Evening star., 1925-09-06
Lays Shenandoah and PN-9
Disasters to ''Stupid"
Navy Program.
SEES AIRMEN ASHAMED
OF UNIFORM THEY WEAR
Declares Lives Are Sacrificed for
Propaganda Purposes of
Both Services.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex, September 5.
Col. William Mitchell, ace critic of
the air forces. today charged the War
and Navy Departments with almost
reasonable administration an d
criminal negligence" in a 6,000-word
statement which also included other
charges involving the air forces of
the United States. Col. Mitchell, i'm
mediately after releasing the state
ment to press associations departed
by air for a fishing resort, saying he
expected to be arrested by Monday
morning for what he had said
Col Mitchell, whose arguments and
views on air matters have gained
congressional and national attention
Is air officer of the Sth Corps. His
statement scathing denunciation of
the practices and systems obtaining
in the administration of national de-
tense, was forthcoming as a result of
the fatal accident of the dirigible
Shenandoah, and of the PN-9 No. 1
These accidents are the direct re-
suit of incompetency, criminal negli-
gence and almost reasonable admin
istration by the War and Navy De-
partments," he asserts
Col. Mitchell'S statement covers II
typewriter pages. filled with sarcasm
and criticism OF the conduct of aVia-
ton.
'As far as aviation is concerned,
the conduct by these departments has
been so disgusting in the last few
years as to make any self-respecting
person ashamed of the clothes he
wears" Col. Mitchell continued
Were it not for the great patriotism
of our air officers and their hope for
change IN conditions sooner or
later, 1 doubt if a real man would re-
main with the colorS under existing
conditions"
Denies Wilbur Claim.
In reply to the statement by Sec
retary of the Navy Wilbur that the
Hawaiian flight proves the value of
the Atlantic and Pacific as Americas s
bulwarks against air invasion from a
foreign power, Col. Mitchell points
out that such an invasion from Asia
would be made by way of Alaska,
where the water to be crossed is little
wider than the English Channel
The route from Europe, he said, is
over the course followed by the
round-the-world flyers, to Iceland,
Greenland and North America, should
country become powerful enough to
uuueIldhe the OptEdIlOn.
What has the wreck of the Shen-
andoah to do with the possibility or
impossibility of an air invasion from
overseas" Mitchell asked What
business has the Navy over the noun
tains, anyway, Its mission is not
only out in the water, but under
water, out of sight and away from
land"
Charging that in attempts to keep
down the develo ment of aviation into
an independent development, handled
and directed by aeronautical experts,
Mitchell also declared that those in
charge of affairs have gone to the
utmost length to carry their point
All aviation policies, schemes and
systems are controlled and directed
by non-fyers, who know practically
nothing about 1t.
Assails Propaganda.
Both departments maintain public
propa ganda agencies which are sup
posed to publish to the people truth
full facts about national defense,
Mitchell declared, charging that the
airmen are "bluffed and bull-dozed
so that they dare not tell the truth
in majority of cases, knowing that
If they do, they will be deprived of
their future career and sent to the
Mitchell reviewed several accidents
of the past, declaring that the loss
of life in them were due largely to
obsolete and improper ships and
equipment.
In asking what the Army and Navy
has done to show that existing obso-
lete systems should continue, Mitchell
comments on the Pacific fleet maneu-
vers. the Hawaiian flight and the Nc
MILAN Arctic expedition.
Commenting on the heralded cap
ture" of the Hawaiian Islands by Navy
craft despite the operations of the
air forces. Mitchell declared that in
warfare the fleet would have been
bottled up in San Francisco Harbor
by mines planned by enemy subma-
rines. If surface vessels got through
these, the whole Pacific would be pa
troIled by fleets of submarines, he
said, and any vessel escaping the con-
slant submarine attack by gunfire
underwater tOrpedoes, gas and high
explosives would be met by aircraft
hundreds of miles from shore and
'sent to the bottom forthwith
Says Aircraft Value Shown.
If the maneuvers showed anything
conClusively it was favorable to air.
craft, Mitchell declared, pointing out
what the 1921 airplane bombardment
tests showed what could be done.
What would the $50, O,O00,O 200 to
$50, 900, 900 spent on the Pacific maneu-
vers have meant if applied to the de-
velopment of airplanes and subma-
rines?" he asked.
Terming the Hawaiian flight planes
good for nothing, big, numbering
boats" he criticized the methods used
in providing for the safety of the
fight, declaring that destroyers capa-
Bile of speed more than two-thirds as
fast as the planes should have steamed
full speed in the direction of the
course, thereby keeping in sight of
the flyers all the time. With gasoline
supply exhausted, the plane probably
was caught in a sudden gust and dis
appeared beneath the waves, Mitchell
said, leaving no trace of the disaster.
Even though successful, the flight
would have meant nothing from either
military or commercial standpoint, he
declared.
That the Shenandoah was a mod
ern airship, completely equipped and
properly constructed, is contradicted
by Mitchell, who declared she was
an experimental ship built in this
country and was about so per cent |
Continued on Page 4. Column IL