Evening star., 1936-07-26
Lindbergh i'm Berlin.

1t was with courage characteristic of
the Lone Eagle" that Colonel Charles
A. Lindbergh discussed air warfare in
an address at Berlin day or two ago.
Having flown from Great Britain, the
famous American flyer was the guest of
the German air ministry at a luncheon
in his honor. Instead of indulging in
the innocuous pleasantries which such
an occasion might have suggested, the
colonel seized the opportunity to dwell
with candor upon the perils to civiliza-
ton lurking in the vast fleets of bombing
planes with which military and naval
powers are feverishly equipping them
selves. 1t required genuine daring to
deal with that subject in the particular
environment in which Lindbergh found
himself, for, as all the world knows, the
Germans are building the strongest air
force in Europe-a menace that is caus-
ing Great Britain to expand her arma-
ments afield, afloat and aloft on an un-
paralleled peacetime scale.
Between the lines of Colonel Lind
bergh'S address can be read a direct
appeal to the Germans to weigh care
fully the situation they are creating by
compelling all Europe to grid itself for
midably for defense against the terrific
dangers of modern air hostilities. He
emphasized that the bombing plane has
become so powerful a weapon of de-
struction that 1t has revolutionized war
fare by virtually stripping every nation
of its traditional armor Repeatedly he
stressed the obligations resting upon all
who have to do with aviation, reminding
them that unless strength is combined
with intelligence" the world at large
and Europe especially face the posi-
bility of devastation for which there will
be no repair.
In graphic terms Colonel Lindbergh
declared that unlike the builders of
the first dugout canoe, aviators have
lived to see their harmless wings of
fabric turned into carriers of destruction
even more dangerous than battleship
guns. Aviation has abolished what
we call defensive warfare. so that it is
no longer possible to shield the heart
Of a country with its army" OF no less
striking significance is his observation
that I'VE have moved so fast that we
have imposed aeronautical time upon
military tactics, and taken away the old
defense of astronomical time, which has
probably been mankindS greatest safe
guard In the past" The moral which
the pilot of the Spirit of st. Louis draws
from the phenomenal progress in air
craft is that 'it is our responsibility to
make sure that in bringing about this
advance We do not destroy the very thing
we wish to protect"
Experts may differ as to Colonel Lind
bergh's contention that aircraft bombs
are more dangerous than battleship guns.
but there is little divergence of opinion
as to the deadly destructiveness of air
attack upon defenseless civilian popula-
tions, which, in that next war" of which
there is so much loose talk, are likely
to be even more certain victims than
armies or naval squadrons. British air
men estimate that the actual time they
would have to engage and try to defeat
an invading air force would be less than
three minutes, even if warnings. were
received. 1t is against the truly dreadful
calamities conjured up by such possi-
bilities that Colonel Lindbergh with
statesmanlike vision urges the world,
while there is still time, to 'look for
new type Of security, dynamic, not static,
which rests in intelligence and not in
forts"