The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-06-30

craft in any one OF these localities
from any place on the Atlantic sea
board in this area in 80 hours. II we
have an organization fit for service
Combine Air Forces.
II believe today If you equip an air
service adequately and combine It with
your land forces, In case OF an attack
against the coast by a hostile navy
conveying an army or q navy alone,
that you will get more out Of II from
the air service than you Will from any
thing else In proportion to the finan-
cial and personnel ivestment made.
They can not get away from YOU. With
any kind Of visibility you can see them
for miles. l believe that even in a
heavy fog, with a dirlgible and every
thing quiet on the ~dirigible you can
hear them. You can always manage
a dirigible in any kind OF weather out.
side OF a hurricane. Your directional
combination of heavler-than-a craft
and lighter than air craft working to-
gather tactically is a very difficult
thing to get around"
Gen. Mitchell pointed out that, while
some excellent eqwtRgnent was avail.
abe a r,, II 80 sssstercd Y all parts OF
I'M France III dsclarN, you can
send In an automobile and get things
from one end on the COUNTRY to am
other but ID q country US large as
this they should be concentrated at
OIL miles separating the stations, It Is
almost impossible to keep any lines.
| This country during the war was used
to send things to Europe, where they
were brought together or organised
into units for use, They sent machine
shop trucks from one place, guns from
| upntbar nirpla nos from another. mo.
tors from another, Now we must get
all these things under one division, In
other words, we should aim to get
tactical units, whereas we have In
struction units .
those "T Be "F H-a VIA sstSs asked Senator
Sutherland, OF West Virginia.
II think replied Gen, Mitchell, they
can he used for school purposes and
the purposes along the Mexican Dor
III they are dangerous, should they
System Badly Needed.
THE principal trouble was a service
plane In Europe. The Liberty motor
IS a good motor at n low altitude, but
the plane was especially q on &C
count OF its gas tank moi being pro-
tected from fire caused by bullets and
the fact that the pilot and observer
are too far apart. For those reasons
il was not a good ship. 1t was not
d good day bombardnent ship nor a
good observation plane. IT, was an
old type, and none OF us liked IT,"
well, did you send any over the
front at ali?'' 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 squadronsT'
yes, We had 1ss ships in those IL
suuadrons on the day OF the armistice.'
"What WAS the biggest aerial concen-
tration in any operation Of the war;.
The largest concentration was In the
st. Mihiel operation That was the n,g,
vcet air concentration ever had on the
western front, about 1880 ships.
THAT was under your commandF'
Yes, sir"
what percentage was Americana"
We had about $50 ships there
Americana"
Yes, manned by Americans"
Did you lose heavily in that at
mo, but later wa lost very heavily II
the Argonne. We we're Just beginning
to get our system going we'll when tn,
armistles was signed. What we neet
Is a system" 800,
Den. Mitchell concluded with a plea
for an independent air service depend
ont neither on the army nor navy 20
supplies, but organized as a unit 10
national defense. America has excelhen
material, but today II Is d~isorganlhn'
today is more than ever responsible 10
the future OF aviation.
downright, 1919, by New York Evening
Post, lnc,)