The Wilmington morning star., 1940-06-25
Behind The Scenes In
Washington

WASHlNGTON,-Under the sur
face of the drive for a stronger
air force, there is developing new
sentiment for getting the service
flyers out from under the direction
Of Notifying generals and admir-
ais.
So far there is not much talk
about setting up the air force as
a completely separate arm on the
British style, with it's own depart
ment headed by its own cabinet
member. But the possibility Of CIV
ing both the army and navy flying
corps virtual independence within
the existing departments is being
explored.
Two congressman who r start
ing to work in that direction are
Vincent Harrington of Iowa a n d
Melvin Mas of Minnesota. Har-
rington is interested in the army,
Mas in the navy; general idea is
to make the air arm of each serv-
ice an Independent corps, like the
marine corps, under the orders Of
the head of the department but
carrying its own general staff and
top command.
SHY AWAY FROM
SEPARATE FORCE
Men close to the military pic
ture here are still inclined to shy
away from the idea of a wholly
separate air force. This includes
some of the most outspken critics
f the inability of present army
and navy high commands to real
iZe the full value of the airplane
as a military weapon.
Chief reason for this is a feel
ing that flying a fighting plane fol
the army is an entirely differen,
thing than flying one for the navy,
and that each branch of the serv-
ice should have an air corps whose
personnel is especially trained for
it's own problems. The alleged re-
cent experience Of the British in
Norway is cited as a case in point.
According to a story which is
accepted as true by men qualified
to judge, there was lamentable
lack Of coordination between
Britain's sea feet and her air arm
in the Norwegian fighting. Flyers
are siad to have gone to the Nor
wegian coast to drive off German
surface ships without adequate in
formation about the numbers r
types of British vessels operating
in the same waters. Being lands
men, they could not readily dis
tinguish British vessels from Ger
man. Result, it is said, is that
British flyers bombed British war
ships, with disastrous conse-
ACTION MAY BE NEAR
ON ALASKAN HIGHWAY
If the President should decide
hemisphere defense made it neces-
sary to speed construction Of the
proposed highway to Alaska, the
way is just about pen fr i'm
mediate actin.
Congress recently passed a law
extending the life of the 1nterna-
tional Highway Commission for
years. This group, headed by en-
ergetic Congressman Warren Mag
nuson of Washington, has almost
finished the preliminary work. BY
July, all of the surveys will have
been completed and the US. and
Canadian governments can talk
turkey if they wish.
Original plans were for a a.
foot roadway, running from the
state Of Washington up through
British Columbia and Yukon Ter
ritory to tie in with the Alaskan
highways somewhere around Fair
banks. It will cost something like
$40, OO0, 900, with the us. putting
up the bulk + the money. It's
conceivable, now, that FDR might
dip into that special emergency
fund Congress is giving him for
defense purposes and have tn
road built pronto.
Alaska's air defense system Is
being built up rapidly; but experts
say it won't really be complete
until there is some overland con-
nection between the territory and