Evening star., 1932-02-28

jr., former Assistant Secretary OF Com
merce for AeronauticS; Walter Simons,
former president of the Supreme Court
OF Germany; Elmer A. Sperry, jr..
chairman, aeronautical division, Ameri-
can Society of Mechanical Engineers;
Edward P. Warner, former Assistant
Secretary Of the Navy for Aeronautics;
Mabel Walker Willebrandt, former
Assistant Attorney General, and Clar-
ence M. Young, Assistant Secretary of
Commerce for Aeronaut1cs.
The Advisory Council members for
radio include figures as distinguished
in the fields Of radio research and
radio law, among them Guglielmo
Marcont, famous radio pioneer, who
now is president of the Royal Academy
OF Italy; Thad H. Brown, general
counsel OF the Federal Radio Commits
sion; William j. Donovan, former As
sistant Attorney General; Chester I.
Long, former president OF the Ameri-
can Bar Association and former Sena-
tor from Kansas; N. Matsumami,
Japanese minister of admiralty and
communications, and Bethuel M. Web
ster, jr, former general counsel of the
Federal Radio Commission.
Air Attack Deadly.
6lmuIat1ng Stramng attack on q
battalion Of infantry on the march by
squadron Of attack planes under the
most realistic conditions yet ATTEMPTED
In test of this sort has given Army
off1cers new conception of the deadly
effect Of this new element in combat
aviation.
The exercise was conducted by the
26th Attack SQUADRON at Wheeler
Field, Hawaii, involving machine gun
fire and bombing of the simulated
ground force. To give the closest pos
sible approximation to real conditions.
battalion of 28O infantrymen was
marched along a road over the range.
Warned of the impending aerial at
tack, the men dispersed to take shelter.
After four seconds, the time required
for planes to arrive In attacking DO
sition, the men were halted and each
man marked his position with a stake.
Silhouette targets, life size, were placed
at each stake, while eight targets, each
three by five feet in size, were used to
represent the battalion's machine guns.
The targets were scattered, as the bat
talon had been, over an area 200 yards
long by 33 yards wide.
Skeleton Squadron Attacks.
A skeleton attack squadron Of 8
planes, with 80 machine guns, 2 Of the
planes not having wing guns, was en-
ployed. They carried total of 9,400
rounds of 80 caliber ammunition, every
fifth bullet being a tracer. In addition,
each plane carried 10 17-pound frag-
mentation bombs.
After the attacks the targets were
marked and scored by infantry and air
officers. 1t was found that total of
202 of the 278 targets had been hit
by machine gun bullets, that 230 had
been struck by bombs or bullets, that
Is were completely destroyed and that
only 48 escaped untouched.
The IS targets which were destroyed
utterly were counted as only single hits.
On the remainder it was found that
there were 339 bullet holes and that 406
augmentation bomb hits were made, or
a total of 745 hits on the various tar
gets. The percentage of casualties"
among the targets was "a.
In actual warfare the destruction
might have been even greater since men
would have thickness as well as breadth,
which the targets lacked, and might
have been struck by fragments or bull
lets which missed the targets when pre-
sented edge on.
Airline Employees Insured.
What is said to be the largest group
life insurance policy, covering all en-
ployes of an airline, ever issued has
been written for Western air trans
port company. The policy, in excess
of $2,500,000, covers approximately
1000 employees, including pilots and CO.
pilots. No restriction is placed on any
of the employees travelling by air. The
big policy was made effective after the
insurance company made an exhaustive
Nf hn NoYNf
sonnel and operating practices on the
airline, which serves As cities in 10
States.