Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-24
The War Over the Air
Chapter X-s'The Flyers Grow Peevish.'
By viii Ir,Uin.

tics. I'VE might as well be on shore
during some crpises. for all, the prac-
tice we get" remarked one Navy
flyer. The personnel seems a little
bitter over the high fatality in naval
aviation. The annual loss In killed
averages 8 per cent of the actual fly
ers. During one year it was s per
cent. These are almost war figures.
Some of this doubtless may be at
tributed to our worn-out material.
But who generally judges. whether
an airplane is fit to fiy?" say the
aviators "A ground man"
A question of rank complexities the
dissatisfaction of the Army flyers
Unless we have a war few of the
wing iieutenantsr now daily risking
their lives to keep the service eff
Client can hope to retire, after 80
years service, above, the grade of
| captain: That is one curious result Of
the late war. A good part Of the
younger officers now In service enter
ed the Army as volunteers between
April, 1917, and Noxem Der, s..191s.
Those who selected Infantry, Artil-
lery or Engineers needed only. three
to six months of training; those who
chose aviation usually from eight
months to year. In some cases,
owing to lack of equipment, it took
10 months.
An officer received his commission
and took his place on the Army lists
only when his training was complete.
The ayiators, in short. came in at
the bottom of the list during a period
when those lists were swollen The V
are part OF the Army machinery how
ever; they must crawl up file by file
as men above them drop out. The
General Staff has considered giving
some relief to the aviators. but it has
abandoned the job because of the
jealousy this might cause in other
branches of the seryice
Promotion Outlook Poor.
Flying age is athletic age. To
learn the art a man must be taught
young. Like base ball player or a
pugilist, he begins to slow up after
80 and after 40 is no longer capable
of first-class performance. Under an
independent and natural scheme of
organization these young men would
graduate when their best usefulnes s
in the air was done, to command on
the ground. But few, If any of them
Will ever achieve any position in
ground command worth having, SIM
ply because they will never become
majors or colonies or generals. Tn
less we change things radically they
can never have even their proper
representation on the general staff.
If commercial aviation had lived
up to its first promises the two serv-
ices would probably have kept very
| few firstgrade flyers. The tempta-
ton from outside would have been
too great. AS It stands, our Army
and Navy aviators giya the impress
sion OF men who are waiting to see
which way the cat will jump. One
of the Army men said to me:
They send us a new major from
| the Infantry or the Engineers or
some thing. 1 show him over the
hangers; 1 try to tell him all about
| airplanes in five easy lessons; 1 take
him UP for a ride. And when I drop
him / salute and say to him in my
mind, There! It's my job you're
| holding. You may have it for .
| while. But If you keep it from me
| too long, / won't be here to claim
itr".
When such uneasy dissatisfaction
| pervdaes an organization, one of two
| things is Noncompliance al
the top or ffaw in the system. On
the testimony of the aviators them
| selves, Admiral Mofrett and Gen. Pat
rick are not incompetent. Therefore
we must blame the system. / am not
pleading specifically for the United
Air Force when I say that it needs
overha1ling.
("Passenger Aviation" the eley.
enth fnstaIIment of Will Twins sc.
ries ON the aircraft controversy, fol-
lows tomorrOw.)
| Copyright. 1925, in United States. Csnads
and Great Britain by North American News
paper Alliance. Ali rights reservedD