Evening star., 1925-10-17
AIR BOARD STARTS
TASK Of D|GEST|NG
EVIDENCE RECORDS
Hearings Adjourned Last
Night After Exploring All
Angles of Situation.
WILL TRY TO END WORK
BEFORE CONGRESS SITS
Session Today Brief as Work Gets
Under Way in Final
Report.

AdLourning its hearings late last
night, the Presidents s Air Board today
tackled the biggest problem since its
of drawing conclusions
from the mass Of controversial
opinions and proposals presented dur
ing its four weeks of hearings.
The board met in executive session
today and in the words of its seCre-
tary. DIR. W. +. Durand, tried I"
adopt line of procedure with the
bulky record" After brief meeting
il adjourned.
President Coolidge desires to have
the report Of his agency in hand be
fore Congress meets in December. and
So informed Chairman Dwight w.
Morrow and other members of the
board when he appointed them 10
make the exhaustive inquiry. now
concluded. into both the military and
commercial phases of the question.
Dwight +. Davis. then Acting Secre-
tarv of War. suggested the boards
creation as a means of clearing the
atmosphere after Col. William Mitch
ellis sensational criticism of the Army
and Navy Air Service administra-
tionS.
Every Angle Explored.
When Chairman Morrow last night
raped the Gavel for adjournment. the
board was satisfied that every angie
of the question had been exploded.
No one. to its knowledge, who Is an
authority on air and military matters
had been deprived a hearing and many
Witnesses were recalled a second time
to elaborate on their proposals. The
final day and night sessions were
marked t.y the same conflict of views
among Army and Navy witnesses that
has characterized the whole inquiry
In adding his name to those VINO
have opposed the proposal supported
by Col Mitchell for the creation OF
department of defense with sep
arate air force. Comdr. Jerome {.
Hunsaker. assistant naval attache at
London. told the board the United
States ranked third in air power
among the five nations having the
most powerful air services. He con
ceded however. that lack OF depend
able informa ton from the other ma
tiops made This almost a guess. In
airplane design, he declared. no nation
was ahead of the United states.
Further opposing views on the de
fanse department idea were heard
from Comdr. John II. Towers. leader
of the Navy'S ira nSa tlantlc nlsht OF
1919. and Mai. II. II. Arnold, CHIEF OF
the information division, Army Ar
Service. both pioneer alrmen IN thelI
respective services. Maj. Arnold added
his Endorsement to the separate air
corps proposal OF MS chiel. h"J' 'eh-
Mason NJ. Patrick.
Comdr. Towers opinion was that
while he feared the Nays present
air organization would not function
adequately under war conditions, ne
believed the remedy for this lay In
REORGANIZATION within the Navy De-
nartment itself and not in the pro-
posed unified air force under depart
ment of defense.
Based on Observations.
Comdr. Hunsaker said his estimate
of Americas relative position IN ar
mower was based not upon the claims
of various nations, but on his own
observations during 16 years or serV-
ice with the diplomatic corps. An at
tack on the United States by air from
a foreign land seems out OF the queS-
ton" he declared. adding that no
plane in existence now can cross the
Atlantic carrying 2,000-pound bomp:
The witness indorsed the policy OF
expending large part of aircraft ap-
-
This phase of aeronautics had been
attacked before the board by Chair
man Madden of the House appropria-
tions committee, who urged that the
experiment angle of military aeronau-
tics be turned over to private enter
prise.
Comdr Kenneth Whiting of the
Bureau of Aeronautics asserted that
Rear Admiral w. A. Moffett frequent
ly was not consulted by the Bureau
of Navigation on aviation matters.
Arrangements were made without the
knowledge of the Aeronautics Bureau.
he said, to provide for training of An
napolis cadets in aviation.
THAT finished me-" he exclaimed.
I'VE found out about it by accident
two days ahead.
He said he cited this as an exam
pie of his reasons for submitting n
reorganiza ton plan he presented to
the board several weeks ago. designed
to give the naval air chief greater
power in aviation matters.
To bring the Navy up TO the
5-5-3 ratio agreed upon at the
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