing. commanding In France. IN
which March inquired about the de-
strnction OF airplanes and PershIng
replied that there had baen no such
obstruction. were 'peAd into the
record.
Somv' OF the testimony indicated
that brand new airplanes. from which
the shipping tags had not been re-
moved, were destroyed. The method
Of destruction described was that OF
smashing the engines and burning the
rest CT the machine.
The only witness examined who
actually saw the million dollar fire.
was John G. MoKRguc, an enlisted
man in the air service who was at
-Dellss as a casual. He
testified that most Of the machines
destroyed belonged 70 outfits leav-
Ing France for home. They had been
inspected and some were marked for
salvaginE and others were not. but
the markings. ne said, were dlsrs-
garded and ali were burned.
McKague put the total number Of
planes destroyed at uS and said the
oonnagration was commonly referred
to BY the soldiers az 'the sl,ooo.ooo
nre." Despite restrictions against
taking photographs. the witness said.
certain soldiers took snapshots Of the
nre, He promised to get them for the
committee.
oA, completion Of the testimony, 1t
the hearing Chairman johnson an
nouncsd the couimittee.S work In
New York was .cornpleted and that
they woula return 10 Washington
/ this afternoon. On Aug. 2. he said,
4 NE COMMITTEES would sail for France
TO ceptlnne the investiBAtion into The
stories OF brutalltles In army prisons
and the waste Of Goternment prop
erty. Gen. PerShlns himself would
DO called upon to testify. II necessary.
added Mr.. johnson.
The nrst witness was Lieut.. Paul L.
Lockwood Of Stamford, Conn. for
merly q member Of the First Pursuit
Group. He testified OF what he had
been told by other aviators of his
squadron, and he supported his testi-
money by presenting q written state
ment signed by these men.
Lieut.. Lockwood said he HAD been
stationed for q time at CoblenE and
afterward at Bar-le-duc. He said ne
had heard nothing OF the destruction
OF airplanes Until after his return 10
America. when he met members OF
his old squadron at Garden City, L.
l., who asked him II he had heard OF
the Million dollar fire In France"
SAYS HI WAS TOLD 100 PLANES
WERE DESTROYED.
He said they told hin- hat 100 air
planes had been destroyed. The first
step In the destruction, they told him.
was to chop the engines loose, then
tip the planes over on their noses so
that the engines fell five or six feet
to the ground and were smashed.
The orders were said TO be 20 save
nothing but the gasoline TANKS and
the radiators. and Lieut. Lockwood
said HE informants described these
saivased parts as being worth sbput
10 cents a piece"
The witness said his intormants
told him that guards were placed
about the field 10 prevent any one
from taking photographs OF the work
OF destruction or OF the burning OF
the wrecked planes. He was told. he
said, that more than three dozen
planes had marks on them reading:
DO not salvage"
The log book OF the squadron, be
said, Indicated that one OF the Liberty
motors destroyed had been In the ar
only twenty minutes and that the
/. tires OF some OF the planes were brand
new. indicating that they never had
been nown.
Among the types OF motors de-
stroyed, he said, were Libertys. SpadA
ana SalmBons. He said he had asked
the men who gave him these facts
to put them in form OF q written
statement and sign II, which they did.
The next witness was Alfred Il
ROrar Of Scranton, Pa, formerly hrst
sergeant OF the fourth air park OF
the nrBt pursuit group. He said the
work OF destruction was done al
Coiombey- les Bellies. He knew Lieut.
Lockwood. he said. both In Texas and
, at Coblenz.
Il received orders from the com
mandinE officer OF the flying field al
COloThbey" he said, ito furnish de-
tail OF fifty 20 seventy five men "a
report to a master electrician of the
air serItca- sent such men as
could. There were no officers among
them, but there were some non-com-
, mlBsioned officers.
when the detail returned TO m'
! they told me they had been destroying
Airplanes by removing the body bolt
from the engines, tying a rope TO tn
tail, tipping the plan 10 let the engin,
fall. They said they had destroye,
about 100 planes In this manner.
saw the destruction OF several planes
= but did not take part In II. Amonl
n them were Libertys Saimsons, Spad
q and Sopwith- campbells. Many OF then
Il were apparently new"