The Washington times., 1934-12-15
(Continued From Page ~

planes with any hope of accur-
acy from 10000 feet. Their
arguments were twO-fOld:
90 That the moving target
could only be struck by acci-
dent; and. (2), that at less
than 10000 feet the battleship
could defend ITSELF"
After explaining that the eX
periments in bombing, full facts
of which had not been divulged
had created a new situation sc
acute that experts were asking
whether the day of the navy as 9
main defense for England was moi
at an end, the Sunday Referee
article continues:
"Britain spent 44,OOO,OOO
pounds last year or the navy.
In the same period of time she
spent 100000 pounds on the
air force.
"What has the battleship
school to offer as a remedy
now against the menace of air
attack and blOckade?"
FAVORS BATTLESHIPS
On the pro-battleship side OF
the controversy, Maj. Gen. James
g. Harbord, U. S. A., retired
former chief of staff of the Army
leads off with a withering criti
cism of the airship. He said:
"No armada has yet flown
whose personnel could not be
run in by the municipal police
If it landed in hostile terri
tory"
After thus disposing of the
airplane as a weapon of offense
or defense, the former chief OF
staff continues:
"The favOrite vision of the
most exuberant air war prOph-
cts might well cause an cpl
demic of Nightmares among our
more timid citizens. 1t pictures
great armadas from hostile pow
erS swOoping down from the
skies upon our helpless citizens.
In a few hours bombs will top
pie our great SkyScraperS like
dOminOes. Poison gas will
clutch at the lungs of our citi-
EenS fleeing in terror, and the
rising sun of the next day will
find only death and destruction
where a few hours earlier a
proud metropolis teemed with
life.
Zone basic thing is wrong
with the calamitOuS picture.
That is that such devastating
air raid into our land is i'm
possible with the aviation of
today or with any that we now
can fOreSee.
BASE IS NEEDED
"The necessity for base on
land or sea for any effective
and continuous military air.
plane operations is completely
ignored by most spinnerS Of air
War-hOrrOr dreams.
"TO maintain floating bases
off our shores an invader would
have to Subdue our Navy.
Gas to the possibility Of a
land base near our borders it is
hardly to be expected that our
air forces and our battleShips
would stand idly by while an
enemy was fitting up such
hornets neSS and bringing sup
plies and ammunition to it."
On the other hand, naval ex
perts favoring a greater force Of
airplanes and large appropriations
for bases of airplane operation
afloat and ashore, point to the
statement recently made by Gen
Robert Lee Billiard, in which ne
said:
"The airplane can perform
most of the functions of the
scout forces more swiftly and
more effectively, and it can de-
StrOy the dreadnaught. Great
Britain's reliance on airShipS has
been such as to bring from a
British naval expert the declara-
tiOn that the airplane is put
ting our navy in the museum.
Representative j. Mark Wilcox
'tD) of Florida, leading Congress
sional proairplane man, who il
agitating a score or more Of tire
mendous airplane bases scattered
throughout the interior OF the
country as a defense against 6
possible airplane invasion, hac
this to say:
'Many of the military lead
erS look on airplaneS and ether
aircraft as mere experiments;
interesting, but something to
be played with and not seri-
OuSly considered as a valuable
weapon. Dur generals evil
IDENTIFY are looking on the bat
tleship and the foot soldier as
the greatest things to be de-
pended on. 1t seems to me they
overlook the fact that One we'll
placed bomb from an airplane
can nut al end to the best
battleShip that ever flOated. A
fleet of airplaneS can demOral-
ize and knock to pieces aAl en-
tire division of troops"
BRITTEN'S VIEW
Representative Fred 3ritten
Of Illinois, ranking Republican
on the House Naval Affairs Com
mittee, an ardent big Battle
ship" champion, and leader Of
rany a figh; on the floor Of
CONGRESS for hi0oer and better