Evening star., 1933-04-05

II Admiral "Bil' Moffett could be
heard from his grave Of honor beneath
the Atlantic billows, his voice would be
calling to the comrades he's left behind:
Garry on!" He would describe the
loss Of the Akron not as tragedy" or
a disaster" but speak Of it in the Ian
guage of the Navy, merely as casualty
of service" And though the fate Of
the great dirigible is bound to be
blow at the lighter -than-air school of
aeronautics, in which he so enthusiast
tically believed, Moffett would never
have let 1t get" him or induce him
to abandon the airship as demon
strably practical complement OF the
airplane. This observer was on news
paper duty in Germany throughout
the pre-war years in which Count Zep-
pelin was developing the dirigible. Halt
dozen zeppelins crashed and took
heavy toll of life, but he went on and
on, and now his countrymen are proud
possessors of q ship that has navi-
gated the globe, crossed and recrossed
the oceans and proved seaworthy and
weather worthy under almost every
conceivable condition. "Bin" Moffett's
perseverance with ighter-t -than-air craft
was inspired by Count Zeppelin's in
flexible confidence
For ten years Admiral Moffett
headed the Bureau Of Aeronautics at
the Navy Department, far outstripping
in years Of service the tours, of duty
usually assigned to bureau heads. He
had made himself almost indispensable
there. Our existing naval aviation Is
his creation The service contemplated
his retirement at the age limit of "a
next October with regret. He was on
the Job day and night-talked, ate and
dreamt naval aviation. Moffett never
shared the air extremists view that
planes and dirigibles had rendered
warships obsolete and that defense at
sea might be handed over exclusively
TO the flyers and the bombers. He
saw in aviation a mighty auxiliary, not
q substitute, for fleets. At the London
naval conference IN 1880 Admiral
Moffett sleeplessly looked after the
interests of the air branch in the
Limitation agreements then under nego-
tiation and was chiefly responsible for
the concessions made to the American
viewpoint, especially with respect to
equipping 10,o0o-ton cruisers with
flying decks. Last Winter, when IL
became known that Mr.. Roosevelt
folio to a southerner, fellow-South
Carolinians doomed Admiral Moffett
for the place.
In the midst of the World War,
Maj. Maurice Barring, an officer In the
British independent air force, wrote a
sonnet in honor Of comrades who had
gone west" in service. As a flying
mans tribute, 1t can appropriately be
sung Of the Akron's officers and crew:
Because of you we will be glad and
gay;
Remembering you, we will be brave
and strong,
And hail the advent Of each dan
gcrous day
And meet the last adventure with
And as you proudly gave your jew
eled gift,
Well give our lesser offering with
Nor falter on that path where. all
too swift,
You led the way and leapt the
golden stile.
Whether new paths, new heights to
climb you find,
Or gallop through the unfooted
asphodel,
We know you know we shall not lag
Sehind
Nor halt to waste o moment on .
fear.
And you will speed US onward with
cheer
And wave beyond the stars that
all Isl well"
X \
When George M. Cohan visited Col.
Edwin A. Halsey, secretary of the
Senate, the other day the actor and
playwright confessed sorrowfully that,
though no American alive had ever
written 20 many hag-waving songs, he'd
never before set foot In the Capitol Of
the United States. The author Of
Yankee Doodle Boy" Its q Grand