The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-04-28
:. fNEA seryice Writerl

washing COn.-Ine army ar corps, which will display itself in a huge concentration and mass maneuvers of 672 planes in May has gone a long way since 1910 when $15O was allotted for operation and mainte- nance of Uncle Sam's single military plane. Lieutenant E. D. Foulois, now a brigadier general and assistant chief of the corps, had charge of that original plane and dug out $500
 from his own pocket to keep it going. Even six years later out mill itary aviators entered the World
 war as nothing more than aviation
 section of the signal corps"
 This year $36,0O0,000 is being spent on the air corps. It's officers
 cent of the army's total strength.
 Plan 1900 Planes
 There are about 1900 planes.
 1900 officers and 12,000 enlisted
 men. Completion of the air corps
 five-year plan, which is going to re-
 quire a little more than the period
 ending with June next year as orig
 inally scheduled, is supposed to give
 it 1900 serviceable planes, 1850
 flying officers, $50 reserve officers on extended active duty and 15,000 enlisted men. mere are Q fUO ar
 corps reserve officers.
 The army's planes are attack
 planes bombers, pursuit planes, ob-
 servation planes, transports and
 training ships. The pursuit planes are those which fight enemy air
 craft. They are fast-with cruis-
 ing speed of two and q half miles
 minute, sing1e-seated and easily
 maneuverable. They can climb 2O,-
 900 to 30,00O feet and more with
 full military load. including machine
 gun, ammunition and oxygen equip
 ment for the pilot. Each carries two Browning machine guns mounted just forward of the pilot, synchro-
 nized to. shoot through the pro- peller by a gearing with the engine from shooting when. propeller blade is in the way. Because of their capacities for high attitudes pursuit planes have the advantage of being able to attack other types of aircraft from above. To aim the guns pilot maneuvers the plane. Those 'Hedge- -Hoppers'
 Attack planes are designed for ground strafing," or shooting up ground troops. They keep close to the ground, hedge hopping''- along to spray the enemy forces with ma chine gun bullets and 25-pound Augmentation bombs. An attack plane carries a pilot and gunner ten bombs, two guns on the wings, two forward of the pilot and two others at the rear to be handled by the gunner on a flexible mount. The bofnbers are multi-motored because they must carry large weights in bombs and have a large fuel capacity to give them a large cruising radius. They are staffed by a pilot. d co-pilot and navigator, a bomber who also serves as a ma chine gunner, a full time machine gunner and a radio operator One type of army bomber carries a ton of bombs and the other two tons. Observation planes carry a pilot. an observer, three machine guns. a radio set a signaling pistol and sometimes an aerial camera. The most important use of the big trans ports is their employment to carry loads of mechanics and cargoes of supplies while accompanying other planes in long movements.
 There are 19 air corps stations in the United States located in Texas, California. Illinois. Ohio. New York, Virginia Kansas. Ala
 bama and Michigan, with foreign stations in Hawai-. the Philippines. and the Canal Zone. The air corps also has units at other military posts.
 The School System
 The corps maintains a continu- Ous system of education and train ing in order 10 keep its personnel at high efficiency. The primary