Evening star., 1934-10-03
WAR ACE VISIONS
ARTILLERY PLANES
Rickenbacker Says Gigantic
Craft Will Be Able to
Garry Tanks.

Artillery battles in the air between
giant combat airplanes capable OF
carrying fast armored tanks which
can be dropped "by hundreds" be-
hind the enemy lines were foreseen
by Col Edward w. Rickenbacker.
leading American World War ace, who
testified today before the Federal
Aviation Commission.
Rickenbacker advocated an in
crease of from three to four times
the present military air personnel.
half of this strength of 1000 or more
combat pilots to be made up of &C
lively trained Reserve flyers. The
United States today is not adequately
prepared for air defense. lacking
equipment. personnel and knowledge,
Rickenbacker testified.
Taking issue with his wartime COM
mander, Brig. Gen. William Mitchell,
who testified yesterday, Rickenbacker
opposed coordination of military and
naval aviation. Aviation is in too ex-
perimental stage for the creation
of a separate department of aero
nautics co-ordinating all civil and
military aviation. Rickenbacker said.
He favored the merging of all civil
aviation activities, including the air
mail and the Weather Bureau, under
a new regulatory commission, leaving
naval aviation to the Navy and mill
tary aviation to the Army
Raps Airmail Rating.
Rickenbacker opposed airmail rate
making by the Interstate Commerce
Commission, characterizing it as
'basically unfair and having a tend
ency TO retard aviation"
Americas greatest fighting pilot,
now vice president of one of the Ma
tion's leading air-transport organiza-
tions. expressed the belief that Japan
and the United States should CO.
operate in the establishment of trans
pacific air-tranSport service. serving
the Philippines and the Hawaiian Is
lands
He denied that any American air.
craft manufacturers are receiving ex-
cessive profits on governmental busi-
ness, but that, on the contrary. the
industry and aeronautical science
have suffered severely from the pro-
curement methods adopted by the
Government recently, particularly by
the Army"
Denies Boom Benefits.
He denied that the manufacturing
companies themselves had benefited
from the public exploitation of the
boom" days, prior to 1929. Aviation
was no more over expanded than the
automobile industry, which has Suf-
fered reduction from its maximum
strength of some 600 manufacturers
TO not more than 80 to IS, of whom less
than half dozen produce 80 per cent
Of all cars built today.
He said public confidence in avia-
ton had been greatly injured through
tremendous publicity given to airmail
cancellations and Army Air Corps
deaths while flying the airmail and
that years would be required for the
industry to overcome this injury,
He recommended that the Federal
Aviation Commission adopt a perma-
nent aviation policy embracing prog
resS for minimum Of 10 years, to be
perpetuated Indefinitely under control
OF regulatory commission with a ro-
tating membership similar to the In
terState Commerce Commission.
we should never again permit
political influence to have the ter
ribly destructive effect it has had in
the last few months" Rickenbacker
said.
Under such control. he predicted,
rs per cent of the Nations air trans
port lines will become self-supporting
within five years and all of them will
be profitable within 10 years.
He criticized the the House Military
Affairs Committee for its action fore
ing the abandonment by the War De-
partment of the negotiated contract
system Of purchasing aircraft. The
negotiated contract method saves the
Government money and should be
continued, Rickenbacker said.