Evening star., 1938-12-04
Airp|ane as Defense
Weapon Recognized
By U. 5. Forces
Continent Frontiers Are
Extended; Observation
Value Is Emphasized
~ the Associated Press,

dealing with a new instrument of
war-the which at some
future time may be the decisive fac
tor in defense of the Americas.
1t may be. Not since 1898 have
hostile foreign troops trod. the
ground of the Western Hemisphere
Whether they ever could again, in
view Of the military problems in
volved, is problematical.
Moreover, nobody knows definitely
what warplanes could do in a major
war. Since 1918 no two world DOW
ers, adequately prepared in the air,
have come into armed conflict with
each other.
But the warplane, moving in three
dimensions to erase seaboards and
international boundary lines, re-
mains a mechanical monster which
strikes fear to the hearts of civilian
populations and leads military
strateglsts to modify methods of at
tack and repulse.
IL Great Britains eastern frontier
has been stretched from the Eng
nsh Channel and the North Sea
TO the Rhine, North Americas has
been extended a thousand miles to
sea from the Atlantic Coast and
5000 miles from the Pacific Coast.
From Kodiak to Pago Pago.
1t was recognition of the new
role OF airplanes in warfare when
the armed services announced that
a wartime line of observation ex-
tending 5000 miles from Kodiak
Island. Alaska, down through Mid
way Island to Pago Pago, Amer
lean Samoa, was being established.
With national emergency in
mind. fleet patrol wing officials last
January said plans had been crys-
talllzed to make Navy aircraft in
Hawaii the sWiftest and most DOW
erful ever based at the crossroads
of the Pacific.
Only last April it was disclosed
that the Army had started CO.
operating with the Navy in prepar-
ing a new air defense outpost at
Midway Island tiny stepping
stone" used by Pan-American Air
ways in flying between the Philip
pines ana CdufOrnla.
The recent "air warning net"
games of the Army at Fort Bragg,
N. c., and the "blackout" of the
little Long Island community of
Farmingdale-theoretically attacked
by enemy bombers-indicate the
trend of military thought in this
country.
Planes Make Way for Soldiers.
The Army and Navy do not fear
that enemy warplanes ever would
attack, capture and consolidate posi-
tions on this continent, in Central
or South America. or on islands
within striking distance of the
United States.
That remains a task for warships
and foot soldiers.
They do fear that enemy war
planes. based at positions captured
by hostile Warships. and troops would
strike at our defensive works. our
cities, our factories, public utilities,
our highways and railroads and the
civilian population.
The immediate problem in war
time, therefore, would be protecting
those points where an enemy might
obtain foothold.
The secondary problem would be
that of protecting both our coasts.
our cities, our strategic centers and
communications, the Panama Canal
and Hawaii from direct attack. Just
as our Pacific operations would
IL q
operations would depend on defense
of the canal.
The United States Fleet must re-
main fluid" in guarding both coast
lines.
A defense of South America would
be an identical problem, compli-
Gated by the fact that most of its
serrated coasts is without shore
batteries, garrisoned troops or air
squadrons to meet attacks from the
sea.
Two New Elements Injected.
Most military strategists hold that
airplanes have injected at least two
new elements into warfare. One is
the necessity of controlling the air
for observation purposes. The other
is the use of Warplanes for propa-
ganda.
1t is only "a years since crudely-
built flying machines began winging
over the lines in Europe to observe
opposing troop movements and
spot" artillery fire. In our Civil
War officers with spyglasses and
fleet cavalry patrols did that Job.
True, balloons were used Is years
ago, but only experimentally.
Aerial observation came into its
own in 1914. Air fighting was un-
known until, one day, a German
flyer unlimbered shotgun and
opened fire on an astonished allied
pilot. On that day combat aloft,
immortalized in countless stories
was born.
In defense of the Americas war
plane fleets would be necessary to
determine the positions of enemy
warships and their accompanying
troopships. They would be neces-
sary too for the bombing of these
surface fleets and for combat aloft.
A fourth function of military avia-
ton, that of attacking ground
troops, would not be called into play
unless an enemy obtained an ac-
tual foothold in this hemisphere.
Propaganda From the Skies.
The other new element in war
fare, propaganda from the skies,
was flrst used on an extensive scale
by the Germans in bombing London
during the World War. To every
projectile was attached the message,
"Surrender or be destroyed!
The chief of the general head
quarters air force, Maj. Gen. Frank
M. Andrews, observes:
THE true object of war has never
been merely to defeat an army or
navy. Such defeat is only means
to an end. That end Is the de-
struction of the enemy's will"