El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-06-30
either demOiishing our forts or
enabling force 10 land viii be
practIcnIly ont Of the question.

practically out of the question.
They cannot conceal themselves, are
very easy to attack and. Of course. com
paratvely slow OF specialize. for in
stance. the areas which have to be de-
tended on the east coast, the Boston
area, the New York area, Delaware
area and Chesapeake bay area. We
can concentrate aircraft in any one
OF these localities from any place on
the Atlantic seaboard in this area in
SO hours If we have an organization
fit for service.
4 believe today II you equip an
air service adequately and to COM
hine It with your land forces. IN case
Of an attack against the coast by a
hostile navy conveying an army. or a
navy alone. that You viii get more
out of il from the air service than you
viii from anything else in proportion
Vestment made They cannot get
away from you. With any kind OF
visibility You can see them for miles.
Dirigfbles Valuable
I believe that even IN a heavy
fog, with a dIrigible and everything
them. You can always manage a diri
gi5le in any kind OF weather outside
OF hurricane. Your directional wire
less locates you every time The com
bination Of heavier than air craft and
lighter than air craft working to-
gether taetically Is a very difficult
thing to get around"
Gen. Mitchell pointed out that while
some excellent equipment was avail
able. it was scattered in all parts Of
the United States.
IN france" he declared. you can
send an automobile and get things
from one end OF the country TO an
other, but in a country as large as
this they should be concentrated at
convenient points. But with hundreds
1ar - fr1|n he G q fE
almost impossible TO keep any Jason
This country during the war was used
to send things to Europe, where they
were brought together or organized
into the units for use They sent
machine shop trucks from one place.
guns from another. airplanes from
another. motors from another. to
France. Now we must get all these
things under one division In other
words we should aim to get tactical
units. whereas we have instruction
Can Be Used On Border.
What are you going to do with all
those De Haviiands1" asked senator
Sutherland of West Virginia
7 think" replied Gen Mitchell.
.they can be used for school purposes
and the purposes along the Mexican
IF they are dangerous. should they
be used2"
me principal trouble vas as a
service plane in Europe. The Liberty
motor is 4 good motor at a low alti-
tude. but the plane was especially
bad on account Of its gas tank not be
ing protected from fire caused by bull
lets. and the fact that the pilot and
observer are too far apart For those
reasons il was not good ship II
was not a good day bombsrdment ship
nor a good observation planet was
an old type and none Of us liked it
well. did you send any over the
front at alp asked senator Thomas
OF Colorado
yes. we had II squadrons the day
the armistice was signed We worked
with them all the time"
You had II squadrons2
Yes. we had 196 ships IN those II
squadrons on the day OF the armis-
tee"
What was the biggest aerial con-
centration In any operation Of the
war;"
''The largest concentration was in
the St. Nlihiel operation. That vas
the biggest air concentration ever had
on the western front. about 1900
THAT was under your eommand27
Yes, sir"
What percentage was American2''
I'VE had about IS ships there"
American"
'sYes, manned by Americans"
did you lose heavily IN that at
tacky'
Lost Heavily In ArEonne.
no, but later we lost very heavily