Evening star., 1923-08-01

either the last part of this month or
the first of September.
The ships must be sunk and in
order that they not be a menace to
navigation. They will have 10 be
attacked while lying in fifty fathoms
of water. The fifty fathom curve lies
about fifty miles east of Cape Charles
and eighty miles east of Langley
Field. the general vicinity of the tests
of 1921. But the ships would be SO
far from shore that it would neceS-
state flying long distances over water
which increases the hazard. The
water is fifty feet deep twenty-five
miles east of Cape Hatteras so the
scene of battle this year will be locat-
ed there.
VIII Fly High Up.
To stimulate actual war conditions,
the attacking force will be located at
an advanced airdrome on the cape,
near the meteorological station of
the weather bureau, close to Durant's
coast guard station No. 1s5, inactive.
The entire personnel at Langley
Field, engaged in the tests. will be
li'" II " NiliS bdSGb hutlc DIie- 1tU.
William Mitchell. assistant chief of
the air service, will maintain active
headquarters and personally direct
the operations. The establishment OF
the sub-airdrome alone will be a
mammoth undertaking, and will give
Invaluable training to the bombing
officers and men.
Two squadrons of Martin bombing
airplanes, or twelve planes. will com
prise the offensive force, the shortage
of personnel and equipment making
a larger number impossible. These
planes are capable of carrying 2,OOO
pounds of explosives aside from
their. full military load. Bombs for
the final sinking will be of the larger
type, from 1,100 to 1000 pounds. The
4,000-pound bombs will not be used,
as they are still in the experimental
stage in the ordinance department. All
the bombing will be above an altitude
of 5000 feet, and a flight of six
planes. equipped with superchargers
to enable them to reach the higher
attitudes, will hover around 10000
feet with their deadly missiles.
Plan Night Attacks.
Smoke screens also will play a
prominent part. Two of the bombers
will be equipped with pressure tanks
and nozzel apparatus for spraying
clouds of smoke over the area above
the targets. One airpiane can hold
sufficient chemicals to lay a screen
1000 feet deep and three miles long,
and this canopy, while obscuring the
airplanes from the view of the ships,
will not prevent the attackers from
seeing their target. Tests conducted
at Panama during the naval maneuv-
ers revealed that these screens aided
the airplanes in locating battleships
and even photographs of the targets
were taken through the smoke.
Prior to the final destruction of the
ships, excellent training in night at
tacks on sea targets will be afforded
twenty-five miles off the coast will
be the subject of pyrotechnic attacks
from the planes which will fly out
from their base on Cape Hatteras.
ly visible to the bombers even from
thousands of feet, as they will show
up as black spots on the white water
below. PHOSPHORUS bombs and other
Illuminating explosives Will not do
much damage, but will give the night
raiders practice OF a nature they sell
dom can obtain.
VIII Fly to bangor, Me.
Upon completion of the exercises
and the hoped-for success of the ma
neuvers, the Langley Field bombers
will start on a flight up the coast to
Bangor, Me, and return. The object
of this expedition is to demonstrate
the feasibility and ease with which
bombing airplanes may be moved
over long distances in the event of
national emergency for defense of the
coast.
Precautions against possible acci-
dent or disaster will be taken
throughout the exercises. Five or six
seagoing craft, perhaps of the mine
layer type. will patrol the area be-
tween the shore and target, and will
stand ready to rush to the rescue of a
crippled Martin if IL is forced to
choose the ocean for landing field.
The maneuvers will be witnessed
by official observers of the Army and
Navy, members of Congress and 9TH
ers Interested in the tactical prob