Evening star., 1925-10-02

at sea. except with ships as bases. In
the matter of operations the plan Of
the united air force, as i understand
II. Is to develop sea going airplanes
and then to act as a livery stable and
farm these planes out to the Navy in
lots for operation. When this ia done
such a result as this Is inevitable.
The air commander Of the airplanes
must pass under the command of the
seaman who is in command Of the ship
unit to which the airpaanes are at
tached. This seaman would. If the
united air service were effective. be a
person totally unframed and mex
perienced in the operation of airplanes.
Similarly I am opposed to special
corps, for with it the same condition
is likely to arise.
Sees Difference in Services.
II believe that there is as great a
difference between an aviator. who
flies over land and one who flies over
sea, as there is between a soldier and
a sailor; that the naval aviator should
be trained. first to the sea. and then
to the air over the sea. and that he
should be qualified not only to operate
his machine over the sea, but able to
perform duties on board his base,
which Is the ship.
Il believe that this can best be ac-
complished by training the naval avi
ator in the organization in which he
lis to fight. The Introduction Of a
corps aboard ship has always caused
jealousy and heart burnings and is
a thing to be avoided II possible.
THE command of carriers and
tenders and all ships whose major duty
Is to serve airplanes should unques-
tionably fall to those who have had
experience In airplanes. This is a
point not conceded by those who ad-
vocate the separate service and a point
which may not be gained II we turn
to q separate corps.
THE history of aviation Is that the
airplane has in the last few years be-
come a large integral part of the ship,
and II is easy for me to imagine that
in a short time-say, within the next
20 years-we will find 1t the most i'm.
portant weapon that the Navy has to
WELD. In that case, II the aviators
were aviators only, and the sailors
were sailors only. with the command
Of ships and fleets intrusted to sailors
only, we would have the we'll known
situation of the tail wagging the dog. :"
Speaking Of his budget proposal. he
said he would recommend a lump
sum appropriation, to be expended un-
der the direction of the Bureau of
Aeronautics so that it would be easy
to understand just how much was
spent for aviation.
Sees Flyers Grievances.
There is the question of personnel"
he said, which is, of course, at the
bottom Of all the trouble. Naval avia-
tors, like all people, are willing to do
their bit toward the common wealth.
this case the Improvement Of their
specially; but only personal griev-
ances can cause the unrest and conse-
uuent uproar which we are now hear
ing"
Before leaving Honolulu, the witness
said, the oldest lieutenant aviator in
the Navy, a very calm and even
minded man, spoke to him as follows:
were perfectly well satisfied to re-
main as naval aviators and naval
officers without change of or9aniza-
ton. Now we find that nothing has
been done: that our flight pay is in
jeopardy and that we are subject to
be dropped from the Navy list en-
tirely: our promotion will be slow If
we have any at all. We do not know
what will become Of us. What we
ask is first that we may be assured
of remaining in the Navy. and Sec
ing in aviation" CThis means fight
paw
TT is my idea" Comdr. Rodgers
said, that the aviators should be
granted these two modest requests.
But in addition any Navy needs ex-
perienced aviators in the upper
grades, in order that the beneflt of
their long experience may be utilized
in administration work. Therefore.
they should be promoted in a class of
their own. still retaining them in the
line, ia ster II necessary than their fel-
lows qualified for ship duty only"
You'll get more for the dollar In
providing aircraft defense for the
way" he told the committee.
The Hawaiian group affords a good
opportunity for aircraft defense, he
added.
'"The islands are a naval base and
should b commanded by a naval ofn-
Ger.
"It is like Panama. The governor
there should be q naval rather than
army omcer."
"Were you at Hawaii during the
mansuvers" asked Senator Bingham.
"Yes, sir"
Gen. Hines (Maj. Gen. Hines, Army
chief Of staff seemed to be disap-
pointed in the part played by air
craft" continued Senator Bingham.
I'VE did everything we were told.
We simply offered our services.
ARMY aviators have made quite
point Of us not doing some things.
We promised to do all we could, but
we didn't promise to ruin ourselves
In doing It.