The Glenwood post., 1924-12-11
uncIe Ted's Bed Time Stories
Current Events for tho Childrn
and 1rown-ups, Too
UNCLE SANS AIR FORCES

e~AAN
hammered and chiseled and done ev-
erything carpenter and builder does,
to get his airplane ready in time for
the big competition at school. He was
not content with the machine he was
building in his manual training class
40 he decided the best thing to do was
t. work on another one at home with
the hope that it would be so perfect
and so swift that it could beat all the
others when the time came for the
tryout.
"Still at it, Jack?' asked Uncle
Ted as he looked in on the worker.
''Stin at it, Uncle Ted," was Jacks
reply. 81 thought I was all through,
but / broke this wing and now have
to fix it all over again. You see I'm
trying to make a different model
from anything the other boys are
making, at school"
eco to it, Jack. Who knows but you
may find the perfect airplane and then
when Uncle Ted is old and gray he
will lean back and say proudly to
everyone, That is my pal Jack, the
great inventor who made airplanes so
perfect that they are safer than auto
mobiles
s'While you are working IL sit here
and tell you an air story and by that
time you will have to go to bed. AS
you know it was my privilege to see
Americas great Ieviathan of the air,
the ZR-3, christened the Los Angeles
by Mrs. Coolidge, wife of the presi-
dent, before great gathering of nota-
BILE officials of our government. That
huge bag that had Travelled across the
ocean from Germany to our own shores
was an inspiration to me and made me
realize just what possibilities there are
ahead of us in aviation. The Los An
geles is the second ship of her kind to
States navy.
"What / would like to see now
would be a great fleet of planes. Then
! am sure we would have the greatest
air force in the world. I certainly
don't mean them to prepare for war,
but to develop commerce and for the
protection of forests and for a hundred
different peace-time uses. Then if we
should ever be attacked by an enemy
from other shores we would be able to
pro,oc ourselves as we should.
"We have fine governmental Or
ganization all ready to handle any de-
velopment in aviation. There is the
joint board of the army and navy,
composed of the best minds from all
our aviation services. Then there is
the national advisory committee on
aeronaatios. This committee is made
up of the greatest inventors and men
working on aviation and its allied
studies in the United States. They
meet from time to time at Washington
ard give the benefit of their findings
to the men who run the air forces of
our army, navy and marine corps.
''As you know, the army and navy
nave separate air force organizations,
but they work very closely together
and each one deserves great amount
of credit for the wonderful progress
made in the last few years. The last
time i saw the figures, there were
nearly a thousand officers and nearly
5000 enlisted men in the army air ser.
vice, and in the navy air service
around 600 officers and about 5000
enlisted men. There are 27 army all
stations, as well as the groups Of
planes that work with the Atlantic and
Pacific fleets.'
Have we got the biggest air
forces, Uncle Ted?'' asked Jack.
''No, Jack, we haven't the biggest
by long ways, but we have the men
who know the air and we can handle
force of any size. There are no more
efficient airmen anywhere in the world
than the men of the army and navy air
services What they need is more and
better equipment, although they have
done wonders with what they have.
These things cost money, of course, and
1t may be difficult for some people
to realize that the expenditure of mil.
lions upon aircraft is necessary, but,
believe me, it is necessary"
What do they call those big new
army planes, Uncle Ted, I mean the
ones that carry bombsY''
guess you must mean the Barling'
Bomber. That is some big plane. My,
what wonder it is! 1t has five big
Liberty motors and win carry five tons
of bombs. ] like the NC-4 seaplanes.
They have four Liberty motors and