Evening star., 1936-09-27
u. S. PUTTING AIR DEFENSE
ON EMERGENCY FOOTING
Thoroughgoing Reorganization Affect
ing Almost Every Combat Unit-New
Plane Deliveries to Start Soon.
BY JOSEPH s. EDGERTON.

which have put their air forces
L on wartime status, the United
States today is putting its air-de-
Tense system on an emergency footing.
To attain combat status. the Army
Air Corps and the General Headquar-
ters Air Force, spearhead of the Ma
tons air defense, now are In the
midst of q thoroughgoing reorgani-
xation which is affecting virtually
every combat unit in the air service.
At the same time the Navy. with
its aviation units already in battle
trim, Is fighting to bring its air
strength up to full treaty allowance.
Into its remodeling Of the land
based air defense system the War
Department is putting the experience
gained in more than a year Of in
tensive experimental operation of the
new G.. H. @. Air Force. The re-
organization also is rejecting the ex-
perience gained by Italy in the Ethi-
opian campaign, in which aviation
played an all-important role, and
by both factions in the present Span
ish fighting.
with the Navy the problem is not
one of reorganization to attain COM
bat status, but of strengthening the
existing aviation organization, not
only to round out under-strength
squadrons, but also to provide squad
rons for new carriers now under con-
struction. The Vinson-Trammel act
OF 1894 authorizes a total OF 1910
useful airplanes for the treaty Navy.
The Navy estimates its airplane
strength at l,205, as of July l. Air
plane contracts already awarded or
to be awarded are expected to bring
the strength to 1,460 by the begin
ming of the next fiscal year. The
authorized treaty strength in air.
craft. at the present rate of con-
struction, will not be attained until
between 1910 and 1912.
Army Corps Under Strength.
The Army Air Corps also is sadly
Nnder strength in airplanes for the
combat squadrons of the G. H. @.
Air Force and, like the Navy, is seek
ing the equipment it so sorely needs.
Unlike the Navy, however, the Army
Is faced with an immediate problem
that of putting its fighting air force
on a wartime basis, with every de-
tail of its tactical, maintenance and
supply systems organized for emer-
gency duty.
This is being accomplished by re-
organization which reaches into every
+ major unit Of the Air Corps and the
G. H. @. Air Force. Boiling Field.
where the reorganization has reached
@ full tide, has lost virtually every trace
q OF its former set-up. Its tactical
souadrons have been broken up or
moved away; its administrative Or
ranization has been re-cast in a new
mold, and it has been given new non
combat squadrons of type never be-
fore known in American military avia-
ton. Because 1t will serve in time OF
war as the head Of the main arteries
between the War Department and the
combat aviation outfits in the field,
Boiling Field is being developed along
lines which will set 1t apart from all
other Army airdromes.
The reorganization now in progress
in Army aviation ranks second in i'm
portance only to the reorganization Of
early 1885, which gave the Nation the
new General Headquarters Air Force.
That reorganization is regarded by
ranking military leaders as the most
important change in the makeup OF
the Army since the close of the World
War It was the purpose of the War
Department in the G. H. @. Air Force
reorganization of March l, 1885, to
give the United States an aggressive,
co-ordinated air force which could be
welded as a unit by the field COM
= mander of the American armies The
present reorganization is intended to
. perfect the G. H. @. Air Force and to
put it on an emergency basis in every
respect.
. Has Reconnaissance Squadr0ns.
As now constituted, the G. H. @. Air
Force comprises all the units of at
tack, bombardment and pursuit avia-
ton stationed in the continental
United States. 1t also has a few re-
. connaisance SquadronS for its own
purposes and some transport airplanes.
The building up of Army and Navy
aviation forces has imposed a great
strain upon the military training CEN
ters which feed new pilots into the
squadrons. Both services are badly in
need Of trained combat pilots.
The Navy now Is just beginning to
benefit from a new aviation cadet pro-
gram which only q month ago sent
its first installments of new pilots into
the Navy and Marine Corps squad
rons. From now on each month will
bring q new detachment of these
cadets into the combat squadrons for
three years Of active duty. Naval avi-
: alton cadets are selected at naval air
stations throughout the United States,
the local station at Anacostia among
them. and candidates who can meet
the rigid entrance requirements are
given a month of elimination flight
training which carries them up to the
SOLO flight stage If successful, they
then 60 to the Navy's fiight-training
center at Pensacola, Fla, for a year
Of training to qualify them for service
in the fleet or with the Marines.
1llc ARMY All SOIpS ALSO - dDle 70
offer greater opportunity to its stu
dent pilots than ever before as q re-
suit Of the enactment by Congress of
new legislation improving conditions
for the hedgling military flyers. AS
. result of this new legislation the Air
Corps now is able to assure its stu
dent pilots who are unable to win COM
missions in the Regular Army COM
missions in the Air Reserve, extended
active duty as Reserve officers and dis
= charges from active duty with cash
. bonuses of $500 each and training
suficient to qualify them for Com
merce Department transport licenses
and scheduled air transport ratings.
. The Army's General Headquarters
. Air Force Is being established under
!. the scheme Of reorganization on the
principle that bombardment aviation
!. Is the backbone of every air force in
the world today,
&. mo one can stop its development
. nor predict its ultimate achievement" :"