Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10


States has great fleets o
commercial airplaneS on the man,
transport lines which travel tn
anyways network, the Nation ha
adequate potential aerial protec
ton in case Of emergency.
They picture the conversion
overnight of peaceful tranSpor
planes into deadly bombardmen
ships and Of air mail planes into
observation planes, with, possibly
smaller cabin planes serving FOL
observation purposes.
Assured that by the painting OF
the military circle and star on the
wings and the outlining of some
grim and deadly figure, such as q
winged devil or the Grim Reaper
on the fuselage, the sedate paSsen-
ger plane will become forthwith
an Aerial Menace, in bold capitals,
they feel contented with the pres
ent situation of the country.
Such persons are able to with
ness with complacency the slash
ing of budgets for the Army and
Navy air services.
I'VE don't need so many military
planes" they say. There already
are many airplaneS in this coun-
try, with pilots to fly them. Let
an enemy come against us and we
will have aerial fleets which will
darken the skies"
JekylI-Hyde Pilots.
They feel that the smiling, gen.
ial transport pilot can become a
deadly fighting flyer on a mo-
ment'S notice by erasing the smile
from his face, squirting his eyes
and assuming a grim expression.
If, as the moving picture pilots do
so well, he will twist his lips &C.
casionally to frame bit of Earring
profanity, they feel he probably
will become a great ace, relaxing
his war-bitten bleakneSs of fea-
lures only long enough to receive
the many medals and honorS TO
which he Is entitled.
This is pretty picture, but it
leaves the man who knows any,
thing of modern aerial warfare
cold. You can't convert a COM
mercial plane into a fighting plane
with paint, nor will a two-hour
concert Of stirring martial music,
followed by an oratorical outburst
of flaming vigor, convert a peace
time flyer into a military pilot.
OF course, it is possible to turn
q transport pilot into a military
pilot. If he was trained in civil
ian school, he must learn a great
deal more about acrobaticS than
he knows. He must learn to han
die the military plane, sometimes
radically different from anything
he has flown. He must know radio
and gunnery. And. last but not
least. he must be given some sort
OF military background so he can
cooperate with ground forces in
diligently. That takes time.
Discipline of the Air.
When it comes to the inculcation
Of discipline, the air takes pretty
good care of its own. Your trans
port pilot knows a discipline very
nearly as rigid as that imposed in
the Army. Your airplane me-
chanic doesn't need Army diSci-
pline to tell him that if he doesn't
do his job somebody is likely to
get hurt.
And when you come right down
to it, Air Corps discipline, after
all, isn't really Army discipline as
the old drill SergeantS know it.
There is different and, some are
inclined to believe, a higher sense
of morale and esprit de corps in
the flying services than you will
find anywhere. There may not be
SO much evidence of military dis
cipline in the contacts between Of
f1cerS and men on the ground, but
when it comes to the crucial mat
ter of being ready to go into ac-
ton at any time, efficiently and
effectively, which in the end is the
sole aim of discipline, you won't
find the Air Corps behind any
branch Of the service.
The Air Corps realizes keenly
the difference between the trans
port and the military pilot. The
Air Corps Reserve is concrete evil
dence of this realization. The Re-
serve is built up of pilots, ma
Jor1ty OF whom are engaged In
commercial aviation. To keep
them fit for military duty, they are
called into active service at regu-
lar intervals. This keeps their
"hands in" on military airplanes
and enables them to keen abreast
of developments in military tao
tics in the air and on the ground.
First Group" Is Small.
The first group" of Reserve pi-
lots, constituting those men who
are supposed to be in condition for
service at an instant's notice, how
ever, is woefully small. Men of the
second group, who would require
'refreSher" courses, could not be
ready for active service for sew
eral weeks. Men of the third
group could not be made into real
flying material in much less than
the time required to train flyers
from raw material, though they
can be counted on for good
ground" material.
There are some few types Of
commercial planes which could be
pressed into military service with
alterations. They are planes de-
veloped as the civilian counter
parts Of military planes. Three
such types occur to mind in this
connection.
There is a Boeing sport plane
which is the counterpart OF the
Boeing pursuit plane Of the Army
squadrons and the Boeing fighter
of the Navy. It is essentially a
military plane without military
equipment. There are few of them