Evening star., 1926-05-16

! is not included in the regular perform.
ance of their duties, a report compiled
| in the Navy Department shows tnat
| SO per cent of the line officers or the
battle and scouting fleets, or 5SS OF
the l,135 officers on duty with these
| fleets. have flown a total of over o'4uo
hours. This report also serves 10 re-
flute the allegations made recently that
very little flying was done by the
senior officers of the Navy. the report
showing that the percentage OF senior
officers who have flown Is equally as
] high as that of the Junior officers'
| namely: Flag officers, 20 per cent; cap
tains, as per cent, and commanders,
| So per cent The vice admiral OK the
| battle fleet has made 4 nights IL
| flights have been made by the rear
admirals attached thereto; 631 flights
have been made by Q of the IL cap
tains: half of the 80 commanders. 1853
| flights: 3S of the II lieutenant com
manders. 294 flights; SO: of the l70
I lieutenantS, 637 flights: 40 or the 20
| lieutenants Gunior grade). 467 flights;
while S02 flights have been made by
| III of the 375 ensigns.
In the scouting fleet the compila-
| ton shows that flights have been
made by 9 of rear admirals, 81
| flights have been made by Of the
| Ii captains. 343 fights have been
| made by 10 of the 1S commanders:
| 35 of 81 lieutenant commanders, 759
| flights: 49 of 81 lieutenants. 259
| flights: - of az lieutenants q. g..
| 3l9 flights. and n ensigns out OF
| ia made 297 flights. The participa-
| tion of this unusually large number
of officers on duty with the battle and
scouting fleets in aerial flights. which
in, nf
duties is not required of them, indi-
| Gates that considerable number OF
naval officers have voluntarily under
taken to perfect themselves in avla-
| ton in anticipation Of certain require
mentss which have been proposed
along this line. A flying Navy is
visualized by both Junior and senior
| naval officers in the new general
order just recently signed by the Sec
| retary of the Navy. which provides
for fight training for the graduates
of the Naval Academy. This order
| requires all graduates of the academy
| to take a course of training OF 20
| flight hours. either at the naval air
station at Hampton Roads. Va, or
! at the naval air station at San Diego,
| Calf. Flight schools will be estab-
| lished at these stations. and those
graduates attached to the scouting
| fleet will receive their instruction at
| Hampton Roads, Va. while the grad
| yates attached to the battle feet will
| undergo instruction at San Diego,
| Calf.
Among the long and growing list
OF suggestions for the Improvement
| of naval personnel conditions is one
| made last week which would elm
mate the age-in-grade retirement In
the case of captains, commanders and
lieutenant commanders Of the line of
| the Navy. This has the Endorsement
| Of the Navy Department and would
have the effect of postponing retire
ment in the case of five captains, two
| commanders and three lieutenant
commanders. who will shortly attain
the ages of Sc, SO and As, respec-
lively, and would enable them to re-
main on the active list until they
have completed 35, % and Il years
| Of service. respectively.
Following are the captains whose
active service would be extended:
c. l.. Hussey. from August. 1926. TO
| June. 1927; A. w. Kinds, from Sep
! tember. 1926. to July, 1927; G. E.
Gelm, from November, 1925, to June,
| 1929; f. S. kellogg. from August,
1926. to June. 1927, and J. T. Tomp-
kins, from September, 1926. to June,