Evening star., 1925-11-19
FAMOUS AV|AT0RS
| SUPPORT CHARGES
OF COL. MITCHELL
Rickenbacker, Chambers and
Wade Add Touches to
Dark Picture.
WAR ACE CALLS NATION
ONLY EIGHTH AIR POWER
Declares It Was Suicide" to Send
Men in Airships Without
Parachutes.

Three of Americas outsts nding ft-
ers rallied in the defense Of Col. VII
liam Mitchell today at his court-rnar-
tial and added a few striking en1hel-
lishments to the dark picture OF the
country's air power that he has al
ready painted,
Eddie Rickenbacker, American ace
Of aces; Reed NJ. Chambers, Ricken-
hackers fellow ace and recipient Of
eight decorations for bravery, and
Lieut.. Leigh Wade. round-the-world
flyer, were the witnesses who added a
few strokes to Col. Mitchell's work.
All three testified in support gen
orally of various statements made by
the accused in criticism OF the Gov
ernment's air policies. Capt. Ricken-
hacker, among other things, told the
court that America stands eighth
among the nations of the world IN re
gard to air power, naming, under
cross-examination, France, England,
Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan ana
Poland as leading this Natioon.
His statement first was stricken out,
but by cross-examination it again got
into the record in a different form.
Scores Parachute Lack.
The witness said it was suicide" 10
send aNla1OrS dlO1l III dll Gil oiiiP wiz
out parachuteS, in the same way that
II would be to send a ship to sea with
out life preservers. Col. Mitchell mac
made substantially the same claim in
his arraignment of the Navy for
criminal negligence" in connection
with the Shenandoah crash.
Rickenbacker and Chambers both
declared that the present flying equip
ment of the Army would be useless IN
the event of another war, and tho
| former added that they are extremely
! dangerous under any conditions.
| The graveyards near the various
! flying fields prove this to be So, the
| witness announced, but his remarh
| was ruled out on objection by the
| prosecution.
! Lieut.. Wade criticized the Navy s
| handling of the Hawaiian fight, de
claring that 200 miles apart, In his
| opinion, was too great distance be
tween pilot ships.
! Make Flight Hazardous.
| He said that ships this distance
| apart, In his opinion, would make the
| flight hazardous to human life.
| Answering a Hypothetical line o.
questions, Lieut.. Wade said that there
| should have been only two men aboard
| the Hawaiian planes. and that they
should have used smoke bombs for
|
pending on radio.
! Representative Frank r. Reid, CHIEF
| counsel for Col. Mitchell, announced
| today that the defense would complete
| its case this afternoon or tomorrow
| and that the accused would take the
/ stand in his own behalf.
! Lieut. H. W. Sheridan Of Kelly
/ Field. Tex, who was the Army Air
| Service observer aboard the aircraft
| carrier Langley at the Hawaiian ma
| neuvers, told of an incident during
| the operations when the Langley
| came within five feet of being de
| stroyed" through collision with the
! West Virginia on leaving San Fran
cisco Harbor for the Hawaiian Islands.
! His testimony about the maneuvers
! was objected to by the prosecution on
| the grounds it might be secret, but
: the witness replied: There is nothing
| secret about il unless we want to sup
| press the condition of aviation in the
| Navy"
Surprised at Figures.
Both Rickenbacker and Chambers
expressed surprise at figures quoted
by Maj. sFrancis b. Wilby, general
staff member of the prosecution, re
garding the percentage of hits made
by American anti-aircraft batteries
during the World War. Both aces
agreed that their experiences had
taught them that anti-aircraft fire was
absolutely ineffective and Chambers
announced that the figures quoted by
Mai. Wilby were extraordinary"
"I have wondered why l was not
officially credited with more German
planes" Chambers announced to the
court.
When the prosecution asked Ricken-
hacker II he did not know that official
records showed that Americas bomb
ing planes during the war flew at al
titudes over II, 900 feet, the witness
responded vigorously that he certainly
did not know It, and challenged the
accuracy of the records. He said he
never flew above 10000 feet. Asked
| If he knew why the records should be
falsified he said he couldn't express
an opinion about that, but told the
court that he wouldn't be surpassed
at anything stated in the official
records.
Saw Only One Hit.
A+sn,- ,~a1o+ippr hiS war racori Mr.