Evening star., 1925-02-25
ADMIRAL CALLED
IN AIRCRAFT PROBE.
Jones to Be First Witness at
Reopening of Hearings To-
morrow.

near AdnlTal Hilary +. Jones,
chairman of the Navy General Board,
Will be the first witness tomorrow
morning at the reopening of hearings
by the House aircraft investigating
committee, Representative Perkins.
Republican, New Jersey. the com
mfttee examiner, announced today.
Admiral Jones was asked to appear
by Mr.. Perkins to give the committee
a supplementary statement on the
report of the special board of ad-
mirals on the relation of submarines
aircraft and surface ships in the
Navy. which was made to President
Coolidge several days ago.
The hearings tomorrow will be the
first in almost a week, the committee
having decided last Saturday after
noon to conclude it's investigation.
The matter was reconsidered yester-
day, however, and agreement was
reached to hold open hearings to-
morrow and Friday after 1t had been
ascertained there was sufficient
money available to tide the work
over to the end of the present
session.
Sims Called for Friday.
Mr.. Perkins also announced that
Rear Admiral William S. Sims, re-
tired, would be called Friday morn
ing to give his views on national de-
fense questions. At the same time 1T
was hoped to have Rear Admiral
Fullam, but the condition of his
health will make it impossible for
him to attend. Admiral Fullam is an
ardent supporter of aviation and has
been active in aeronautical work since
his retirement.
1t was learned today that Repre-
sentative Frank r. Reid of Illinois,
Republican, will not urge the ap-
pearance of Lieut. Commander Cliff
ford A. Tinker, U. S. n. r. F., for
whom subpoena had been issued
to explain a magazine article he had
written charging Congress with re-
sponsibility for the death of "a off,
GERS and men in the dirigible Roma
explosion. The responsibility was
placed by Mr.. Tinker because, he
charged, that body had failed to ap-
propriate money for transportation
of helium to Langley Field, Va, from
Fort Worth, Tex, to initiate the diri-
gible. The ship took off buoyed with
hydrogen and exploded. The reason
for Mr.. Reid's lack of interest in
hearing Mr.. Tinker, it was learned,
was that Chairman Madden of the
House appropriations committee had
given an explanation of the charge
N
of the story didn't know what he
was talking about
Test Invitation i'm Air.
While the committee has expressed
desire to attend a special demonstra-
tion of anti aircraft fire on a towed
airplane target at Fort Monroe
March 6, to which 1T had been in
vited by the War Department, some
question now looms as to the chance
of members getting away for that
affair The question will be discussed
tomorrow morning and a formal reply
to the invitation will be given the
War Department. While the hearings
will have been closed by that date,
the committee will not have made it's
report and still will have a mind
open to all questions" Representative
Perkins said. The invitation of the
War Department was extended to
substantiate it's claim that anti-air-
craft fire di6 play havoc with air
planes during the war as opposed to
the unanimous declara tions of all
war pilots who appeared before the
that anti-aircraft fire was
Ineffective and meant nothing to the
aviators.
New Congress to Act.
The subcommittee of the House
military affairs committee and the
naval affairs committee, expect to
meet in joint session early in the next
Congress to discuss the Nations air
defense, Representative Wainwright
of New York, a Republican member
of the military committee, announced
last night. Mr.. Wainwright, a former
Assistant Secretary of War, as chair
man of a special aeronautics subcom-
mittee of the military committee, and
Representative Swing, Republican,
California, of similar naval subcom-
mittee decided at a recent confer
ence to postpone any action until
after members had been given an op-
portunity TO study the report of the
present aircraft investigating COM
mittee.
Mr. Wainwright said if thorough
survey of the problems~of the air