Evening star., 1934-06-24

a purchasing policy which was in ef-
feet before he took Office, had been
in effect for many years, has been
used by the Navy Bureau OF Aero
nautics for many years and still is
being used, and has been determined
by years Of experience in the United
States and abroad to be the wisest
and most suitable policy of acquiring
military aircraft.
Foulois is blamed by the committee
because it is reported he told the
Postmaster General the Air Corps
could fly the airmail and because
after the Army had been ordered by
the President to carry the mail Army
pilots crashed and were killed.
It would have been a miracle, in
deed, if the Army had taken over the
vast airmal system, with 10 days
warning, in the heart of the worst
Winter weather the country has
known in decades and had flown
without accident.
The crash of a civilian air trans
port plane with the loss of seven lives
has caused less criticism than was
loaded on Foulois each time a single
Army pilot crashed and died. No
power on earth could have prevented
some of the Army airmail crashes
and yet because Of them Foulois is
being accused of "ineficiency" and
'incompetency."
FouloiS is blamed because Army
officers were sent out to fly the mail
without sufficient experience in in
strument flying, night flying and
cross-country work. No officer the
Air Corps ever has had has worked
harder than Foulois to make possible
such training for his men. The very
Congress which accuses him of send
ing out unframed men is the Con-
greSS which refused to give him the
funds to train the pilots under his
command.
Funds Basic Trouble.
No man in the service is a more
stanch advocate than Foulois of in
strument flying training for military
pilots. He has trained himself in
instrument flying and has proved his
capability as a bad-weather flyer on
numerous occasions. But he has not
been able to squeeze out of Congress
funds for this vastly important train
ing of the rank and file of military
flyers. 1t is a notorious fact that
Army pilots are not given sufficient
flying time to keep in proper train
ing This is not the fault of Gen.
Foulois or any other Air Corps officer,
it is the fault of insufficient funds for
flight training.
Despite the lack of time for prepa-
ration, despite the terrible weather
which it had to encounter, despite
storms of criticism and fault-finding
from non-fying members of Congress
and disgruntled air transport officers
who had lost their airmau contracts,
the Air Corps flew the airmail. 1t
killed pilots, that is true. Any flying
organization in the world faced with
the same circumstances would have
killed pilots. The Army, however, did
not kill any more people actually
flying the mail than private air
transportation has killed in less time
since the mail was restored. 1t was
only because the spotlight was on the
Air Corps that its deaths in line of
airmail service were overemphasized.
Must Keep Silent.
Foulois has been assailed for COM
planning of his inability to reply to
his congressional critics. OF course
he cannot reply. 1t is traditional that
an Army officer cannot reply to con-
gressional critics Custom forbids
that he engage in controversy with
legislative and administrative officers
of Government.
For days after the report criticizing
Foulois was made public by members
of the House committee, no official
copies of the report were delivered to
Foulois or his superiors. Foulois and
his superiors learned of the charges
only through the press. 1t is Ameri-
can tradition that a man under
charges shall be served at the earliest
possible moment with copies of the
charges and that he be given the
fullest and freeSt opportunity to
answer them. Aviation people do not
believe Foulois has been given such
an opportunity.
1t is a general feeling that if Con-
gresS has serious charges to make
against Foulois they should be made
through proper military channels so
that if the charges have sufficient
foundation a military court may be
convened and the charges tried fairly,
cleanly and honestly. This is simple
justice.
The treatment Foulois is receiving
seems to be, at BEST very shabby for
an officer who, according to an official
War Department statement, has had
one of the most brilliant and dis
tinguished careers of any soldier liv-
ing today"
Air Traffic Record Set.
What is said to be a worlds record
for regularly scheduled passenger air
planes of single line in simultaneous
flight has been established by United
Airlines, with Is of its l80-mile
per hour Boeings in regular flight
at one time. These planes are in
flight simultaneously on the New
Diego routes.
At no time during the "a hours.
according to the lines schedules, are
less than 15-passenger planes in the
air along these airways The new
traffic records are due to Inaugural
tion Of hourly service between New
York, Cleveland and Chicago and ad-
ditional transcontinental service.
Largest Plane" Being Built.
What is said to be the worlds
largest airplane is being constructed
in Soviet Russia by public subscrip-
ton as a memorial to Maxim Gorky.
whose name the big ship will bear
The plane is being completed in Mos
COW and will be ready for flight test
ing this Summer, according to unof-
ficial word received here.
While no details of the design OF
the plane have been received here Of
cially, the Navy Bureau of Aero
nautics has quoted unofficial reports
that the Maxim Gorky is to have a
wing span Of approximately 21o feet.
an overall length of about lis feet,