New Britain herald., 1925-02-19
Declares General Staf Is IgnO,
 rant Of Aviation Details
COLD TOWARD AIR SERVICE
Connecticut senator Drags Military Leaders Over Hot Goals While Tcstifying Before House Commit
 tee Investigating War Aeronautics.
War Aeronautics.
BY GEORGE II. MANNING.

distinct from that maintained by the Army and Navy as urged by Gener- al Mitchell, assistant chief of the air service, is attractive but unsound Senator Hiram Bingham of Con- necticut who had wide experience with aviation as a lieutenant colonel in the American army during the World War testified today before the house special committee investi- gating the aircraft service.
 He agreed with such eminent authorities as Admiral David Beatty, that an independent air service would be a grave mistake and that the Army and Navy should each control the training and the opera tion of their own aviators.
 Calls General Staff Ignorant
 The greatest drawback to high development of the aircraft service of the Army today, Senator Bing- ham declared, is that the army gen. eral staff is alarmingly ignorant of all details of aviation, and that be- fore the war, during the war and up to the present time the general staff is entirely lacking in an atom of sympathy for the aviation service.
 All officers of the Army and Navy should be trained in the use of air craft, Senator Bingham declared, and all members of the army gen. eral staff should be required to have undergone at least six months train ing at an aviation training school.
 All cadets at the West Point mili- tary academy and at the Annapolis naval academy should be thorough ly trained in the science of handling airplanes. he asserted.
 Critlcizes Policy of West Point
 "I cannot understand why in this | age, West Point cadets should be given so much training in cavalry tactics, the diseases of the horse, e.:,, but given absolutely no instruc- ton in the use of the airplane which i is the most important weapon ot defense or attack today" declared Senator Bingham.
 No officer should be permitted to command an artillery unit unless he has a full knowledge of aviation.
 Aviation should certainly be a part of the training of every An napolis cadet"
 Need of Training At Annapolis Naval officers should be com pelled to know as much about the 1 handling of aircraft as about sub- marines because airplanes are as necessary for the navy as the sub- marines and more so." Senator Bingham continued. Tn this day when battleships fire on each other without either seeing the other, but get their range upon information furnished from airplanes up above every navy officer should possess a full knowledge of aviation"
 Senator Bingham placed much stress upon the jealousy of the army general staff towards the avia- tion service and it's entire lack of sympathy with 1t.
 In response to question by Chairman Randolph Perkins of the committee as to whether he had ever seen any evidence of sympathy to the aviation service by the gen. eral staff, Senator Bingham said he had never witnessed a single in- stance of such.
 "The general staff would have more sympathy for the aviation service if it knew more about it. | he said.
 "The general staff has always op- posed any of the many things rec commended to congress for the bene- 1 fit, comfort and efficiency of the aviation service" he continued, and recalled that in 1918 the general staff of the army had prevailed upon congress not 10 allow extra pay to aviators 10 compensate for the great risks they took.
 Favors Aviation Bureau
 "The best way in my opinion for the house of representatives to help American aviation is for it 10 give immediate consideration to passage of the Wadsworth- -Winslow bill ere ating a bureau of civil air naviga- ton in the department of com merce," said Senator Bingham.
 "The senate passed this bill more than a year ago. It has been favor- ably reported to the house by the house committee. on interstate and ! foreign commerce but no action has been taken on it. It is designed 10 encourage development of commer- cial aeronautics just as the bureau of navigation is designed to encour- age ocean commerce.
 At the time we are the only great nation carefully regulating ocean commerce which does not regulate air navigation. IL would be the busi- ness of this bureau to establish l those important aids to air navlga- tion which are now lacking, Ocean navigation has its charts, huoys, lighthouses, coast guards and special tidal and weather information. Noth- ing of this sort has been done for 1 commercial aviation, Nothing will aid air navigation more than the es- tahlishment of this bureau.
 "The general staff must prepare for the future by requiring its oih- cers to fly CT by including among its members a relatively large number of pilots and observers so that there vii! be just as sympathetic under standing of the air service as there is Of the cavaITs or field artillery, asserted Senator Bingham,
 There is no excuse for not haV-