Evening star., 1933-11-05

ID Vic lllUSL uIBcIlG 1ccQ VI tIlc Gu
air power to safeguard our shore.
much of the present Coast Artille
ground Army to what will amOu
development of weapons only.
The first attack, in event Of any great
conflict involving this country, they
contend, would be delivered by aircraft
and could be met successfully only by
aircraft. The present United States
Navy would have to put forth its entire
strength to cope with the sea forces Of
any Of the present flrst-rate powers and
would leave great reaches Of the coast
without defense against hostile aircraft
carriers and aircraft.
force the country could muster would
be Of avail. If the attack were not met
in the air many miles of the coast,
national tragedy undoubtedly would re-
suit. To safeguard the country, II Is
claimed, adequate coastal air patrol and
combat forces must be established at
once and maintained as a guarantee
Of safety.
The viewpoint Of the advocates Of
the air coast defense plan was expressed
q few days ago by Brig. Gen. Mayo,
Army Medical Corps Reserve and CO.
head of the clinic bearing his name,
who is quoted as having said in Chi
cago:
THE speed of the world has increased
| SO fast that lot Of people can't keep
up. Their training and vision are still
those Of the horse age. Now the Gov
ernment Is sending fine stations out to
the Western plains to breed horses for
the Cavalry. You might as well 60 to
war in horse and buggy. This is q
machine age, and war hereafter will be
waged by technical men. We are SPEND
| ing a quarter Of a billion dollars for
warships which will be obsolete In 10
years. No class A countries will ever
fight another war with masSed men.
1t will be too expensive. The world
must be ready for quick Jump. Planes
will drop explosives, gas and disease.
Their maxim will be, Jump In and de-
stroy as quickly as you can.
Air Need Pre-eminent.
The viewpoint of advocates Of the
new air coast defense plan is that the
will be eminent and immediate.
There will be no time for preparation
| ano the issue may be decided at once.
If adequate defense machinery Of all
kinds cannot be maintained for reasons
of economy or policy. at least adequate
air defense must be maintained. though
this entail laying up most OF the exist
| ing ground defense mechanism, they
| say.
| One Of the chief advocates Of the
new plan now in the field Is Repre-
sentative Wilcox OF Florida, who Is
championing the cause Of the new sys-
tenn before the public works body and
is preparing to take it to Congress II
necessary. He has powerful support In
certain branches Of the military serv-
| ice and in Congress.
Mr.. Wilcox has proposed series OF
10 "air frontier defense bases for ouI
coastal system. four for the West Coast
and six for the East Coast, the Gulf OF
Mexico and the Panama Canal. The
system. complete. would cost approx
mately s175,0ooooo according to the
experts who have collaborated with
him in working out the plan.
| The Florida Democrat has asked that
| the first unit of this system be estab-
lished at once at Chapman Field. near
key to the defense Of the East Coast
the mouth snh Of Of the gull the Panama 1,
tary bases in the West Indies.
Since the 10 proposed bases would
be identical in size and equipment q
brief sketch of the proposed Chapman
Field base will illustrate the entire pro-
posal The field would be q self-con-
tanned unit. equipped with 64 long
range patrol flying boats and 81 long
range bombardment planes.
Costs Are Outlined.
The cost of the Miami base is esti-
mated to be S11 .314,500, divided as fol-
lows: Radio station, $4,000; oflcers'
quarters, S2,550,0 900; barracks, $780,
900; commissioned officers quar-
tiers, 81 ,468 200; fire and guard, $50 900;
hospital and detachment barracks.
Sl6O,OOO; post exchange, $55,000; rail-
road spur. $4,000; incinerator, $10,-
| 600; quartermaster maintenance. $780,
900: theater and gymnasium. 500 900
sewage disposal, $50, 900; enlisted mems
service club, $4,000; officers mess.
S75,00O laundry, $4,000; garage, $40.-
| 900; boat house. $40 900; bakery, $15.-
900; water system, $4,000; magazines
S24,000; school for children, 5000;
reservation fence. $4,000; street light
construction, s68, 800; quartermasteI
warehouse s65,000; ordnance ware
house, $4,000; improvement to land
ing field and building area, $1.750 900;
runways, 100000 hangers, $4,000 900;
Air Corps warehouse, 10000; head
| quarters and operations building, $50,
| 900; parachute building. $4,000; gaso-
| line storage and distribution, SIS, 900;
paint, oil and dope storage, $25, 900:
field shops, $250,000; paved aprons
100000 photo building. $4,000:
camera obscura, $4,000; night lighting,
| S25,000, and machine gun butts. $5,000
This gives an idea Of the complete
ness Of the project. The entire field.
planes, would cost less than a single
modern l0000-ton cruiser, Mr.. Wilcox
pointed out.
Asserting that the theater Of action
of Coast Artillery is confined to zone
of but 20 miles in width and that an
enemy might move his operations few
| miles away and get completely out Of
range, Mr.. Wilcox, in submitting the
project to the public works authorities,
said:
There Is only one force which may
be depended upon to supplement our
naval forces and that is an adequate air
force stationed on land which may fly
out and contact the enemy while he is
still at sea and while he is vulnerable
to attack from overhead.
Then as to the matter Of expense,
Mr.. Wilcox continued, I'VE need only to
refer to the fact that our whole con-
templated air defense development, con-
sisting Of 10 air frontier defense units
complete, with all land, buildings, and
equipment and $40 bombardnent and
$40 patrol planes, win cost less than
per cent Of the cost Of our present In.
adequate naval equipment with its shore
stations"
New Service Started.
Under temporary letter of authority
granted by the Secretary of Commerce.
American Airways has started its new
passenger service between Washington
and the West by way of Charleston. w.
daylight, fair-Weather operation via this
route only pending completion Of inter.
mediate landing fields, now under con-
struction. Preliminary service had been cen
weeks prior to opening Of regular service