Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-28
READY AIR FORCES
HELD BEST GUARD
F. Trubee Dawson Says Ma
ton Must Rely on Planes
Prepared for Action.

The safety of the Nation in event
OF emergency may depend upon the
military airplanes ready to fly not upon
those which may be in stock or which
may be made ready within short time,
! 1t is declared by F. Trubee Dawson,
! Assistant Secretary of War for Air, in
an article on Standardization in the
| Army Air Corps published in this
months issue of the Bureau of Stand
: ards Commercial Standards Monthly"
The Air Corps, Mr.. Dawson stated,
is one of the Nations principal ele-
| ments of defense and. as was demon
| strated In the World War, superiority in
the air Is of the utmost Importance to
| the success of a campaign
Aerial superiority" Mr.. Dawson de-
clared, lis dependent not upon air.
planes in stock but upon airplanes that
are ready to fly. The number of air.
| craft that can be kept in action is
| largely dependent upon the availability
and ease OF replacement of parts re-
quired in their maintenance. In the
future the traditional horseshoe nail, for
lack of which the battle was lost, may
well be supplanted by the outside hose
connection which kept the plane on the
ground"
Parts Standardization.
The interest of the Air Corps in
Standardization of parts and accessory
equipment for airplanes dates from the
| beginning of the aircraft industry, Mr.
Dawson pointed out. Because of the
necessity for the interchangeability Of
utility parts and accessories, the Air
Corps has had to establish standards
for important replacement parts Of
aircraft.
With the large number of planes,
engines and accessories used in the Air
Corps and drawn from widely separated
and generally competitive production
agencies, Mr.. Dawson explained, the
necessity of Standardization both from
the standpoints of commercial efficiency
and military usefulness becomes readily
apparent.
Standardization of parts, however, has
been a slow process. If all parts not
standardized were to be thrown out at
once the manufacturing companies
would be put to heavy loss and the de-
velopment of new aircraft and Access
series would be retarded, he said.
In this respect" Mr.. Dawson said,
"the Air Corps has carefully weighed
the merits of each item subject to STAN
dardization. Generally speaking, the
process has involved three distinct
phases.
Utility Standards.
"The first phase Of Standardization
was to establish what are termed utility
standards; these being such items as
bolts, nuts, clevis pins. washers, turn
buckles, shackles, gromnets, union con-
nections, tank hanges and water, fuel
and oil hose. With these standards es-
tablished 1t is possible for the Air Corps
to carry in stock one item which can be
used for replacement on standard air
plane procured from any source. In
addition to simplifying replacement.
Standardization has enabled the Air
Corps to save considerable money in
the amount of stocks and Of replace
ment tools which 1t Is required to have
on hand in order properly to maintain
aircraft
Standard Mounting.
"The second and probably the great
est phase Of Standardization was to es-
tablish standard mounting dimensions
for such accessories as generators, start
ers, propellers instruments, landing and
tail wheels, carburetors fuel pumps,
throttle controls and batteries. With the
establishment of limiting and mounting
dimensions Of such accessories it has
been possible to replace one manufac-
turers' article with that of another
without the use Of an adapter.
1.-THE third phase, but by no means
the least important was the establish
ment of standard specifications covering
requirements and test procedure for
materials"