Evening star., 1925-09-08

tors and De Hsvilla nd observation
planes, theh time and money was
! spent on experime nta ton and gen. (
orally IL can he stated th&re have !
been no blunders in the purcha se OF /
aircraft. a few post war Martin and !
Curtiss bombers We're selected and ,
they are still giving faithful service.
The time has now arrived when pur-
chaSes are being made of the Douglas
and Curtiss observs lions. developed
TO satisfaction after ive or more
years Of work. The Curiiss and
Boeing pursuit plan nes also are teinS
sought because they are q = near per.
feet as aeroDautical engineering can
make them.
But IL is realized among the cooler
thinking men in the Army that 10 go
out and buy 10000 Of these little pur-
suit planes that sell for i25 900 would
be q waste OF money unless war was
imminent. because in two yea rs. some
genius will come forward with pla mes
OF higher speed greater cruising ra
dius. more maneuverability and better
, all-arouud performa nee. Then the
present craft will he obsolete
Col. Mitchell. as Gen. Patrick said
I publicly. knows more about how
7 Ia rye ar force ca n De ma n1Ip0 q no
knows more about what IL can do
/ than any other man in the world
! Mitchell Is believer solely in air
/ power. He wants To fy across the
North Pole Ia Asia in so hours and
across The Antarctic 70 Africa and
! New Iea Ia nd. He would go himself
: tomorrow II allowed. but the War
I reason for this. In that they are
sustained by many.
Army Holds Records.
Since The war. the Army has about
captured all aviation honore In Amer
! ica-and The world. for that matter
( First. in 1914 came the trsnsconti.
, mental race 10 show This country
ranscontinentsl flights were possible
n nd feasible. Then came the round
therim flight. q circuit of the borders
| of the United States. In succession
/ followed the 5.000-mile flight from
New York to Nome. Alaska and back
10 this city. the flight from San An.
! tonic. Tex. to Porto Rico and this
/ city: the transconrinental nonstop
| flight Of the To-: the dawn-to.dUsk
I transcontinentaI night of Lieut.. r. L.
/ Vaughan. and finally. the crowning
! achievement Of hyinE around the
world. Interspersed we're numerous
| speed. altitude. endurance. distance
/ and weight carving aircraft records.
! Navy Record Eciipsed.
I The Navy cannot present such
record or stunts" II II wants TO class
ifN them IS such. II is known among
/ The airmen Of America that there are
a bout 4 dozen naval aViators on whom
! the depa rtment is forced TO call for
com petitive performa noes nd under.
! takings where experience and wide
I
| solUtely necesSary ry. These men. with
one or two exceptions. did NOT grad
uate from the Naval Academy-they
{ are only aviators. end NOT naval Off
! GERS who must he qualified TO per
/ form efficiently every naval duty on
the books They are not looked upon
with any too much love. Recently a
! reserve won the SchiH trophy for
I iying the greatest number OF hours
, without single accident. high
/ ranking officer of the Navy disgust
! inSly remarked, when this intelligence
! was brought to him. that i don't see
| why a regular ca Mt win IL
! These reserves are bee in the
/ bonnet OF naval aviation. They have
! had more experience than the ma jor-
! ity of the $50 pilots who make up
| aviation. and II is TO he expected they
! are better Ayers The men in com
/ ma nd of administering the naval avia-
ton are airplane pilots. hut with less
experience The Navy Depa rtment's
! policy or shipping officers 10 sea and
! to different duties is responsible for
| this.
/ Noffeu Policy Hampered.
/ Admiral Moffett has worked won
ders with naval avia tion. In spite Of
| his poor advisers. az Admiral William
! 8 Sims testified before the aircraft
] i. n IA
| has little or no control over his men
a nd pla mes. Everything must be placed
before the Secretary's Office for ap-
! proval. The operations of the late
| Shens ndoah and the Los Angeles are
directly under the Bureau Of Naval
Operations. as these vessels are re-
/ ga rded as "drea dnaughts" OF the air.
They do not come under Admiral Mof-
! fett. who has no more 10 do with them
than he has to do with battleships.
! After his reappointment as chief of
the bureau. which the flyers say Sec
retary Wilbur was forced TO do in
spite OF pressure against IT by the
"battleship crowd" his voice" was
promptly taken away from him. When
| he had taken over the bureau the
admiral saw the necessity of selling"
a Walton to the public. Nobody had
ever heard of naval aviation up to
that time. He detached from the feet
a naval officer and former newspa per
man. who. although not flyer. was
! given course in observa ton at Pen.
sacola and put TO work. This press
agent" worked day and night think
ling up stunts for naval aviation to get
| IL before the public. He realized that
| the routine military duty never would
prove of interest. and he made his
I job a great success. In order to do
J this he worked In characters and per
I Sons lities. Whenever Admira Moffett
did some good fiying il was a story.
because of his age. his rank and his
position. There are many who still
believe q person Is fool to go up
in an airplane.
Petty Jealousy Grows.
Petty lea lousy grew up in the de-
pa rtment. Everybody knew who Mof-
! fett was, but who ever heard of any
| other admiral? The result was a cen.
! sorship. The publicity officer was sent
TO sea the latter part of this month.
He hasn't turned his han nd in behalf
! of naval aviation for months and
months. All publicity ia necessary ele-
mentl has been placed in another sec
! tion of the building. in the ha nds of
| those who are not going to sit up
nights thinking how naval aviation
| can be benefited" Since the human
| interest element Of naval svia ton was
cut out. all the publicity concerning
naval aviation has referred to COLI
! sions and crashes
| The Ayers. however are not prone
| to blame everything on the Navy De-
! partment In naval aviation itself
| there have been many mistakes. but
| 1T would be extremely difficult 10
prove them
| Aviation Is young. Not many peo-
! pie know very much about IT. There
| Is no precedent to go by. A fyer can