Bisbee daily review., 1919-07-20

steadily, experience soon taught that it
 was necessary to make many minor
 changes in the construction of the plane
 to meet the fighting conditions at the
 front. As some time was required to in
 corporate these changes in the planes as
 they were being fabricated in America, it
 was necessary that they be made on the
 planes on hand here, and those in transit
 from the factories to France. These diff
 ficult conditions were met by the officers
 and men with the same skill and success
 with which they met the difficulties in
 constructing the buildings in which this
 work was done.
 When the planes arrived in France
 they were securely boxed and partially
 disassembled. The boxing itself was a
 matter of distinction for the factories
 of the States. Four Liberty planes were
 received in nine large boxes. and were
 packed in such a way that every avail
 able inch of space was utilized, yet they
 were so very well packed that only an
 infinitesimal loss was sustainetd in their long journey overseas. Upon arrival at
 the track at the assembly plant, they
 were unloaded in the storage yard and
 there stored until ready to he assembled. On account of the lack of proper equip ment for unloading it was often necessary
 for the men to handle the large crates by hand, which further hindered the pro gress of the work. It might here be stated that these packing boxes were very we'll utilized after having served their purpose. The lumber in them was not only used to build the racks, shelving, and other necessary equipment in the offices and shops, but the engineer officer devised what was later commonly known as the Liberty DemountaOIe Barricks, built entirely from the lum- Der of these packing boxes. About 100 of those barracks were actually constructed and relieved to great extent the problem of housing great number of troops needed at this center.
 Upon entering the assembly plant the crates were unpacked, and imme- diately tn ework of assembling began, each separate department of the plant doin gthe work for which it had been trained. From department to depart ment the planes were taken, and as they gradually reached completion, the necessary changes in construction were made at the most opportune step of assembly. Machine guns, mechani- cal gun synchroniZers, radio apparat- us, telephones, bomb racks, cameras, landing flares and such equipment. were installed as demanded by the particular service for which the plane was being prepared, such as bombing, or school work. At the | same time that the work of assembly l was going on in it's various stages, a 1 rigid inspection was being made to ir- sure that the plane would fulfill all | of previous experience. i Oftimes a motor would be tested and | found to be slightly deficient. It ! would be sent back for the necessary. repairs or alterations, and sometimes | would be tested as many as five times | before being finally pronounced satis- factory. The same standards were | applied to all parts of the plane. and | nothin gescaped the watchful eye of | the highly trained and efficient in- spectors.
 Planes Ferried to Station
 By this rigid inspection much loss l and danger was eliminated when the plane was finally ready for the flight | test at the flying field. This testing | was done by pilots who had proven themselves masters in this difficult | art. After the trial flight, if the pi- | lot pronounced the plane 70. K." it | was put in the hangars to wait orders [ from the front before it was dispatch, ed to take it's part in strafing the | Hun. All planes delivered to various | schools and air service stations in 1 the zone of advance, were flown from | this station by ferry pilots, especially | selected for this kind of work Of the | planes dispatched, many of them to depots over 200 miles awayzpnly 512 per cent have been crashed en route, and of this number some 25 per cent 1 were due to fog, rain and other causes beyond the control of the pilot. There has not been a single casualty among | our pilots on the field here, and but | three men lost their lives on ferry duty.
 Salvage Shops
 In the salvage and repair shops | were handled not only the Liberty plane. but also all types fplanes pur- chased by the American air service from our allies. Planes shot down at front, or crashed at other fields were sent heer for repair or to be salvaged. If the plane proved to be inrepairable condition, it was sent to the shops and soon was on its way back to the front for further service. If not in such a condition, it was torn apart and all instruments and parts of value were saved for further use, and all the parts which weer unserviceable were put in salvage piles to be used In the most practicable manner
 The same high state of efficiency existed in the work of salvage and repair as in tn einitial assembly. It many different subdepart- ments, due to its handling of the many different makes of planes which were purchased in Europe. It includ- ed a wood working shop which SUD- piled and repaired the wood parts for all types of planes. The skill of the L and the equipment of this ,hOp was such that all tvDes of pro- l