Imperial Valley press., 1925-09-07

better our aeronautical condition,
we were stirred to- further action
by the Killing of Lieutenant Pier
son and Captain Skeel in the dilapi-
dated racing airplanes during last
October's air meet. This was caus-
ed by an arrangement. between the
navy ard army, that the navy
should take the races one year and
the army should take them the next
year, thereby cquaIizing propagan-
da, not service. We i'll the air fra
ternitv then and there decided to
put tie issUe squarely up TO con
gress and the people.
$4,000 for Bombing
'@toH2fess also provided that not
lessth an $4,000 out of moneys al
ready appropriated, could be spent
for tie aerial bombardment of bat
! tleahip~ and shipping board vessels
! Will" under their own steam an,
moving So as to st II resi- any
! doubt of aircraft ability to destroy
! aHd >i4!c any sea craft which floats
Oh tpe water.
"'~temuu was gotten UP by tho
/ navy oH the one hand TO disprovo
and deprecatc the value Of the an
power and SHOW tie value Of the
surface vessels and batHeships and
on the part Ct the army 10 fool the
! public as to the value Of antiuiI
oraft, cannon and machine guns.
! "First, the great Pacific nava'
maucuvers-the main features Of
! these were tho assembling of q fleet
! Of some 148 surface vessels in the
) Pacific, the parade up orr Pacific
cosat and entrance into San Fran.
! cisco harbor and then the trip tc
] Honolulu.
q" Snnposc that We lad been at
war with 4 Pacific power ard this
! fleet of surface vessels had been IN
San Francisco harbor. These ahips
would be under constant attack by
@nntiro from the submarines.
Criticizes Taneuvcrs
/ "Tf any vessels of the fleet eur.
vived the submarine attacks, cross
/ ed the sea and came within h'md
/ reds Of miles of the hostile coast
they would be sent to the bottom
! forthwith, by aircraft. If the Pa
! cifir maneuvcrs showed aNvthiue
| core lusivciv. it was that aircraft
acting FROM land bases can destroy
! any surface fleet, coming within IL
! radius or operations. This already
! had been amply proved by ON
! homhardment tests in 1921. Next
/ "a get publicity and make 2 noise
about what it was doing with air
craft, This SO called Hawaiian flight
! was arranged for. Even if ii had
! been successful 70 Honolulu il
would have meant LITTLE. eithe" com.
/ norcially or strateQirallv. compar
! Cd 10 what a flight TO Europe or
! Asia would. Three airplanos were
hUilt TO pqrtioipatc in It. These
/ showed nothing novel in design and
| We're untried for this kind Of work
One never got away from the Pa.
citic coast. another flew a few miles
out and was forced to land in the
! water. and one was lost on account
; of being out Of gasoline somewhere
! on The high seas. Patrol vessels
| were stationed every POO miles. q
/ distance entirely tao FAR apart fol
an experimental flight of this kind
/ with such primitive flying machines
, rs the PN9's are. Double or triple
/ this number Of vessels should have
/ been there. In fact, the whole Pa
| cific fleet should have been employ
| cd there, instead of ioyriding around
the antipodes.
Brave Navigators
What happened to this really
| good for nothing big, Numbering lily
/ ing boat, when its brave navigators
/ began to run short Of gasoline, over
a heavy sea The. probability Is
THAI they held her up as long as
! they could. As they nearel The
water, caught by Il sudden gust, shl
might have been thrown into n
squaN and spun down ard gout
straight under the waves. We hone
/ that some passing fisherman may
have picked them up as our Lieu
tenant Wade was picked up in the
North Sen. Our navy did not fine
him either. All they lid was t.