Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-04-07
By JOSEPH s. EDGERTON.


One of the most serious problems
In connection with the air defense
program will be to insure that our
new combat airplanes are properly
maintained after their delivery to
the tactical squadrons.
If only $500 of the proposed to-
tai Air Corps strength of $50 to
5000 airplanes are aintained in &C
tive service, as now is planned, u.s.
900 enlisted men must be added to
the Air Corps within two years. OF
these $4,000 new men, $4,000 must
be trained as mechanics and tech
nicians.
This increas in man power will
make the Air Corps second in
strength only to the infantry. BY
July /, 1941, under present plans,
the Air Corps will have 1853 Off
GERS, most of them pilots, and 1887
enlisted men, or a total Of $4,000
officers and men.
Denver Donates Site.
This increase in man power will
mers and the rasp of saws will be
heard again as temporary wooden
barracks 60 up on Army posts. The
city of Denver, Colo. has donated
to the Army Air Corps tremen-
dous site, which includes an aerial
bombing and target range of 100
square miles. or $4,000 acres. On
this site most of the $4,000 Air
Corps technicians will be trained.
Temporary, permanent or semi
permanent housing, according to
climatic requirements, must be con-
structed on Air Corps posts, espe-
cially at the five new air bases
which are to be established as a part
of this program.
A few years ago there was con-
siderable agitation for a separate
United States air force independent
of the Army and Navy. Today the
tables have been turned and off,
GERS of the infantry, cavalry and
artillery are joking rather half
heartedly about the need for a sep
arate army if the older arms and
services are not to become mere
tail to the Air Corps kite.
Training Schedule Planned.
Recruiting and training activities
will begin Immediately after the new
national defense funds become
available on July l. A schedule has
been planned which will make sup
plies of trained mechanics and
technicians available as rapidly as
the new airplanes are delivered
Before recruiting for the new pro-
gram can become effective, however,
existing shortages in personnel
strength Of the Air Corps must be
made good. The Baker Board pro-
gram calling for 1920 Army air.
planes now is entering its final
stages, but the growth of the Air
Corps personnel due to insufficient
appropriations by Congress. has not
kept pace, and the Air Corps today
Is undermanned
To make good this shortage the
Air Corps is seeking to enlist 700
men q month during the final four
months of the current fiscal year
Beginning July l recruiting will be
stepped up to 1000 men a month
for the first six months of the 1910
fiscal year, or until January 1. Dur
ing the second half of the fiscal year
approximately 2.730 men per month
must be recruited.
Has Only One School.
The Army Air Corps now has but
one school for the training of its
technical enlisted personnel. This
is the Air Corps Technical School,
Chanute Field, Rantoul, Ill. Dur
Ing the last year a branch OF the
school has been established at Den
yer on the new school base donated
by the city. The radio and arma-
ment courses have been established
at Denver, permitting enlargement
of those courses and of the me-
chanical courses retained at Cha
mute Field.
Since approximately IS per cent
of the enlisted men of the Army
Air Corps must be mechanics, in
Guiding radio technicians and other
mechanical and electrical special
lists, the job of the Air Corps Tech
nical School during the next two
years will be comparable with a
full wartime emergency.
It is planned to take over Scott
Field, ILL.,, as primary training
school for the new mechanics and
technicians, who will complete their
courses at Chanute Field and at
new Lowry Field, Denver. Many
thousands of the trainees will live
in wooden barracks similar to those
occupied by the Civilian Conserva-
ton Corps enrollees
10000 Won't Be Enough.
Even the $4,000 new enlisted men,
however, will not be sufficient to
take care of the $500 new airplanes
which are to be kept in active serv-
ice. The maintenance and overhaul
of aircraft in the Air Corps is car
ried on at depots which, in the
United States itself, are manned
largely by civilian mechanics. Ter
ritorial depots are manned chiefly
by enlisted mechanics.
Although the Air Corps has not
been able in the past to make any
large effort to train apprentices
for its depots, there now are about
100 of them in the Air Corps, and
1t probably will become necessary
to increase the system of apprentice
training.
There is not large commercial
source of supply of aviation me-
chanicS to which the Air Corps can
turn to meet its requirements.
There are few very good COM
mercial schools operating under SUI