Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-01-31
USE OF NAVAL
PLANES SAID
BIG PROBLEM
Expert Ayers Getting
Ships Into Location
To Do Bombing Is
Obstacle
BY REAR ADM. w. A. M0FFETT,
NJ -

u. -. ~.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3i.-tP(-It
is all too easy to point to the won
derful possibilities in aircraft as a
weapon Of war and to the fearful
damage it can do to objects beneath
Il, nce il gets into the air; but
to get the airplane into the air and
over the particular object you want
10 destroy is an entirely different
matter.
You can sink enemy ships with
bombing airplanes. il the ships are
obliging enough or utterly foolish
enough to poke their noses into the
on shore.
However. the fact that our shore
based bombcrs can sink an enemy
battleship which comes into our
front yard is small comfort to our
iar flung shipping which may be
attacked b. enemy war vessels
thousands OF miles from our coasts.
"A few airplanes have flown across
the Atlantic, but that doen't sig.
Nifty that we can protect our ship
ping on the other side of the At
lantic by airplanes flying from our
own chores. IL ne planned to pro-
tect New York harbor BY airplane.
we wouldn't be very likely to try
TO do it with airplanes starting out
from San Francisco.
The navy's job Is not 10 sit on
our front doorstep and wait for
some enemy in its own good time 90
come over and lombard New York
City. The national defense Of our
country is not BY any means re-
stricted to coastal defense.
We are now e~quipping the fleet
No sea with aircraft as weapons Of
a We have two aircraft carriers,
the Lexington and Saratoga, in op-
Grafton. and the secretary Of the
navy has recommended the imme-
date construction of five new air.
craft carriers.
We must depend upon the car-
riers to take the airplanes car
fleet needs to sea, il they are to
get into the air over a particular
target in effective numbers.
The problems Of developing facili-
ties to care for the taking-off and
landing of airplanes from battle
ships and cruisers is as great as the
problem Of developing efficient air
planes themselves.
III you can visualize the problems
involved in putting an airplane into
flight from the restricted space on
deck Of a modern battleship, when
you have seen planes weighing sew
oral tons run hundreds of yards on
a landing field, you can visualize
the magnitude or our problem.
The runs on the battleships and
cruisers are the most important fes-
lures of these ships and nothing
must be permitted to interfere with
their operation, hence the necessity
OF some comparatively small mech
anism which can quickly launch the
ships spotting planes.
Starting from rest, the plane must
be accelerated to a speed Of so
miles an hour in the short space OF
so feet, so that it may be hurled
into space at full flying speed. The
development Of the catapult was a
no less difficult problem than the
design and construction of an air
plane.
You have seen airplsnes landing
on a field, coming in and striking
the ground, requiring a run Of 500
or 400 yards before coming to rest.
Yet the navy's planes have to land
on the cleared part Of a field that
is less than 100 yards long and not
more than 100 feet vide.
Consider also that as the pilot
approaches the floating field. ii may
rise or fall n vertical distance Of 10
or Is feet more, and at the same
time roll sideways. These are but
a few Of the problems peculiar to
developing an "air fleet At sea-"