Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERToN.

must be destroyed and the waters
released. The problem was put
up to the Ind Bombardment
Group, from Langley Field, Va.
While the bombing" OF the
dam, of course, had TO be con-
Quoted without the use OF actual
bombs, the lessons learned during
the course of the operations were
very real. GriggS Dam, 1t was
found, is q f0rmidably solid crea-
ton of reinforced concrete. The
umpireS ruled that no bombs the
Blue forces could bring to bear
had much prospect OF destroying
the structure, even though direct
hits were scored.
After the Blues had made one
costly but entirely unsuccessful
raid on the dam, losing several
planes in the operation, according
to the decision OF the umpireS, 1t
was decided to abandon any hope
OF breaking the dam itself.
At this point, Blue observation
pilots discovered that III con-
Structing the dam the engineers
had made extensive excavations
to obtain filling material. At one
end OF the dam comparatively
narrow neck of earth had been
left. The Blue bombardment
sqladrons devoted their atten-
lions exclusively to this neck OF
land on the next trip over and
the unlpires ruled the earth had
been preached by the heavy
bombs, permitting the water to
escape.
Abutments Needed BY Dam.
Had the dam been constructed
with abutments against the solid
hillsides the umpires would have
ruled that no reasonable amount
OF bombing with present types or
bombs could have destroyed the
structure under war conditions.
To have continued operations
which amounted to mere peck
ing away" at the dam probably
would have resulted III losses to
the bombardment forces SO serious
as to offset the advantages TO be
gained.
Development of single bombs
large enough to destroy such a
massive structure as q large dam
or Of planes capable Of carrying
such great destructive missiles
are achievements Of the future.
To meet such contingencies, Maj.
w. II. Frank, chief air umpire
during the maneuVers, suggested
an entirely new line Of procedure.
1T probably will become neces-
sary," Mai. Frank said, ito pro-
duce q bomb which may be
dropped next to such a structure
as Griggs Dam until a dump of
thousands Of pounds Of explosives
Is formed. The whole mass then
may be set on simultaneously by
the explosion Of single detona-
ton bomb"
Development Of another type
Of large bomb with delayed
action fuse, for use against tar
gets which require the placing OF
powerful bombs with great &C
curacy also was suggested by
Mai. Frank. To place the bombs
with any degree Of accuracy they
should be dropped from very low
attitudes, Maj. Frank pointed out.
With present types Of bombs,
however, the bombardment planes
would be caught in the blast and
probably destroyed together with
the target. There must be Suffi-
cient delay to permit the planes
to pass on completely out of range
OF the blast and OF flying frag-
ments, Maj. Frank pointed out
New Type to Be Studied.
Efforts probably will be made
during the coming year to pro-
duce q new type of bombardment
plane with much greater speed
than is possessed by any of those
now In the service. The slow
ness OF the present bomber ex-
poses 1T to repeated assaults by
swift pursuit planes which must
be beaten of by machine gun
fire, as the bombers cannot hope
to outmaneuVer their smaller OPP
ponents.
Tactical officers of the Air
Corps are hopeful that there may
be developed a type of lombard
ment plane for low altitude work
| which will be fast enough to make
it difficult for pursuit planes to
launch more than one direct at
tack before the bombers can get
out OF range.
Bombardment planes also
should be produced which can
operate at much greater attitudes
than those OF today Maj. Frank
declared. The ceiling of the LIB
bombardment plane, which has
| formed the backbone of the bonn
bardment squadrons for the past
few years is but 1000 feet, he
said. The new LB-7 bombers
which gradually are replacing the
older types, are much better,
| being able TO climb with military
load to about $4,000 feet. This,
however, Is not sufficient, in the
! opinion of Mai. Frank, and It Ia
expected that In the future a type
of bomber will be developed
which may launch It's attacks
from attitudes OF more than four
miles.
Used by Day and Night.
The present type OF bomber is
used for both day and night
operations of various types and,
naturally, represents q most i'm
portant element in Army air
strength. 1t Is the largest type
OF military plane used for fighting
purposes and when loaded weighs
about six tons. The LB-7 type is